Few people understand or utilize their city's symphony or orchestra. They can range from small, competent orchestras to huge, world-class ensembles.


So what is your symphony /orchestra/classical music scene like? How often do you frequent it?

Yes, and its pretty good. It was started in the early 1900s and has been very strong every since.

http://www.baltimoresymphony.org/

Yeah.

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (http://www.indianapolissymphony.org/), started in 1930. One of the 18 full time orchestras in the country. They perform in the Hilbert Circle Theater on Monument Circle in downtown Indy:
http://www.us31.com/photos/circletheater.jpg


Also, the suburb I live in has one that was started in 1976. The Carmel Symphony Orchestra (http://www.carmelsymphony.org/index.html) will have a new $80 million home in 2008:
http://www.topics.com/images/pics2/image-053699-1668.jpg

I've seen the Indianapolis Symphony about 6 or 7 times. Never seen the Carmel Symphony.

The Rochester Philarmonic.... it's the smallest city in America to have a world renound orchestra.

Detroit has the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

Regular Home of The Orchestra
The Walt Disney Concert Hall
http://www.gotchatix.com/images/concerts_losangelesphilharmonic.jpg

Every year, over one million people attend performances held by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The Walt Disney Concert Hall has a thirty-week subscription in the winter and, since 1922, the Hollywood Bowl holds a twelve-week festival.

Summer Home
The Hollywood Bowl
http://scd.mm-c1.yimg.com/image/1006128894

Los Angeles Philharmonic inaugurated the first season of music under the stars at the Hollywood Bowl. While much has changed in the ensuing years, the tradition of presenting the world's greatest musicians and striving for musical excellence has remained a constant goal of this famed Los Angeles cultural landmark.

Huntsville has a pretty good symphony orchestra for its size.
Huntsville Symphony Orchestra (http://www.hso.org)

The Charlotte Symphony Orchestra is quite good and they play in a pretty nice facility.

http://www.charlottesymphony.org/home.asp

Charlotte also has the Charlotte Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra but I have never seen them.

http://www.charlottephilharmonic.org/

Natl. Symphony Orchestra and Washington Symphony Orchestra.

The Louisville Orchestra was founded in 1937. It's a full-time orchestra that plays all over Louisville for special venues and regular venues like ROARchestra at the Louisville Zoo's ampitheatre.
The Louisville Orchestra is also the resident performing group for the Kentucky Opera in Lousiville and the Louisville Ballet.

San Diego Symphony.

Went under in 1998, now its back and better then ever.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (http://www.atlantasymphony.org/).

I hear it's world renowned.

Here's a proposed new home for the ASO, the "Atlanta Symphony Center":

http://www.atlantasymphonycenter.org/images/300symphonycenter1.jpg

I couldn't find any of their current home.

I hear it's world renowned.

I was waiting for someone to say that about theirs...;)

^^ I said that Rochester's was word renound from the get-go.... it is.

http://www.tc.bham.ac.uk/~gacox/photo/Chicago_2004/General/medium/Miscellaneous/chicago_symphony_orchestra2.jpg

www.cso.org/

Every symphony or orchestra in the US claims to be "world-renowned".

Roanoke has one, Roanoke Symphony Orchestra (RSO) http://www.rso.com/, but im not sure of the quality of the preformences.

I think most cities have a symphony orchestra. Heck, my little city of Lansing has a symphony Orchestra, though they play in East Lansing.

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is the 2nd-oldest in the United States (NYC has the oldest).

Performance Space: Overture Hall
http://www.overturecenter.com/images/architecture/1_OHall%20Vert-6x7.jpg

Annapolis has a symphony orchestra, actually. I heard some of their talent at a 4th of July event this year and have to say that they have their work cut out for them.
http://www.annapolissymphony.org/

Every symphony or orchestra in the US claims to be "world-renowned".

But only 10 or 11 really are. In no particular order...

New York Philharmonic
Philadelphia Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
Chicago Symphony
Minnesota Orchestra
St. Louis Symphony
Los Angeles Philharmonic
San Franciso Symphony
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Dallas Symphony

Only a few of these regularly tour Europe or Asia:

New York
Minnesota
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Chicago

Just a note:

Houston is one of only five cities in the United States with permanent professional resident companies in all of the major performing arts disciplines of opera, ballet, music, and theater.


