The Anchorage Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is a professional symphony
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
located in
Anchorage
Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...
,
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
.
Randall Craig Fleischer was the Music Director until his passing in 2020. Elizabeth Schulze is the current Artistic Advisor and Chief Conductor while the ASO searches for a new Music Director. Linn Weeda is the assistant director and conductor.
The Anchorage Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1946, more than a decade before Alaska became a state, by a consortium of like-minded musicians looking for a musical outlet. Their first program collaborated with the
Anchorage Little Theatre for a production of
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
' ''
A Christmas Carol
''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas C ...
''. From their original size of 17, the ASO grew through the 1950s, hiring Peter Britch as conductor, and increasing to 32 members.
Anchorage, however, continued to grow with the development of the City of Anchorage as the
North Slope oil fields grew and with the continued military presence of
Elmendorf Air Force Base
Elmendorf Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) facility in Anchorage, Alaska. Originally known as Elmendorf Field, it became Elmendorf Air Force Base after World War II.
It is the home of the Headquarters, Alaskan Air Command (AL ...
, the ASO by the 1980s crossed the threshold as a semi-professional ensemble. Today the organization boasts of an
endowment, a board of directors, and 80 audition-entranced musicians in its ranks. In 2001, the symphony garnered the Mayor's Arts Award for an Outstanding Arts Organization and the Governor's Arts Award for an Outstanding Arts Organization.
The Anchorage Symphony performs in the
Alaska Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Anchorage. Music educator
Lorene Harrison
Lorene Harrison (1905–2005) was an American educator, singer, choir director, and milliner. In 2009, she was inaugurated into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame.
Early life and education
Lorene Cuthbertson was born in 1905 in Sterling, Kansas ...
worked with the ASO among other area arts organizations.
See also
*
Anchorage Youth Symphony
*
Juneau Symphony The Juneau Symphony is a semi-professional symphony orchestra located in Juneau, Alaska.
History
The Juneau Symphony was founded in 1962 by high school music teacher Cliff Berge and his wife Gladys to give local musicians in Alaska’s capital city ...
*
Music of Alaska
The music of Alaska (Iñupiaq language, Iñupiaq: ''Alaaskam atuutiŋit'') is a broad artistic field incorporating many cultures.
History and overview
Alaska's original music belongs to the Inupiaq, Aleut people, Aleut, Tlingit people, Tlin ...
References
External links
*
American orchestras
Musical groups established in 1946
Tourist attractions in Anchorage, Alaska
1946 establishments in Alaska
Orchestras based in Alaska
Film scores
Video game musicians
Native American musical groups
{{US-orchestra-stub
Musical groups from Anchorage, Alaska