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Sir Thomas Beecham, Bt, CH (29 April 1879 – 8 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario. From the early 20th century until his death, Beecham was a major influence on the musical life of Britain and, according to the BBC, was Britain's first international conductor. Beecham began his career as a conductor in 1899. He used access to his family's fortune to finance opera from the 1910s until the start of the Second World War, staging seasons at Covent Garden, Drury Lane and His Majesty's Theatre with international stars, his own orchestra and a wide repertoire. Among the works he introduced to England were Richard Strauss's Elektra, Salome and Der Rosenkavalier and three operas by Frederick Delius. Together with his younger colleague Malcolm Sargent, Beecham founded the London Philharmonic, and he conducted its first performance at the Queen's Hall in 1932. After briefly working in the United States with the Seattle Symphony and the Metropolitan Opera, he returned to Britain founded the Royal Philharmonic in 1946, conducting it until his death in 1961.