The Syracuse Symphony Orchestra (SSO) was a 79-member

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

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

. In its time it was the 43rd largest orchestra in the United States and performed a variety of programs including the Post-Standard Classics Series and M&T Bank Pops Series. The orchestra also operated two youth orchestras in the Syracuse area: the Syracuse Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Syracuse Symphony Youth String Orchestra.

History

It was founded in 1961 as a community orchestra by a grant from the Gifford Foundation. Its first Music Director was

Karl Kritz Karl Kritz (1906 – 17 December 1969) was an Austrian conductor. Born in Vienna, he sang in the Vienna Boys Choir as a child. He studied with Franz Schmidt at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. After graduating, he pursued furt ...

, assisted by Benson Snyder and Carolyn Hopkins. In its first season it performed four subscription concerts at the Lincoln High School and eight young people's concerts plus one pops concert. By the end of its third season, permanent chamber groups had been formed - a string quartet, a woodwind quintet, a brass quintet and a percussion ensemble. Assisted by a

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

Challenge Grant, their budget grew, and recordings were regularly being broadcast on WONO-FM. A new location was found for their regular concerts at

Henninger High School Anthony A. Henninger High School is a high school in the Syracuse City School District. Henninger is the largest of the four high schools in the district with an enrollment of approximately 1800 students. History Henninger High School was bui ...

, while regional concerts in

Watertown Watertown may refer to: Places in China In China, a water town is a type of ancient scenic town known for its waterways. Places in the United States *Watertown, Connecticut, a New England town **Watertown (CDP), Connecticut, the central village ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and Cortland followed. In 1975, the orchestra moved into its last home, the Crouse Hinds Theater in the John H. Mulroy Civic Center Theaters at Oncenter. In 2011, the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy; a core group of forty musicians continued as self-managed Symphony Syracuse. On December 14, 2012, musician-owned and operated organization Musical Associates of Central New York announced their new orchestra in Syracuse, named

Symphoria Symphoria is a musician-led co-operative orchestra in Syracuse, New York, founded in 2012. History The former Syracuse Symphony Orchestra filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2011. Symphoria was launched as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit A 501(c)(3) org ...

List of Musical Directors

(1961–1969) * Frederik Prausnitz (1971–1975) *

Christopher Keene Christopher Keene (December 21, 1946 – October 8, 1995) was an American conductor. Early life and education Keene was born in 1946 in Berkeley, California, the son of Yvonne (née Cyr) and Jim Keene. His mother was of Acadian, German, and Sco ...

(1975–1985) *

Kazuyoshi Akiyama is a Japanese conductor. Biography Born into a musical family, he studied piano at the Toho Gakuen School of Music, but was fascinated by the conducting activities of a fellow student, Seiji Ozawa. He decided to study conducting with Hideo S ...

(1985–1992) *

Fabio Mechetti Fabio Mechetti (born 27 August 1957, São Paulo) is a Brazilian conductor. Biography Mechetti has master's degrees in conducting and composition from the Juilliard School of Music. He won the 1989 Malko International Conducting Competition in D ...

(1992–1999) * Daniel Hege (1999–2011)

Programming

In addition to its main series of programs, the Post-Standard Classics Series, M&T Bank Pops Series, Central New York Community Foundation Family Series, and the Stained Glass Series, the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra took part in local educational youth programs, and free summer parks concerts. It also played for Syracuse Opera performances. Performances were broadcast twice weekly on

WCNY-FM WCNY-FM (Classic FM) is a public radio station in Syracuse, New York that plays classical music and is a National Public Radio (NPR) member station. Broadcasting on 91.3 MHz, the station is owned and operated by The Public Broadcasting Council ...

Awards

In 1999 the orchestra was presented with the Governor’s Arts Award in recognition of its activities within the region.

Finances

The orchestra was a non-profit organization which was supported in part through its volunteer organization, the Syracuse Symphony Association and a 60-member board of directors. Twice in its history the orchestra had been forced to cut short its season due to budgetary issues. The first time was in the spring of 1992 and the second in the spring of 2011. In both cases the orchestra could not raise enough funds to cover its operating budget for the year. In early April 2011, the orchestra announced plans to file for bankruptcy under Chapter 7, a chapter of the U.S. bankruptcy code that indicates that the organization planned to

liquidate Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign coun ...

itself and go out of operation. Unfunded

pension A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

obligations were blamed.

References

{{Authority control Disbanded American orchestras Culture of Syracuse, New York Musical groups established in 1961 Musical groups disestablished in 2011 Orchestras based in New York (state) 1961 establishments in New York (state) 2011 disestablishments in New York (state)