Since its foundation in 1946 the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra has been active in all kinds of musical fields: opera, operetta, oratorio, film and, in particular, the orchestral concert. Acting as the concert orchestra of the European metropolitan area of Nuremberg, it brings classical music to an audience of almost 200,000 people every year, performing around one hundred concerts each season. The year 1993 represented a highlight in the orchestra’s history, when the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra won one of the coveted GRAMMY^® Awards in Los Angeles for its sensational recording of the main title music for the TV series Beauty and the Beast, continuing a tradition of the 1950s, when the orchestra recorded the film scores for Ben Hur and Quo Vadis. The orchestra has performed for many years on the international stage, including Vienna, Prague, Milan, Japan and China, and has collaborated with distinguished musicians. The young British musician Alexander Shelley has served as chief conductor since 2009.