The Asheville Symphony Orchestra is a professional

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 ...

Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous city ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

, United States. The symphony's current conductor and Music Director is Darko Butorac who succeeded Daniel Meyer in 2018.

History

Lamar Stringfield organized and conducted orchestra concerts in Asheville beginning in the mid-1920s. He formed the predecessor to the Asheville Symphony Orchestra for an exhibition concert in 1927 and won the Pulitzer Prize for his musical composition, ''From the Southern Mountains'' in 1928, eventually leaving Asheville to found the

North Carolina Symphony The North Carolina Symphony (NCS) is an American orchestra based in Raleigh, North Carolina, with sixty-six full-time musicians. The orchestra performs in Meymandi Concert Hall and performs occasionally with the Carolina Ballet and the Opera Com ...

Chapel Hill Chapel Hill or Chapelhill may refer to: Places Antarctica *Chapel Hill (Antarctica) Australia * Chapel Hill, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane * Chapel Hill, South Australia, in the Mount Barker council area Canada *Chapel Hill, Ottawa, a neighbo ...

in 1932. With the nation's highest per capita debt from the Great Depression, Asheville did not see another serious attempt to form a symphony orchestra until an application for incorporation was filed for the Asheville Symphony Society, Inc., in 1958. Finally established as the Asheville Symphony in 1960, the orchestra played their first concert in 1961, though not becoming a fully professional orchestra until 1977. The orchestra brought in their first resident conductor, Robert Hart Baker in 1980. Baker led the orchestra until 2004, when he was succeeded by Daniel Meyer. In 1992 the Asheville Symphony Chorus was founded by Dewitt Tipton, who served as conductor through the 2011/2012 season. Tipton's successor is Michael Lancaster. In 2000 the symphony collaborated with the Asheville Lyric Opera in a concert version of

Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long li ...

's ''

La Bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '' quadri'', '' tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuse ...

''. The current concertmaster is Jason Posnock, who is also Associate Artistic Administrator (and violin faculty) at the

Brevard Music Center Brevard Music Center is a classical music venue and festival held annually located in Brevard, North Carolina. It has been the home to their international summer institute and festival that enrolls about four hundred students, age fourteen and o ...

. In 2012, the Asheville Symphony hosted the

Cleveland Institute of Music The Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) is a private music conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1920 by Ernest Bloch, it enrolls 325 students in the conservatory and approximately 1,500 students in the preparatory and continuing educa ...

Orchestra, marking CIM Orchestra's first performance outside the state of

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

. Other notable musicians who have appeared with the orchestra include

Emanuel Ax Emanuel "Manny" Ax (born 8 June 1949) is a Grammy-winning American classical pianist. He is a teacher in the Juilliard School. Early life Ax was born to a Polish-Jewish family in Lviv, Ukraine, (in what was then the Soviet Union) to Joachim and ...

, Midori, David Finckel,

Simone Dinnerstein Simone Andrea Dinnerstein (born September 18, 1972) is an American classical pianist. Education Dinnerstein was born in New York, United States to a Jewish family. She is the daughter of Renee and Simon Dinnerstein. She studied in the pre-colleg ...

, Jennifer Koh, Benjamin Hochman,

Daniil Trifonov Daniil Olegovich Trifonov (russian: Дании́л Оле́гович Три́фонов; born 5 March 1991) is a Russian pianist and composer. Described by ''The Globe and Mail'' as "arguably today's leading classical virtuoso" and by ''The Tim ...

Zuill Bailey James Zuill Bailey, better known as Zuill Bailey (born 1972) is a Grammy Award-winning American cellist, chamber musician, and artistic director. A graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and the Juilliard School, he ha ...

and many others. In 2005 the Symphony received a major grant from the Janirve Foundation (established by

Irving Jacob Reuter Irving Jacob Reuter (1885–1972) was an automotive leader in the early 1900s. In 1925 he was named general manager and president of Oldsmobile after rising through the ranks at Remy Electric and then General Motors after the two companies merg ...

). According to the company's website, the annual budget is approximately $2 million. In 2015, the Asheville Symphony launched the biennial Asheville Amadeus festival, which brings together arts groups from across the city for a 10-day festival. The inaugural festival featured a residency and performance with pianist

. The 2017 festival included a residency and performance with violinist Midori.

References

External links

Asheville Symphony official site
{{Authority control American orchestras Culture of Asheville, North Carolina Musical groups established in 1927 Musical groups from Asheville, North Carolina Performing arts in North Carolina Symphony orchestras