Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra
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The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra (HSO) is an American orchestra based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA.
The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra can be traced back to the early 1930s during the throes of the Great Depression. The orchestra gave their first concert at William Penn High School in Harrisburg on March 19, 1931. The conductor on that occasion was Maestro Raudenbush, who was to become the orchestra’s first music director. By the end of 1931 the orchestra had moved its concerts to the newly-opened Forum Auditorium, part of the Capitol Complex, where it still performs to this day. The 1931-32 season included four concerts. The cost of a subscription: $2.00.
The Harrisburg Symphony is governed by a 29-member Board of Directors. The current Board Chairman is William M. Murray, M.D. The Symphony's volunteer organization, the Harrisburg Symphony Society, is currently led by Karen Shughart, President. The Society provides support through various special event fund raising activities each year.
The orchestra membership consists of professional players from Central Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, DC, New York, and other regions. Being able to select from such a wide variety of talent pools enables the HSO to perform at a particularly high artistic level. The HSO membership is represented by American Federation of Musicians (AFM) Local 269, and the group is a member of ROPA, the Regional Orchestra Players' Association.
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[edit] 2008-2009 Concert Season
The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, led by Maestro Stuart Malina, proudly announces its 2008-2009 performance schedule. The season titled Reaching New Heights features seven Masterworks concerts, the Capital Blue Cross Pops Series which will expand to four concerts in 2008-2009, as well as several special events, including the annual "Stuart & Friends" concert and the Harrisburg Symphony Society's Designer Showhouse and Gardens.
A special highlight of the Masterworks Series will be two concert performances of the classic Puccini opera, "Tosca," on April 25 & 26, 2009. For those performances the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra will be joined by four vocal soloists as well as the Susquehanna Chorale and the Messiah College Concert Choir. The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles projected on a screen above the orchestra.
The Masterworks Series will also feature symphonies by Howard Hanson, Beethoven, Mahler, Erwin Schulhoff, Shostakovich, and Tchaikovsky.
Soloists will include violinist Kurt Nikkanen and local cellist Daniel Gaisford, HSO principal oboist Alicia Chapman, pianists Andrew von Oeyen and Tanya Bannister and Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Odin Rathnam.
A dramatic rise in the popularity of the Capital BlueCross series in recent seasons led to the expansion from three to four concerts in 2008-2009. Executive Director Jeff Woodruff said of the expansion, "Stuart has really created a buzz with this series and we thought the time was right to give the public more of what it wants. We discussed the idea with the series sponsor, Capital BlueCross, and they enthusiastically supported our decision to go to four concerts."
The Capital BlueCross Pops season will open on the weekend of October 25-26, 2008 with a program devoted to "The Great Epic Film Scores."
The orchestra will continue its tradition in recent seasons of bringing the tuneful and hilarious world of Gilbert & Sullivan to the Forum stage with two performances of Iolanthe on February 7-8, 2009. A comic opera about an exiled fairy, Iolanthe is wrought with social commentary and satirical jabs.
A 100th birthday tribute to Benny Goodman featuring clarinet sensation Dave Bennett and another trip to Broadway with a show entitled "The Three Broadway Divas!" will wrap up the Capital BlueCross Pops series.
Both the Masterworks and Capital BlueCross Pops series offer subscription packages. The Pops series offers a Full Season subscription to the four concerts and the Masterworks series is available in four packages including Full Season, "Mini-4," "Mini-3" and "Snowbird" subscriptions.
In addition to a discount of up to 39% off single ticket prices, season subscribers enjoy reserved seating at the Forum and a subscription to the Fanfare newsletter. Season subscribers also qualify for the Symphony's very liberal exchange policy allowing them the opportunity to exchange tickets for a different performance date or return unused tickets for a tax credit. Ticket exchanges and returns must be handled by the Symphony Box Office at least 24 hours prior to the concert.
The Harrisburg Symphony is proud to continue "Get Hooked on the Classics," the specially priced new subscriber program launched during the 2007-08 season. The program offers a 50% discount off the regular subscription rate to anyone who has never subscribed to the Masterworks Full Season. There are seven seating areas to choose from, presenting options for every budget. -- visit www.harrisburgsymphony.org for more details.
[edit] Music Directors
1931-1950: George King Raudenbush
1950-1974: Edwin McArthur
1974-1978: David Epstein
1978-1994: Larry Newland
1995-1999: Richard Westerfield
2000-Present: Stuart Malina
[edit] Youth Symphony Orchestra
The Harrisburg Youth Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1953 and one of the oldest youth symphonies in the country. The Youth Symphony operates under the umbrella of the Harrisburg Symphony. The current conductor of the Youth Symphony is Dr. Ronald Schafer, now in his 37th season as that ensemble’s maestro. The Youth Symphony performs the annual Holiday Spectacular in December, plus a number of other events in The Forum, at Strawberry Square in downtown Harrisburg, and at several area high schools.
