Smsymphony.org
Title
Santa Monica Symphony 2005-2006 Season
Description
The mission of the Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra is to provide high-quality, admission-free concerts from the classical and contemporary symphony repertoire to Santa Monica and West Lost Angeles. The Symphony also extends its reach into the community by performing at local schools and community arts events, assisting the community in introducing young people to classical music and enhancing lifelong learning opportunities by providing enrichment information to adults. All of the Symphony's programming is planned to target a multi-cultural, multi-generational audience.
The Santa Monica Symphony has been a major cultural asset for the Southern California Westside community since its debut in 1945. It has grown from a fledging local orchestra into a highly acclaimed symphony orchestra which attracts music lovers from all parts of the greater Los Angeles area. Each season the Santa Monica Symphony presents four free concerts to an audience of 5,000 persons of all ages. Its repertoire of classical and contemporary music provides well-rounded programs of wide appeal. Talented community musicians and college music students form the nucleus of the orchestra, augmented by a small group of professional musicians. Many weeks of rigorous rehearsals precede each concert, resulting in the highest artistic standards.
The Santa Monica Symphony has grown to its present excellence under the batons of six outstanding conductors/music directors: founding conductor Jacques Rachmilovich, composer Arthur Lange, Peter Meremblum, former CBS Symphony director Victor Bay, USC School of Music faculty member Yehuda Gilad, and its current conductor Dr. Allen Robert Gross of the Occidental College Music faculty. Guest soloists are a regular program feature of the symphony season. Among artists performing with the orchestra have been Sydney and Jeanne Weiss, Nathaniel Rosen, Ronald Leonard and such noted composers and guest conductors as Nelson Riddle, Miklos Rosza, David Rose, Alfred Newman, John Green, and Elmer Bernstein. The Santa Monica Symphony also has made multiple recordings and was the first orchestra in the United States to record the First and Second Symphonies of Tchaikovsky. Among its other contributions have been the Young Musicians Concerts which provide performance opportunities for aspiring young musicians.
