The Schenectady Symphony Orchestra
Our Mission
We are a community-based symphony orchestra founded in 1934 whose objectives are cultural enrichment, music education and appreciation, and provision of an outlet for the talents of accomplished musicians in the community.
In Concert With The Community
The Schenectady Symphony Orchestra is a talented group of more than seventy musicians, working under the leadership of award-winning Music Director Charles Schneider. To reach a broad audience, we provide live performances of classical music in several formats and venues.
Traditional programs in our four-part subscription series feature strong solo performances by Symphony members and guest artists. Our repertoire includes consistent favorites and introduces lesser-known works, as well as works by local composers. Occasional family concerts provide music in a short program format that appeals to all ages, while our free outdoor summer concerts draw local families and adult audiences from the surrounding community.
The Schenectady Symphony Orchestra’s music education and appreciation efforts are aimed at fostering an appreciation of classical music among young audiences, including those who are traditionally underserved, exposing the public to varied and challenging musical experiences, and providing opportunities to develop and showcase the talents of young musicians.
The Schenectady Symphony Orchestra provides an outlet for the talents of accomplished musicians in the community by seeking the best musicians available by holding annual auditions. We recently surveyed our musicians and discovered that 90% lived within a 45-minute radius of Schenectady. These talented musicians are part of the fabric of that community as music teachers, business owners, doctors, engineers, community volunteers and many other capacities.
As a community organization governed by an active board of directors drawn from and representative of the community, we recognize that we have a responsibility to contribute to the economic, social and educational development of the region.
Meeting our responsibility to contribute to the economic and social development of the region, we:
- Collaborate with other arts, civic and cultural organizations to identify opportunities for growth: and
- Seek ways to use our unique musical resources in support of regional development.
Meeting our responsibility to contribute to the social and educational development of the region, we;
- Bring high quality live classical performances to the community;
- Provide a variety of avenues for audiences to participate in the experience; and
- Work actively to develop and present talented musicians, predominately local.
We contribute to education by:
- Offering pre-concert lectures to enhance appreciation and understanding of the upcoming concert;
- Reinforcing NYS fine arts standards for music education through ensemble presentations at elementary, junior and senior high schools;
- Fostering excellence in promising young musicians through our Stefan Scholarship Competition, funded by the league of the Schenectady Orchestra;
- Promoting piano performance and skills through our Parillo Piano Competition for students ages 13-18;
- Providing tickets to our subscription series for area school children through our BOCES ticket program;
- Working with local High School musicians through occasional shared-stands concerts with the entire orchestra.
In order to achieve consistent high quality, we have secured and developed:
- A creative and talented music director to design a varied repertoire and direct the orchestra in performing that repertoire,
- Dedicated and talented musicians who enjoy being part of the Symphony and can perform consistently well,
- A concert hall with good acoustics for symphonic music,
We need to continue to develop a broad base of corporate, individual and government funding to finance salaries and performances expenses.
We contribute to economic development by:
- Supporting local business in our activities;
- Providing an additional employment avenue for professional musicians who live in the area;
- Attracting audiences to the region for our subscription concerts, family and outdoor concerts;
- Enhancing the “quality of life’ available to employees and executives of businesses in the area;
We contribute to family life by:
- Presenting live, high quality symphonic performances for less than the cost of attending a movie;
- Making family concerts a family friendly experience;
- Encouraging family attendance by providing free children’s tickets when children are accompanied by an adult;
- And providing free outdoor summer concerts
We contribute to social development by:
- Making the experience accessible to members of the public through donations of tickets to nonprofit organizations in the community
- Offering post-concert dinners, encouraging relationships between musicians and community members
We contribute to the arts community by:
- Participating in collaborative efforts to increase the availability of performing arts in the community’ and
- Supporting the activities of other arts organizations.
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432 State Street, Schenectady, NY 12309 518-372-2500
Website designed and maintained by Michael Chu, 2012
432 State Street
Schenectady, NY 12305