Yes the city has a symphony. http://www.houstonsymphony.org/

Raleigh,NC has the North Carolina Symphony

I would pin Detroit's symphony with any other major city in the World


Orchestra Hall " The Max M Fisher Center"
http://www.wnyc.org/studio360/images/orchestra/photo_home.jpg

Just a note:

Houston is one of only five cities in the United States with permanent professional resident companies in all of the major performing arts disciplines of opera, ballet, music, and theater.


Yes the city has a symphony. http://www.houstonsymphony.org/

Only five? Because Lousiville has every one of them.
Hard to believe only five cities in the US have resident companies in each of those categories.

Just a note:

Houston is one of only five cities in the United States with permanent professional resident companies in all of the major performing arts disciplines of opera, ballet, music, and theater.


Yes the city has a symphony. http://www.houstonsymphony.org/

That's gotta be so wrong. Madison, WI fills all those categories with a population around 300k.

Opera: "Madison Opera" LINK (http://www.madisonopera.org/)
Ballet: "Madison Ballet" LINK (http://www.madisonballet.org/pls/enetrixp/!stmenu_template.main)
Symphony: "Madison Symphony Orchestra"LINK (http://www.madisonsymphony.org/)

The proffesional theater groups are so prevalent, they're constantly competing.

Despite efforts to "ranK" symphonies in the US, this has been rather unsuccessful. If you google on this you won't find much. If you go to the American Symphony professional association you will get a listing of symphonies by annual budget. Nevertheless. the list by Avian seems to be pretty much on target and in agreement by those who watch symphonies in the US. For many years there was agreement on the top few, namely Boston, Chicago, NY, Philly and Cleveland. But many are close to being as good, SF, LA, ATL, Balt., Minn, etc. ATL has been the biggest classical grammy winner over the past decade. I've heard a number of them in concert and or course, on recordings and NPR. I think most listeners could not tell the difference between these top 10-15 orchestras on any given night. The main problem nowadays is maintaining audience and endowment.

Nevertheless. the list by Avian seems to be pretty much on target and in agreement by those who watch symphonies in the US. For many years there was agreement on the top few, namely Boston, Chicago, NY, Philly and Cleveland. But many are close to being as good, SF, LA, ATL, Balt., Minn, etc.

Yes, of course, I missed Boston. A VERY worthy orchestra and one of the best in the world. I am ashamed! Baltimore also deserves mention with David Zinman being among the best advocates of new music today (his recordings of Michael Torke's works are priceless!).

I admit that I love orchestral music. Up until the last 30 years or so, it was actually easy to identify a particular orchestra (American, European, Asian or Australian) by its "sound." For example, Philadelphia was renowed because of its lush string sound, thanks in part to the legacy of Eugene Ormandy. New York always had a stringent brass sound, and Chicago was always extraordinarily well-balanced. Tokyo had a particular timbre while Sydney has a conservative quality that can be very appealing.

However, with the rise of the "international conductor" it seems that more and more orchestras are beginning to sound alike. Lately, I have to acknowledge individualistic conductors like Osmo Vaanska (Minnesota Orchestra, who won the Conductor of the Year Award in 2005) with revitalizing the idea that there are still things to say about traditional "warhorse" pieces such as Beethoven's 5th symphony.

Who do you think are some of the other great conductors that are active today? What do you think characterizes a good orchestral sound?

I like Robert Spano with Atlanta because he brought with him from Brooklyn an excitement about sponsoring and performing new music - a real pleasure to hear music that one cannot just take off the rack.

I agree that the "sound" of an orchestra has been a bit lost given the peripatetic nature of today’s conductors – most spend half their time on the road conducting other orchestras. I think this has resulted in a merging of expectations on both the part of the orchestra and the conductor. Also, in former years the permanence and regularity of one conductor on the podium probably led to the development of a “sound” for the ensemble in relation to that conductor.

I still think there is a difference between the “sound” of an American orchestra and a European one, particularly those from Germanic countries. The Euro sections seem to play much more as a single instrument, whereas the American sections are a little more diffuse. But this is only an opinion, would be interested in other views on this.

Baltimore has an excellent symphony, complimented by two concert halls, one in Baltimore and the other new one in Montgomery County and a summer home at Hunt Valley. In a recent culture war, its tradionalist conductor Yuri Temirkanov was leaving after a long tenure and a new conductor Marin Alsop was hired. The blue hair crowd, fearing that she was not only female but somewhat musically progressive raised procedural objections to her ("the search was not long enough" or some such BS). They seem to have been squealched when she recently was the recipient of a McArthur genius prize. It will be interesting to see how this comes out but anybody who performs music written within the past century is welcome in my town.

