The Omaha Symphony is a professional
orchestra performing more than 200 concerts and presentations annually in
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest ci ...
and throughout the orchestra's home region. The orchestra was established in 1921. It is considered a major American orchestra, classified under "Group 2" among the
League of American Orchestras
The League of American Orchestras, formerly the American Symphony Orchestra League, is a North American service organization with 700 member orchestras of all budget sizes and types, plus individual and institutional members.
Based in New York Ci ...
, which ranks symphony orchestras by annual budget, with Group 1 the largest and Group 8 the smallest. Its annual budget in 2012 was approximately $7 million. The symphony has a $30 million endowment. The orchestra's home and principal venue is the 2,005-seat
Holland Performing Arts Center, the $100 million purpose-built facility designed by
Polshek Partnership
Ennead Architects LLP (/ˈenēˌad/) is a New York City-based architectural firm. The firm was founded in 1963 by James Polshek, who left the firm in 2005 when it was known as Polshek Partnership. The firm's partners renamed their practice in mi ...
that opened in October 2005. In a review, The Dallas Morning News called the Holland "one of the country's best-sounding" symphony halls.
Its music director since 2005 is
Thomas Wilkins. Wilkins lives in Omaha. He also is principal guest conductor of the
Hollywood Bowl Orchestra The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (HBO) is a symphony orchestra which is managed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and plays the vast majority of its performances at the Hollywood Bowl.
John Mauceri led the orchestra from its founding in 1990 ...
, which is under the auspices of the
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...
. Wilkins also is the Germeshausen Family and Youth Concerts Conductor for the
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881 ...
since 2011; the Boston Globe named him among the "Best People and Ideas of 2011." Before his Omaha post, Wilkins was resident conductor of the
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Michigan. Its primary performance venue is Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood. Jader Bignamini is the current music ...
. Since the 1992/93 season,
Ernest Richardson has served as the Omaha Symphony's resident conductor. Prior to coming to Omaha, Richardson was a violist with the
Phoenix Symphony
The Phoenix Symphony is an American symphony orchestra based in Phoenix, Arizona. The orchestra performs primarily at Phoenix Symphony Hall, and is the only full-time, professional orchestra in the state of Arizona.
History
Founded in 1947, the ...
.
In 2002, under the baton of then-Music Director
Victor Yampolsky, the orchestra performed the world premiere of
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimalism, being built up from repetitive p ...
's ''Piano Concerto No. 2 (After Lewis and Clark''). It regularly performs with some of the world's most highly regarded musicians, including
Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman ( he, יצחק פרלמן; born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist widely considered one of the greatest violinists in the world. Perlman has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that hav ...
,
Pinchas Zukerman
Pinchas Zukerman ( he, פנחס צוקרמן, born 16 July 1948) is an Israeli-American violinist, violist and conductor.
Life and career
Zukerman was born in Tel Aviv, to Jewish parents and Holocaust survivors Yehuda and Miriam Lieberman Zuk ...
,
Joshua Bell
Joshua David Bell (born December 9, 1967) is an American violinist and conductor. He plays the Gibson Stradivarius.
Early life and education
Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, to Shirley Bell, a therapist, and Alan P. Bell, a psychologi ...
and
Renee Fleming, whose 1990 performance of Maria Padilla with
Opera Omaha
Opera Omaha is a major regional opera company in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1958, the professional company is widely known for the International Fall Festival events it held in the 1980s and 1990s, which garnered international attention and served ...
, for which the Omaha Symphony is the resident orchestra, is considered a major debut and a springboard for her noted career.
About
The Omaha Symphony presents more than 200 live performances from September through June. Its season series includes: MasterWorks, SymphonyPops, SymphonyJoslyn, Family, Movie Music, SymphonyRocks and a series of special concerts. The orchestra tours the Midwest region each year. The orchestra reaches an estimated audience of 300,000 annually; its concerts also are broadcast on radio in Omaha and throughout the region. The full orchestra includes 92 musicians.
The symphony also performs a six-concert chamber orchestra series at the
Joslyn Art Museum
The Joslyn Art Museum is the principal fine arts museum in the state of Nebraska, United States. Located in Omaha, it was opened in 1931 at the initiative of Sarah H. Joslyn in memory of her husband, businessman George A. Joslyn. It is the only ...
.
The orchestra also performs dozens of outreach and school concerts through its Mission: Imagination!, Concerts for Youth, Music Alive!, and Celebrate Creativity programs, reaching more than 40,000 students and preschoolers, among others. Through its participation in the Carnegie Hall Link Up program, the Omaha Symphony reaches an additional 5,000 area youth. The symphony orchestra in 2010 won the Leonard Bernstein Award for Educational Programming, a national honor given by Ascap, or the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. The award is given to an orchestra that focuses on introducing new audiences to new works.
