The Spokane Symphony is a 70-piece professional

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

Spokane, WA Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canad ...

that performs more than 65 concerts per year for more than 150,000 listeners. It was originally incorporated in 1945 as the Spokane Philharmonic before being renamed the Spokane Symphony in 1962. The first concert was held on December 18, 1945 at the Masonic Temple at 8:30 pm, and was conducted by Harold Paul Whelan. The regular season includes a ten-concert Masterworks series (Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons), six Pops performances (including two Holiday Pops performances in December) and a fully staged Nutcracker Ballet each holiday season, in addition to the new Movies & Music series which showcases the Symphony playing the score live with selected popular movies. The vast majority of its concerts are performed in the newly renovated Martin Woldson Theater at The

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

. A Chamber Soiree Series began in 2000 and moves to the Theater stage for the 2019-2020 season. The Spokane Symphony outreach efforts provide musical experiences for more than 30,000 students and include affordable pricing for families and active duty military. Many concerts are also broadcast on 91.1 KPBX-FM. The Spokane Symphony offers Labor Day Weekend concerts at Pavilion Park in Liberty Lake (Saturday) and Comstock Park on Spokane’s South Hill (Monday), with a program of classics, patriotic tunes and favorites from the worlds of pop, Hollywood and Broadway. The Symphony's current conductors are James Lowe (music director), Morihiko Nakahara (resident conductor), and Jorge Luis Uzcátegui (assistant conductor).

Music Directors

The musical directors of the Spokane Symphony have been: # Harold Paul Whelan (1945-1961) # Donald Thulean (1962-1984) #

Gunther Schuller Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician. Biography and works Early years Schuller was born in Queens, New York City ...

(1984-1985) # Bruce Ferden (1985-1991) #

Vakhtang Jordania Vakhtang Jordania ( ka, ვახტანგ ჟორდანია; born 9 December 1943, Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union – 4 October 2005, Broadway, Virginia, United States) was a Georgian conductor. Biography Born in the Soviet repu ...

(1991-1993) # Fabio Mechetti (1993-2004, Conductor Laureate) # Eckart Preu (2004–2019) # James Lowe (2019–present)

Music Directors

References

Further reading