The Westchester Philharmonic is a professional symphony

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 ...

based in

Westchester County, New York Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...

, United States. The orchestra performs in the concert hall of the Performing Arts Center at

Purchase College Purchasing is the process a business or organization uses to acquire goods or services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary greatly between ...

. The orchestra was founded in 1983 by a group of music lovers, led by

flutist The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with Reed (instrument), reeds, a fl ...

Paul Lustig Dunkel Paul Lustig Dunkel (July 22, 1943 – January 14, 2018) was an American flutist and conductor. From 1983 to 2008, he served as music director of the Westchester Philharmonic. He also taught at the New England Conservatory, the Eastman School ...

, who served for 25 years as the orchestra's music director and conductor. The orchestra originally was known as the New Orchestra of Westchester. In the early 1990s, the name Westchester Philharmonic was adopted. The orchestra has developed a reputation for presenting new compositions and upcoming artists. A piece commissioned by the Philharmonic from composer

Melinda Wagner Melinda Jane Wagner (born 1957 in Philadelphia) is a US composer, and winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize in music. Her undergraduate degree is from Hamilton College. She received her graduates degrees from University of Chicago and University of P ...

, '' Concerto for Flute, Strings, and Percussion'', was awarded a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

in 1999. The orchestra was also among the first to present

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist

Midori Goto , who performs under the mononym Midori, is a Japanese-born American violinist. She made her debut with the New York Philharmonic at age 11 as a surprise guest soloist at the New Year's Eve Gala in 1982. In 1986 her performance at the Tanglewood ...

in concert. In 2006, Dunkel announced he would retire as music director and conductor after the Philharmonic's 25th anniversary season. In November, 2007, the orchestra announced the appointment of

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 ...

as artistic director and principal conductor. Perlman debuted as the orchestra's conductor on October 11, 2008 in an all-

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

program; the

Emperor Concerto The Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, known as the Emperor Concerto in English-speaking countries, is a concerto composed by Ludwig van Beethoven for piano and orchestra. Beethoven composed the concerto in 1809 under salary in Vienna ...

with

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

Leon Fleisher Leon Fleisher (July 23, 1928 – August 2, 2020) was an American classical pianist, conductor and pedagogue. He was one of the most renowned pianists and pedagogues in the world. Music correspondent Elijah Ho called him "one of the most re ...

and Symphony No. 7. The orchestra is currently led by two principal conductors renowned violinist Jaime Laredo and award-winning Broadway conductor Ted Sperling.

References

Westchester Philharmonic websiteBloomberg News article on Perlman appointment"Itzhak Perlman Named Artistic Director of Westchester Philharmonic," ''The Journal News''
* ttps://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/nyregion/two-westchester-orchestras-two-approaches-to-leadership.html "Two Orchestras, Two Approaches to Leadership," ''The New York Times'' {{Authority control Culture of Westchester County, New York Musical groups established in 1983 Orchestras based in New York (state)