New Music
The orchestra commissioned and performed the world premiere of the Grammy award-winning composer
Michael Daugherty
Michael Kevin Daugherty (born April 28, 1954) is an American composer, pianist, and teacher. He is influenced by popular culture, Romanticism, and Postmodernism. Daugherty's notable works include his Superman comic book-inspired ''Metropolis Sym ...
's ''Trail of Tears'' Flute Concerto. Flautist Amy Porter performed the work with the Omaha orchestra at its premiere on March 26, 2010.
The orchestra commissioned the 2005
Joan Tower
Joan Tower (born September 6, 1938)http://www.schirmer.com/default.aspx?TabId=2419&State_2872=2&ComposerId_2872=1605 Biography on Schirmer is a Grammy-winning contemporary American composer, concert pianist and conductor. Lauded by ''The New Yo ...
work ''
Purple Rhapsody'', which the Omaha Symphony also performed in a world premiere in Columbus, Ohio.
In 1978, the orchestra performed the U.S. premiere of
Henry Cowell
Henry Dixon Cowell (; March 11, 1897 – December 10, 1965) was an American composer, writer, pianist, publisher and teacher. Marchioni, Tonimarie (2012)"Henry Cowell: A Life Stranger Than Fiction" ''The Juilliard Journal''. Retrieved 19 June 20 ...
's 1928 Piano Concerto under the baton of then-Music Director
Thomas Briccetti.
The symphony each year sponsors the Omaha Symphony New Music Symposium, an international call for new works. In 2012, Pulitzer Prize and Grammy-winning composer
William Bolcom
William Elden Bolcom (born May 26, 1938) is an American composer and pianist. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, a Grammy Award, the Detroit Music Award and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America. H ...
judged new works and offered master classes for those selected to participate. The Omaha Symphony Guild sponsors the symposium, and pays the expenses of those chosen to participate. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer
Joseph Schwantner
Joseph Clyde Schwantner (born March 22, 1943, Chicago, Illinois) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer, educator and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 2002. He was awarded the 1970 Charles Ives Prize.
Schwantner ...
also has mentored the participating new music composers. The top prize comes with a $3,000 stipend and a recorded performance with the Omaha Symphony's Chamber Orchestra.
The orchestra each year also plays host to the Omaha Symphony Conductors Symposium, which exposes young conductors from around the world to masters of the craft.
Guild
The Omaha Symphony Guild, made of community volunteers and which exists to support the symphony orchestra, has a mission to, "promote the growth and development of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra for the pleasure and education of residents of Greater Omaha and the States of Nebraska and Iowa." With a history extending since 1956, the Guild has had a hand in organizing a youth symphony, community outreach events and study circles on music, among other activities throughout the region.
Leadership
The music directors of the Omaha Symphony:
#
Henry Cox (1921-1924)
#
Sandor Harmati
Sandor Harmati (9 July 18924 April 1936) was a Hungarian-American violinist, conductor and composer, best known for his song " Bluebird of Happiness" written in 1934 for Jan Peerce.
Biography
Sandor Harmati (''Harmati Sándor'' in Hungarian orthog ...
(1925-1929)
#
Joseph Littau(1930-1932)
#
Rudolph Ganz
Rudolph Ganz (24 February 1877 – 2 August 1972) was a Swiss-born American pianist, conductor, composer, and music educator.
Career Early career as a pianist and conductor
Born in Zurich, Ganz studied cello with Friedrich Hegar and piano ...
(1936-1941)
#
Richard Duncan (1940-1943, 1947-1952, 1954-1958)
#
Emil Wishnow (1952-1954)
#
Joseph Levine(1959-1969)
#
Yuri Krasnapolsky (1970-1974)
#
Thomas Briccetti(1975-1984)
#
Bruce Hangen(1984-1995)
#
Victor Yampolsky (1995-2004)
#
Thomas Wilkins (2005–Present)
# Ankush Kumar Bahl (Music Director Designate - Beginning 2021)
History
In 1949, trombone player
Helen Jones Woods
Helen Elizabeth Jones Woods (October 9 or November 14, 1923 – July 25, 2020) was an American jazz and swing trombone player renowned for her performances with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. She was inducted into the Omaha Black Mus ...
joined the Omaha Symphony but was dismissed after her father picked her up from a performance, tipping off the orchestra that she was not white.
See also
*
Culture in Omaha
*
Music in Omaha
References
External links
Omaha Symphony OrchestraOmaha Symphony GuildOmaha Symphony BlogOmaha Symphony Facebook
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Symphony orchestras
Musical groups established in 1921
American orchestras
Musical groups from Omaha, Nebraska
Organizations based in Omaha, Nebraska
Wikipedia requested audio of orchestras
Performing arts in Nebraska