The Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra, and the resident summer orchestra of the

Chautauqua Institution The Chautauqua Institution ( ) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit education center and summer resort for adults and youth located on in Chautauqua, New York, northwest of Jamestown in the Western Southern Tier of New York State. Established in 1874, the ...

in western

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

. Founded in 1929, the ensemble plays concerts on most Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday nights throughout the Institution's nine-week summer season, in the Amphitheater of the facility. The CSO draws its members principally from US professional orchestras. In addition to standard concerts, the CSO also accompanies programs with the Chautauqua Ballet Company and the

Chautauqua Opera The Chautauqua Opera is the resident summer opera company of the Chautauqua Institution. It is one of the oldest continuously active summer opera companies in the U.S, having been founded in 1929 as the Chautauqua Opera Association, and it has pro ...

Young Artists. In 1903, Henry B. Vincent, the institution's assistant music director, formed an initial in-house orchestra of 21 musicians. The New York Symphony Orchestra gave concerts at the institution as a visiting ensemble between 1909 and 1929. In 1929, the institution formally established the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra as its resident orchestra, with Albert Stoessel as its first music director of the orchestra, from 1929 through his death in 1943. Simultaneously, Stossel directed opera activities and the school of music at Chautauqua. Successors to Stossel included Franco Autori (1943-1953) and

Walter Hendl Walter Hendl (January 12, 1917April 10, 2007) was an American conductor, composer and pianist. Biography Hendl was born in West New York, New Jersey, and later went on to study with Fritz Reiner at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia ...

(1953-1972), the latter the longest-serving music director of the ensemble. Since July 2015, the current music director is

Rossen Milanov Rossen Milanov ( bg, Росен Миланов) is a Bulgarian conductor. He is Music Director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra & New Jersey's Symphony in C. He is also Principal Conductor of Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias, in ...

, whom the Chautauqua Institution appointed to the post in October 2014. In September 2015, the Chautauqua Institution announced the extension of Milanov's contract through 2019.

Music directors

* Albert Stoessel (1929–1943) * Franco Autori (1943–1953) *

(1953–1972) *

Sergiu Comissiona Sergiu Comissiona (June 16, 1928 – March 5, 2005) was a Romanian-Israelis, Israeli-Americans, American Conducting, conductor and violinist. Biography Early life Born in Bucharest, Romania in a Jewish family, he began violin studies at the ag ...

(1977–1980) *

Varujan Kojian Varujan Kojian (March 12, 1935; Beirut, LebanonMarch 4, 1993; Santa Barbara, California) was an Armenian-American conductor from Beirut, Lebanon. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris and by 1956 joined Los Angeles Philharmonic where he became an ...

(1980–1984) *

Joseph Silverstein Joseph Harry Silverstein (March 21, 1932 – November 21, 2015) was an American violinist and conductor. Known to family, friends and colleagues as "Joey", Silverstein was born in Detroit. As a youth, Silverstein studied with his father, Bernard ...

(1986–1990) *

Uri Segal Uri Segal (born 7 March 1944, Jerusalem) is an Israeli musical conductor. Segal studied violin and conducting at the Rubin Academy of Music (now the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance). From 1966 to 1969, he attended the Guildhall School of Mus ...

(1990–2007) *

Stefan Sanderling Stefan Sanderling (born 2 August 1964 in East Berlin, East Germany) is an orchestral conductor. He is the son of the conductor Kurt Sanderling and the double-bass player Barbara Sanderling. His half-brother is the conductor Thomas Sanderling. ...

(2007–2010) *

(2015–present)

References

External links

Official orchestra home page

Official Chautauqua Institution page on the history of the orchestra

Chautauqua Institution, 'Chautauqua Institution names Rossen Milanov as Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra Music Director'. October 2014 (undated announcement; month inferred from separate reference)
Chautauqua Institution Musical groups established in 1929 Orchestras based in New York (state) {{US-orchestra-stub