Yes, of course, I missed Boston. A VERY worthy orchestra and one of the best in the world. I am ashamed! Baltimore also deserves mention with David Zinman being among the best advocates of new music today (his recordings of Michael Torke's works are priceless!).

Who do you think are some of the other great conductors that are active today? What do you think characterizes a good orchestral sound?

Unfortunately David Zinman has been gone from Baltimore for some years now, replaced by stale traditionalist Yuri Temikanov who will be replaced soon by someone somewhat hopeful, Marin Alsop. I remember the Zinman years fondly. I really liked his recordings of Torke and saw a world premier of "Bright Blue Music" and several premiers of John Adams as well as many other pieces by composers actually still alive.

Wheeling, West Virginia has a symphony that plays at the Capitol Music Hall downtown.

I still think there is a difference between the “sound” of an American orchestra and a European one, particularly those from Germanic countries. The Euro sections seem to play much more as a single instrument, whereas the American sections are a little more diffuse. But this is only an opinion, would be interested in other views on this.

I agree. I used to play games when I was young and tried to identify an orchestra purely based on its sound if I heard it on radio and didn't already know who it was. It's still fairly easy on a continental basis but it's getting harder and harder to do with US ensembles. Sometimes I notice a definite "heaviness" to American orchestras. It sort of reminds me of the traditional difference between American and European cars.

I heard Marin Alsop conduct Atlanta two weeks ago (not her first time on the podium here). She was excellent and Baltimore is fortunate to get her and will be in the Zinman category of skill and dedication.

I agree. I used to play games when I was young and tried to identify an orchestra purely based on its sound if I heard it on radio and didn't already know who it was. It's still fairly easy on a continental basis but it's getting harder and harder to do with US ensembles. Sometimes I notice a definite "heaviness" to American orchestras. It sort of reminds me of the traditional difference between American and European cars.


I think the recording industry has a role in this as well. Back in the days of 78s (yes I'm that old) and then 33 1/3 most orchestras had to record without interruption. Splicing and smoothing was difficult. With digital this is so different - a weak string section can be easily boosted, etc etc. That's why I like to listen to the live (or recorded live) performances on NPR.

I think the recording industry has a role in this as well. Back in the days of 78s (yes I'm that old) and then 33 1/3 most orchestras had to record without interruption. Splicing and smoothing was difficult. With digital this is so different - a weak string section can be easily boosted, etc etc. That's why I like to listen to the live (or recorded live) performances on NPR.

Not only is sound more homogenized but also performances too. I guess that is inevitable in a world where recordings are so easily available that a performer can sample them and repeat them before coming up with his or her own performance.

Not only is sound more homogenized but also performances too. I guess that is inevitable in a world where recordings are so easily available that a performer can sample them and repeat them before coming up with his or her own performance.


A nice point. At one time we looked to the Vienna Phil to be the definitive sound of Strauss; Berlin and Beethoven; New York and Copland; etc. There was, and Karl Haas has talked about this a lot, a supposed relationship between the cultural context of the players, their geography and the cultural historical background of the composer. The theory being that if you wanted the definitive Wagner, it would be best played by a German orchestra, and so on. Of course there was a time when every player in the orchestra (and they were only men) was probably from the country of the orchestra. Any perusal of American orchestras would show an enormous diversity of backgrounds among the players and in particular the rising importance of Asian players in the string sections and the presence of many more women. I think this new diversity has greatly improved the musical and technical abilities of most symphonies and led to the problem (if it is a problem) of distinguishing the so-called best orchestras from each other.

I believe the "Big 5" American Orchestras are:

NY Phil
Chicago Symphony
Boston Symphony
Cleveland Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra


Of course this doesn't necessarily mean anything except that these 5 are the most famous all around the world.

Seattle has the Seattle Symphony which plays in Benaroya Hall.

http://www.djc.com/stories/images/20001116/aebenaroya.jpg

Check out this site that shows the new Calatrava design for the ASO and also discusses the economic impact of the orchestra on the region.

http://www.atlantasymphonycenter.org/

The Austin Symphony Orchestra

http://www.austinsymphony.org/

Soon to be performing here...

http://www.artscenterstage.org/images/04_SiteEntry.jpg

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra became the first US orchestra to put tracks on iTunes.

So you classical music fanatics, go to iTunes and go crazy!!!!

I've never been to an MSO perfomance. I have never been to an orchestra performance. Anywhere.

Hey fiddler on the roof ... yeah, you. You're in Milwaukee. How is the MSO? I wouldn't know.