- World-famous conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1936, when he shared the podium with Leopold Stokowski, to 1980. His was one of the longest tenures of a major symphony orchestra ever.
- He continued the tradition, begun by Leopold Stokowski, of making the Philadelphia Orchestra play with an exceptionally rich, velvety sound for which it was famous. Critics of his approach (musicians among them) commented that it made every composer's music sound the same, even when a rich, velvety quality did not suit the piece that the orchestra was playing.
- Pictured on one of a set of eight 32¢ US commemorative postage stamps in the Legends of American Music series, issued 12 September 1997, celebrating "Classical Composers & Conductors". Others honored in this issue are Leopold Stokowski, Arthur Fiedler, George Szell, Samuel Barber, Ferde Grofé Sr., Charles Ives, and Louis Moreau Gottschalk.
- Along with Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Fiedler, Ormandy was one of the best-selling classical conductors of the 1960s.
- Recorded the first ever Columbia Masterworks stereo LP in 1958. It was Respighi's "Pines of Rome" and "Fountains of Rome". Mr. Ormandy conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra.
- Conducted several of the first recordings of composer Sergei Rachmaninoff's works, nearly all of them with Rachmaninoff playing the solo piano part. The rest of these early recordings were conducted by Leopold Stokowski, who had conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra prior to Ormandy, but all were made with that orchestra, which was Rachmaninoff's favorite.
- Conducted the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (now the Minnesota Orchestra) from 1931 to 1936.
- Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 614-617. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.
- He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6926 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
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