West Side Community Concerts, Inc., renamed West Side Orchestral Concerts, Inc. in 1968, were an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

summer classical concert series given by a 40-piece orchestra, The Festival Symphony Orchestra. The series debuted in the summer of 1962 and continued until 1977.

Frédérique Petrides Frédérique Petrides (pronounced peh TREE dis), (September 26, 1903 – January 12, 1983), was a Belgian-American conductor and violinist. In 1933, she founded and conducted the Orchestrette Classique in New York. It consisted of women music ...

(1903–1983) was its founder, organizer and musical director. The first concert in 1962, took place at 73rd Street, in Riverside Park, but in 1963 the series moved to its permanent location, a spacious sports arena, with the Hudson River as a backdrop, at 103rd Street in Riverside Park, Manhattan, New York, where, for the concerts, a temporary acoustical shell was brought in. The series was publicized and referred to as " Tanglewood around the corner". The concerts were well received by the press, attended by as many as 4,500, and broadcast live on WNYC radio.

Founder and conductor, Frédérique Petrides

Prior to founding the West Side Community Concerts/West Side Orchestral Concerts,

, a pioneer in her field, had founded the

Orchestrette Classique Orchestrette Classique, later called Orchestrette of New York (1932–1943) was an American chamber orchestra in New York made up of women musicians. It was founded in 1932 by conductor Frédérique Petrides (1903–1983), who served as conducto ...

, an all-women's chamber orchestra, which existed from 1932 to 1943, premiered works by new American composers, such as

Paul Creston Paul Creston (born Giuseppe Guttoveggio; October 10, 1906 – August 24, 1985) was an Italian American composer of classical music. Biography Born in New York City to Sicilian immigrants, Creston was self-taught as a composer. His work tends ...

Samuel Barber Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. The music critic Donal Henahan said, "Proba ...

and David Diamond; and gave five to six concerts annually in Carnegie chamber Music Hall, now Weill Recital Hall, founded the Carl Schurz Park concert series on Manhattan's Upper East Side in 1958, founded the Hudson Valley Symphony Orchestra in Tarrytown, New York in the 1930s, and founded the Student Symphony Society in New York City in 1950. Petrides was also editor and publisher of the ''Women in Music'' newsletters, that, in the 1930s, were published in New York and circulated internationally.

An eye for possibilities

Petrides launched and directed two separate outdoor summer orchestra festivals, both in Manhattan neighborhoods where she lived. The first series, begun in 1958, was in Carl Schurz Park on the Upper East Side, adjacent to East End Avenue, where she had lived from 1931 to 1958. The second, West Side Community Concerts was launched in 1962, in Riverside Park on the Upper West Side, close to West 78th Street, where she lived from 1958 to 1983.

The Festival Symphony Orchestra

It was for the Carl Schurz Park concerts, near Gracie Mansion, that

first organized and directed her Festival Symphony Orchestra, composed primarily of members of the New York Philharmonic. This continued to be her orchestra as leader of the West Side Community Concerts/West Side Orchestral Concerts series.

About the musicians

Petrides had this to say: "I had very fine musicians to work with." "It was necessary to be well-organized because there was only limited time to rehearse. I talked very little but would get down to the business of rehearsing immediately. A woman must be better than a man if she is to conduct prestigious groups, and I made it my career always to be 100 percent prepared and know all the scores tremendously well. I never encountered a problem conducting all-male orchestras, and we always worked well together."

The organization

*The concerts were presented under the auspices of "West Side Community Concerts, Inc." and then "West Side Orchestral Concerts, Inc." *The musicians were funded, in part, by a grant from The Recording Industries Trust Fund, obtained with assistance from Local 802 of the

American Federation of Musicians The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM/AFofM) is a 501(c)(5) labor union representing professional instrumental musicians in the United States and Canada. The AFM, which has its headquarters in New York City, ...

. *The New York City Department of Parks coordinated efforts with West Side Community Concerts/West Side Orchestral Concerts. *Harry B. Frank (1905–1996) of the

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

served as Founding Chairman of the organization. Gladys Steinholz (' Garf; 1901–1967) later served as Chairman.

Publicist and manager, Peter Petrides

For more than forty years,

' conducting career was abetted by her husband, journalist, Peter Petrides (1896–1978), who acted as manager and publicist for the concerts. He was born Petros Agathangelos Petrides into a Greek family in Caratepeh, Turkey and grew up in Constantinople. After emigrating to the United States, as a young man, he became a writer for and Managing Editor of the Greek-American newspaper, The National Herald (not to be mistaken for the newspaper of the same name that was established in 1997). " I could never have done ywork without his continuous help and encouragement...He was a wonderful Publicity Man, full of creative ideas..."

Combining the old with the new

"Madame

is a telented and dedicated pioneer conductor. She has the breadth and depth of knowledge and perceptive ability to delve into little - known scores and present new and different listening experiences. That she was able to combine in her programs new music with little - known classical compositions made a unique contribution to the American musical scene. Why would a conductor choose this direction? She etridesanswers, 'I needed to attract attention in order to receive the support of a listening public as well as support from the higher echelon in the music circle of fine musicians and critics. There was a wealth of music on library shelves and it had not been explored. There were works by

classical composers This is a list of classical music composers by era. With the exception of the overview, the Modernist era has been combined with the Postmodern. Overview Preset = TimeHorizontal_AutoPlaceBars_UnitYear ImageSize = width:1100 height:auto bari ...

and these had never been performed in America. Modern works needed public performances, too. People are instinctively attracted to new listening experiences--how else can there be musical growth? I continually accomplished this goal by offering something different.'"

Press

Among the leading critics who, during the fifteen years of its existence, closely followed and reviewed the West Side Community Concerts/West Side Orchestral Concerts series were Francis D. Perkins of the ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

'', Howard Klein,

Theodore Strongin Theodore Strongin (December 10, 1918 – November 24, 1998) was an American music critic, composer, flautist, and entomologist. Life and career Born in New York City, Strongin grew up in Darien, Connecticut. He studied both music and biology a ...

and Raymond Ericson of '' The New York Times''; and Robert Sherman, also with ''The New York Times'', who in the July 3, 1970 edition of that paper wrote of

as "a prime mover in New York's cultural affairs since the mid-thirties".

Notable concert in memoriam

* June 14, 1965 — The Festival Orchestra with choir performed Haydn's '' Mass in Time of War'' in memory of Andrew Goodman, a young West Sider who was killed in

Neshoba County Neshoba County is located in the central part of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 29,087. Its county seat is Philadelphia. It was named after ''Nashoba'', a Choctaw chief. His name means "wolf" in the ...

, Mississippi. His friends, civil rights coworkers, and family were in an audience of about 2,000.

(1918–1998), ''Riverside Park Scene of Concert,'' The New York Times, June 15, 1965

Images, and guide to papers

Frédérique Petrides Photos New York Public LibraryFrédérique Petrides Papers New York Public Library

References

{{reflist, 2 Music festivals established in 1968 Classical music festivals in the United States Recurring events established in 1961 Musical groups established in 1961 Culture of New York City Orchestral music 1961 establishments in New York City