The Sinfónica de Tenerife (Tenerife Symphony Orchestra), created in 1935 as the Orquesta de Cámara de Canarias (Chamber Orchestra of the Canary Islands), is one of the oldest and most prestigious musical institutions in Spain. At present, the Sinfónica de Tenerife is an ensemble under the auspices of the Patronato Insular de Música (Island Board of Music), an autonomous body attached to the Cabildo de Tenerife (Tenerife Island Council). Throughout its ninety-year history, it has had seven chief conductors: Santiago Sabina, Armando Alfonso, Edmon Colomer, Víctor Pablo Pérez (the current honorary conductor), Lü Jia, Michał Nesterowicz and Antonio Méndez.
The Sinfónica de Tenerife is the resident orchestra at the emblematic Auditorio de Tenerife, where it offers its symphonic season and actively collaborates with Ópera de Tenerife. It also participates in the Canaries International Music Festival and extends its musical activity to numerous stages throughout the Canary Islands.
The orchestra has been a cultural ambassador of Tenerife and has made numerous national and international tours throughout Europe and Asia. With more than thirty recordings on labels like Decca Classics and Deutsche Grammophon, the Sinfónica de Tenerife has received awards such as the Ondas Award in 1996. Throughout its trajectory, great artists of the international scene have collaborated with it: Jesús López Cobos, Alberto Zedda, Vasily Petrenko, Gianandrea Noseda, Ton Koopman, Fabio Luisi, Christian Zacharias, Eliahu Inbal, Plácido Domingo, Alfredo Kraus, Nathalie Stutzmann, Barbara Hendricks, Ian Bostridge, Ainhoa Arteta, Krystian Zimerman, Mischa Maisky, Schlomo Mintz, Gil Shaham, Grigory Sokolov, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Dmitri Bashkirov, Katia & Marielle Labèque, Leonidas Kavakos, Steven Isserlis, Javier Perianes, Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Pablo Ferrández, among others.
A cultural emblem of the Island Council and with a deeply rooted vocation in the regional community, the Sinfónica de Tenerife is a contemporary orchestra that preserves the ancestral symphonic musical tradition while advocating the dissemination of the contemporary avant-garde. Committed to comprehensive musical dissemination, its responsibility for educational and social programmes has led the Sinfónica de Tenerife to spread culture throughout society, crossing borders within and outside the Canary Islands.