The Oregon Symphony is an American 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

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

, United States. Founded as the 'Portland Symphony Society' in 1896, it is the sixth oldest orchestra in the United States, and oldest in the Western United States. Its home venue is the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in

downtown Portland Downtown Portland is the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found ...

's Cultural District.

History

The precursor ensemble to the orchestra gave its first concert at the Marquam Grand Theatre on October 30, 1896, with W.H. Kinross conducting 33 performers. Included on the first program was

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have le ...

's '' Surprise Symphony''. By 1899, the orchestra was performing an annual concert series (with occasional lulls). In 1902, the orchestra made its first tour of the state. Orchestra members shared ticket revenues as a cooperative, and elected their conductors in the early years.

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke ...

-trained musician

Carl Denton James Carlyle "Carl" Denton (November 21, 1874 – November 14, 1955) was an American conductor. He was the first permanent conductor of the Oregon Symphony, then known as the Portland Symphony Orchestra. Biography Denton was born at Batley, ...

was a major force in helping the Portland Symphony Society enter a new era. The board of directors was elected and a manager hired. Orchestra members continued to elect their conductors for the 1911/1912 season. The order of conductor and

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 ...

rotation was determined by drawing lots. Musicians were from the dance and theatre orchestras of Portland. Following fourteen rehearsals, the first concert of this new-era Portland Symphony Orchestra was held at 2:30 p.m. November 12, 1911 at the newly opened Heilig Theater at SW Broadway and Taylor street.

Mose Christensen Moses "Mose" Christensen (February 12, 1871 – October 30, 1920) was an American musician, and founder and conductor of the Oregon Symphony (then known as the Portland Symphony Orchestra). Biography Mose was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. His fa ...

conducted 54 performers in Dvorak's '' Symphony No. 9 in E minor'' and other works. Carl Denton conducted the second concert on December 17, 1911 followed by John Bayley on January 21, 1912 and Harold C. Bayley (the son of John Bayley) on March 3, 1912. Mose Christensen completed that season with the fifth concert on April 14, 1912. Harold Bayley, Carl Denton, and Mose Christensen also served as rotating concertmasters when they weren't conducting. The entire budget was made up of door receipts, which were divided equally except that the conductor received two shares. For the first concert, each musician received $1.45. Portland Public Auditorium circa 1918

The orchestra continued to elect rotating conductors as leaders until the symphony board appointed Carl Denton as the first permanent conductor on August 18, 1918. The orchestra began holding its concerts at Municipal Auditorium, later renamed Civic Auditorium. Under Denton, ticket sales increased and the number of musicians were therefore increased.

Theodore Spiering Theodore Bernays Spiering (September 5, 1871 – August 11, 1925) was an American violinist, conductor and teacher. Spiering was born in Old North St. Louis, Missouri, where at age five he took his first lessons in violin from his father, co ...

, who had guest conducted the orchestra, was the next appointed conductor. Spiering was unable to begin his first season as conductor because of his untimely death in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

(where he was searching for new scores for the orchestra). At the suggestion of artist manager

Arthur Judson Arthur Leon Judson (February 17, 1881 – January 28, 1975) was an artists' manager who also managed the New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra and was also the founder of CBS. He co-founded the Handel Society of New York with entrepre ...

, the symphony board next appointed Dutch conductor

Willem van Hoogstraten Willem van Hoogstraten (March 18, 1884 – September 11, 1965) was a Dutch violinist and conductor. Van Hoogstraten was born in Utrecht, and studied the violin from age eight including studies with Alexander Schmuller, and enrolled at the conserv ...

. Hoogstraten's first concert, on November 9, 1925, included Tchaikovsky's '' Symphony No. 4'', performed by 69 musicians. Some of van Hoogstraten's concerts were nationally broadcast on the radio. The orchestra was now recognized as one of the fifteen largest in the nation. During 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 ...

, the Portland Symphony Society nearly closed in 1931. A

mimeographed A mimeograph machine (often abbreviated to mimeo, sometimes called a stencil duplicator) is a low-cost duplicating machine that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper. The process is called mimeography, and a copy made by the proc ...

letter to society members pleading for donations by Isabella Gauld kept the society open. The threat of war and a budget deficit of nearly $20,000 caused the board to suspend operations in 1938. A farewell concert on February 28, 1938 featured van Hoogstraten conducting the symphony and chorus in Brahms' '' German Requiem''. There was no regular symphony season between 1938 and 1947, except for occasional concerts.b There was also a WPA Portland Federal Symphony Orchestra for one season of concerts held at the Neighbors of Woodcraft auditorium, beginning in January 1939. Misha Pelz, who had conducted the Portland Federal Symphony Band, was the regular conductor and Leslie Hodge guest conducted for two concerts. An orchestra billed as the Portland Philharmonic, with 40 musicians provided by the federal music project, held its debut concert on January 16, 1940 with Hodge conducting. Hodge announced his resignation in September 1940 and Charles Lautrop succeeded him as conductor. Directors suspended operation of this orchestra on December 30, 1940.

