The New York Philharmonic is the oldest active symphony orchestra in the United States. Based in New York City, the New York Philharmonic gives most of its concerts at Avery Fisher Hall. The orchestra was founded by Ureli Corelli Hill in 1842 as the Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York and played its first concert on December 7 of that year, when Beethoven's Fifth Symphony was performed. There had been other orchestras in New York before, but none of them had survived for very long. The Philharmonic, however, became successful, and grew in popularity and size throughout the 19th century.
