Blaisdell Concert Hall - Honolulu 10-Feb-2010

The Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, formerly known as Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, was founded in 1900. It is the second oldest orchestra in the USA west of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

. The orchestra now plays at

Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall The Neal S. Blaisdell Center is a community center near downtown Honolulu, Hawaii. The complex has a multi-purpose arena, concert hall, exhibition hall, galleria, meeting rooms, Waikiki Shell and others. Constructed in 1964 on the historic Wa ...

and the Hawaii Theatre Center in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

. The orchestra was originally housed in a clubhouse on the slopes of Punchbowl. From 1996 to 2004, the orchestra was under the direction of conductor

Samuel Wong Samuel Wong () is a Hong Kong-born Canadian conductor and ophthalmologistbr> Trained at Harvard Medical School and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Dr. Wong is an eye surgeon practicing in Manhattan and Brooklyn. In anoth ...

. In August 2007,

Andreas Delfs Andreas Delfs (born 30 August 1959) is a German Conductor (music), conductor. He is the music director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Biography Delfs was born in Flensburg, We ...

, current

music director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the d ...

of the

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The orchestra performs primarily at the Bradley Symphony Center in Allen-Bradley Hall. The orchestra also serves as the orchestra for Florentine ...

, officially became

principal conductor Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or Choir, choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary ...

of the orchestra. He led seven concerts per season in the orchestra's Halekulani Masterworks series. From 2010 to present, JoAnn Falletta has served as the artistic advisor of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra. Ignace Jang is

concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (U.K.) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (or clarinet in a concert band). After the conductor, the concertmaster is the second-most signifi ...

. Previous music directors included

Fritz Hart Fritz Bennicke Hart (11 February 1874 – 9 July 1949) was an English composer, conductor, teacher and unpublished novelist, who spent considerable periods in Australia and Hawaii. Early life Hart was born at Brockley, Greenwich, England, eldest ...

(1937–49),

George Barati George Barati (born György Braunstein) (April 3, 1913, Győr, Hungary - June 22, 1996, San Jose, California) was a Hungarian-American cellist, composer, and conductor. Barati studied under Zoltán Kodály and Leo Weiner while a student at the L ...

(1950-1967),

Robert La Marchina The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

Donald Johanos Donald George Johanos (February 10, 1928 – May 29, 2007) was a conductor and music director with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. He was recognized for his support of contemporary classical music. He performed o ...

(1979–94) and

JoAnn Falletta JoAnn Falletta (born February 27, 1954 in Queens, New York) is an American conductor. Biography Falletta was raised in the borough of Queens in an Italian-American household. She was educated at the Mannes College of Music and The Juilliard Sch ...

(artistic advisor). In 2014, the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra debuted its popular series musicthatPOPS, featuring Broadway music, Disney in Concert, Cirque de la Symphonie and Zelda in Concert, among others.

History

The symphony has undergone a series of transformations over the course of its first century. It has endured two World Wars, the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, financial crises, and changing musical and cultural fashions. On October 30, 2009, the Honolulu Symphony Society's board of directors voted to file for

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

protection. On November 6, 2009, the symphony announced the cancellation of concerts for the remainder of the 2009–2010 season. The organization said it was $1 million in debt and did not have enough money to support operations into November and beyond. In 2010, facing a multimillion-dollar deficit, the symphony disbanded under

Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code) governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States, in contrast to Chapters 11 and 13, which govern the process of ''reorganization'' of a debtor. ...

, but was revived the next year under the new name "Hawaii Symphony Orchestra" by a group of Honolulu businessmen.

was appointed artistic director, and Steven Monder, former director of the

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Its primary concert venue is Music Hall. In addition to its symphony concerts, the orchestra gives pops concerts as the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. The Cincin ...

, was appointed president. In May 2010, the symphony's leaders said their goal was to decrease annual expenses to $4 million, from $8 million previously. The symphony's 40-performance calendar would also be cut in half, with performances at smaller venues and different ticket prices, aiming to fill all seats with paying customers. The symphony was given an October 15 deadline to file its Chapter 11 plan of reorganization. In December 2010 it was announced that the symphony would be liquidated under Chapter 7 and end operations after 110 years. In April 2011, a group of Hawaii businesspeople called the Symphony Exploratory Committee announced efforts to revive the symphony. The committee bought out the symphony's assets, and negotiated a new three-year contract with the musicians, planning to open a new season in fall of 2011.Symphony revived, new season planned for fall
, KHON-2, May 24, 2011

References

External links

Symphony website

Archive of Hawaii Romance Festival 2008
{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1900 Culture of Honolulu Wikipedia requested audio of orchestras Native Hawaiian musicians Musical groups from Hawaii American orchestras 1900 establishments in Hawaii Performing arts in Hawaii Orchestras based in Hawaii Video game musicians Film scores