Reorganization

The Portland Symphony orchestra was reorganized in 1947 as a permanent professional group. Werner Janssen was engaged for two seasons as principal conductor, from 1947 to 1949, followed by James Sample (1949–1953). Guest conductors were engaged for the 1953–1955 seasons (in lieu of a principal conductor), including

Carlos Chávez Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez (13 June 1899 – 2 August 1978) was a Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by nativ ...

, Enrique Jordá,

Dimitri Mitropoulos Dimitri Mitropoulos ( el, Δημήτρης Μητρόπουλος; The dates 18 February 1896 and 1 March 1896 both appear in the literature. Many of Mitropoulos's early interviews and program notes gave 18 February. In his later interviews, howe ...

Thomas Schippers Thomas Schippers (9 March 1930 – 16 December 1977) was an American conductor. He was highly regarded for his work in opera. Biography Of Dutch ancestry and son of the owner of a large appliance store, Schippers was born in Portage, Michiga ...

, Boris Sirpo, Russell Stanger, and

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

. Theodore Bloomfield was one of these guest conductors, and he also became the next regular conductor (1955–1959). The Italian conductor

Piero Bellugi Piero Bellugi (14 July 1924 – 10 June 2012) was an Italian orchestral conductor. Life Bellugi was born in Florence, in Tuscany, on 14 July 1924. He took a diploma in violin at the Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini in that city, studying u ...

(1959–1961) became only the second non-American principal conductor since Hoogstraten. Each of these early principal conductors in the reorganized symphony era left after only a few years because the orchestra lacked financial backing. Bellugi also refused to return for a scheduled guest conductor engagement in the spring of 1962, citing the programs lacked sufficient scope for his talents. Keller Auditorium

Jacques Singer was music director of the orchestra from 1962–1972. During 1965–1967, the orchestra performed in a leased 1927 movie house, the Oriental Theatre on SE Grand Avenue between Morrison and Belmont Streets, while the Civic Auditorium was being rebuilt. In July 1966, a $1.25 million

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 ...

grant was announced. In August 1967, the name was changed to the Oregon Symphony Society (and Orchestra) to reflect the wider scope of the orchestra. In the fall of 1970, the symphony board and musicians' union successfully negotiated the first two-year contract. The musicians, seeking better wages, joined the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM) in 1971. In 1970, the Oregon Symphony Pops began a longstanding working relationship with conductor

Norman Leyden Norman Fowler Leyden (October 17, 1917 – July 23, 2014) was an American conductor, composer, arranger, and clarinetist. He worked in film and television and is perhaps best known as the conductor of the Oregon Symphony Pops orchestra. He co-wro ...

, who was appointed associate conductor in January 1974. Leyden, who retired in May 2004, was honored with the lifetime title Laureate Associate Conductor. In 1973,

Lawrence Leighton Smith Lawrence Leighton Smith (April 8, 1936 - October 25, 2013), was an American conductor and pianist. Smith was born in Portland, Oregon. He studied piano with Ariel Rubstein in Portland and Leonard Shure in New York. He earned bachelor's degrees fr ...

was selected as music director, the first conductor born in Portland to lead the orchestra. He led the orchestra until 1980. Oregon Symphony ticket office, 2013

James DePreist James Anderson DePreist (November 21, 1936 – February 8, 2013) was an American conductor. DePreist was one of the first African-American conductors on the world stage. He was the director emeritus of conducting and orchestral studies at T ...

, one of the first African-American conductors, became the orchestra's conductor in 1980. In 1984, the orchestra went from part-time to full-time status. Also in 1984, the orchestra moved from Civic (now Keller) Auditorium to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. The orchestra was now able to rehearse in the same space where they performed their concerts. James DePreist's arrangement of the theme for ''

The Cosby Show ''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom co-created by and starring Bill Cosby, which aired Thursday nights for eight seasons on NBC between September 20, 1984, until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on an upper middle-class Africa ...

'' was recorded by the orchestra in May 1988 for use in the fifth season of that television program. The first out-of-state tour outside of the Pacific Northwest was made in September 1992, to the

Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018. The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distin ...

at the invitation 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 ...

. Although there were labor disagreements and brief lockouts by management in 1986 and 1989, in September 1996, the 86 musicians voted unanimously to strike for the first time. Money was the issue in negotiating a new contract. Five rehearsals and six concerts were canceled before a new four-year contract was negotiated before the end of September. The orchestra's first

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

nomination came in 2003. Principal percussionist Niel DePonte was nominated for best instrumental soloist performance with orchestra for Oregon composer Tomas Svoboda's "Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra", recorded by

Albany Records Albany Records is a record label that concentrates on unconventional contemporary classical music by American composers and musicians. It was established by Peter Kermani in 1987 and is based in Albany, New York. See also * List of record labe ...

