h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was under the impression that a philharmonic orchestra has strings (a piano) and the symphonic did not.

I looked it up in dictionaries and encyclopedias and they make no mention of strings or any discernable differences between the two.

Then, in two big orchestras websites I found articles stating that there is no difference between one and the other, they claim that only for historical reasons one orchestra picks one denomination or another.


Can some one help me out with this?

What's in a name??? Symphonic denotes that they have the instruments required to play symphonies, Philharmonic means they love music. No difference int he make up or repertoire, just there so that major cities can have more than one orchestra

eg London Symphony Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra, (of course there is also the Philharmonia, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra plus several others in the city). They all play the same stuff to (roughly) the same standard.