League table reveals hardest-working in classical music

8 January 2013, 16:30

New York Philharmonic, Alan Gilbert, Sir Simon Rattle, Arvo Pärt and Handel's Messiah are the winners in a survey of classical music concerts in 2012.

An extensive survey of classical music performance has revealed which orchestras and conductors have performed the most concerts in 2012. The survey, undertaken by online concert calendar Bachtrack, has also shed light on which composers and works are the most performed.

Topping the chart of busiest orchestras is the New York Philharmonic with 144 concerts played in 2012, closely followed by the San Francisco Symphony with 139. The busiest British ensemble is the Philharmonia orchestra with a whopping 91 concerts in 2012.

The busiest conductor in the world according to the survey is Alan Gilbert of the New York Philharmonic with 80 concerts, with British conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Sir Simon Rattle (pictured) coming in fourth with 62.

Previous years have seen Gustavo Dudamel and Valery Gergiev top the chart of busiest conductor (Gergiev is at no. 7 this year).

When it comes to composers, Beethoven, Mozart and Bach form the unsurprising top three, while the most performed work (excluding operas) of 2012 was Handel's Messiah, which was also the most performed work last year. It had 124 registered performances in 2012 with Bachtrack.

The most performed living composer is Arvo Pärt, with Eric Whitacre and John Adams not far behind him. Even more fascinating results can be found at the Bachtrack website, here.