in January 2000. A 90-minute television special from CBS affiliate KOIN Channel 6, produced by John Ray and directed by Richard Hammerstrom, in honor of the Symphony's centennial featured DePreist and the orchestra in a performance of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2, and was awarded a Northwest Regional Emmy in June 1997. DePreist remained as music director for 23 years, until 2003. His tenure saw the growth of the orchestra from a small, part-time group into a full-time nationally recognized orchestra. During his tenure, the orchestra released 17 recordings. After the end of his tenure, DePriest held the title of music director laureate until his death in 2013. Since 2003,

Carlos Kalmar Carlos Kalmar (born February 26, 1958, in Montevideo) is a Uruguayan conductor.Macaluso, p. 194 Biography Kalmar began violin studies at age six. At age fifteen, he enrolled at the Vienna Academy of Music where his conducting teacher was Karl ...

has been the orchestra's music director. In April 2008, the orchestra announced the extension of Kalmar's contract as music director to the 2012–2013 season. In February 2020, the orchestra announced that Kalmar is to conclude his music directorship of the orchestra at the close of the 2020–2021 season. In 2018, David Danzmayr first guest-conducted the orchestra. He returned in 2019 for an additional guest-conducting appearance. In February 2021, the orchestra announced the appointment of Danzmayr as its next music director, effective with the 2021–2022 season.

Recordings and discography

The Oregon Symphony began recording for the

Delos The island of Delos (; el, Δήλος ; Attic: , Doric: ), near Mykonos, near the centre of the Cyclades archipelago, is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. The excavations in the island ar ...

label in 1987. A collection entitled ''Bravura'', includes works by

Witold Lutosławski Witold Roman Lutosławski (; 25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994) was a Polish composer and conductor. Among the major composers of 20th-century classical music, he is "generally regarded as the most significant Polish composer since Szyman ...

Ottorino Respighi Ottorino Respighi ( , , ; 9 July 187918 April 1936) was an Italian composer, violinist, teacher, and musicologist and one of the leading Italian composers of the early 20th century. His compositions range over operas, ballets, orchestral su ...

, and

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

. Recordings have continued, with releases also on the

Koch Koch may refer to: People * Koch (surname), people with this surname * Koch dynasty, a dynasty in Assam and Bengal, north east India * Koch family * Koch people (or Koche), an ethnic group originally from the ancient Koch kingdom in north east I ...

and Albany labels. Sixteen compact discs were issued through 2005. In November 2011, the orchestra released '' Music for a Time of War'', on the Pentatone label. Recorded at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon, with

conducting, the album features the program played at the orchestra's May 2011 Spring into Music Festival concert at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...

. December 5, 2012, this album received two Grammy nominations: one for Best Engineered Album, Classical; and one for Best Orchestral Performance. Subsequent recordings were '' This England'' (2012), '' Spirit of the American Range'' (2015), '' Haydn Symphonies'' (2017), and '' Aspects of America'' (2018).

Music directors

* David C. Rosebrook (1909) *

(1911) * John Bayley (1912) * George E. Jeffery (1913) *

(1914) * John Bayley (1915) * Waldemar Lind (1916) *

(1917) *

(1918–1925) *

(1925) *

(1925–1938) * Werner Janssen (1947–1949) * James Sample (1949–1953) * Theodore Bloomfield (1955–1959) *

(1959–1961) * Jacques Singer (1962–1972) *

(1973–1980) *

(1980–2003) *

(2003—2021) * David Danzmayr (2021—)

Concertmasters

* 1922–1924 Jno F. N. Colburn * 1924–1927 Alf Keller * 1927–1938 Ed Hurlimann * 1947–1948 John Copin * 1948–1949 Tibor Zelig * 1950–1973 Hugh Ewart * 1973–2003 Michael Foxman * 2004–2007 Amy Schwartz Moretti * 2007–2011 Jun Iwasaki * 2012–present Sarah Kwak

References

Sources

*"Conductor Backs Out of Guest Spot, Program 'Beyond His Dignity',?" Oregonian, April 11, 1962 (Bellugi is the conductor). *Goodrich, Frederick W. "Nearly 70 Eventful Years of Orchestral Music". ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...

'', November 3, 1935, page 11. *Goodrich, Frederick W. "Oregon Orchestra Music, 1868–1932" Oregon Historical Quarterly, June 1932, pages 136–142. *Millard, Robert E. "The Birth of the Portland Symphony Orchestra". Aired on KPAM radio station on September 30, 1962. *Noles, B. J. "Bayley Musical Library Donated for University Use". ''

'', June 12, 1968, section II, page 7. *Programs of the WPA Portland Federal Symphony Orchestra 1938–1939 *Programs of the Portland Symphony Orchestra and Oregon Symphony 1896– *Wallin, J. L. "Half Century of Portland's Symphony". ''

'', October 20, 1935.

External links

Oregon Symphony
(official website)
Oregon Symphony discography
{{Authority control 1896 establishments in Oregon Charities based in Oregon Musical groups established in 1896 Musical groups from Portland, Oregon Orchestras based in Oregon Wikipedia requested audio of orchestras