Ever since the opening of the Tivoli gardens in 1843, the concert hall and its orchestra have formed the musical centre of the now world-famous pleasure gardens. Hans Christian Lumbye’s orchestra consisted at first of 22 musicians and was then called Det Lumbyeske Selskab (The Lumbye Society). On the occasion of the rebuilding of the concert hall in 1846, the orchestra was expanded to 33 players. This enabled it to play large-scale symphonic music, and the Tivoli Symphony Orchestra has ever since been among the leading orchestras of Denmark. The Tivoli Symphony Orchestra, which in the winter season appears as the Zealand Symphony Orchestra, today comprises 74 members and gives more than 150 concerts annually.