The New Haven Symphony Orchestra is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 symphony orchestra based in New Haven

New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...

, Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

. The New Haven Symphony Orchestra gave its first concert in 1895 and is the fourth oldest orchestra in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

History

The NHSO was founded by Morris Steinhert (a music merchant) and Horatio William Parker (the head of Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

's Department of Music). Though most American symphony orchestras of the late 19th century were based in large cities, the NHSO flourished in New Haven. Steinhert and Parker had created a viable orchestra made up of local musicians, in a considerably smaller city than Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 or New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

.

Today, the orchestra is made up of over 70 professionals — most of whom live and work in the
Greater New Haven area.

Guest artists

The NHSO has enjoyed a long history of fruitful collaborations with visiting artists and soloists. Some of the most memorable names include Vladimir Ashkenazy

Vladimir Ashkenazy

Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy is a Russian-Icelandic conductor and pianist. Since 1972 he has been a citizen of Iceland, his wife Þórunn's country of birth. Since 1978, because of his many obligations in Europe, he and his family have resided in Meggen, near Lucerne in Switzerland...

, Joshua Bell

Joshua Bell

Joshua David Bell is an American Grammy Award-winning violinist.-Childhood:Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, United States, the son of a psychologist and a therapist. Bell's father is the late Alan P...

, Van Cliburn

Van Cliburn

Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr. is an American pianist who achieved worldwide recognition in 1958 at age 23, when he won the first quadrennial International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow, at the height of the Cold War....

, Renée Fleming

Renée Fleming

Renée Fleming is an American soprano specializing in opera and lieder. Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice.Fleming has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano repertoires. She has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. She also...

, James Galway

James Galway

- External links : IMGArtists.com 15 September 2008. AllAboutJazz.com 5 August 2008.*...

, Glenn Gould

Glenn Gould

Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century. He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach...

, Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...

, Jessye Norman

Jessye Norman

Jessye Norman is an American opera singer. Norman is a well-known contemporary opera singer and recitalist, and is one of the highest paid performers in classical music...

, Itzhak Perlman

Itzhak Perlman

Itzhak Perlman is an Israeli-born violinist, conductor, and instructor of master classes. He is regarded as one of the pre-eminent violinists of the 20th and early-21st centuries.-Early life:...

, Mstislav Rostropovich

Mstislav Rostropovich

Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, KBE , known to close friends as Slava, was a Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. He is widely considered to have been the greatest cellist of the second half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest of...

, Artur Rubinstein, and Pinchas Zukerman

Pinchas Zukerman

Pinchas Zukerman is a world-renowned violinist, violist, and conductor. He is considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th and 21st centuries, and his ongoing 45-year career has seen him perform with the world's best-known orchestras and record over 100 works...

.

The NHSO Pops Series has also brought some legends to the Elm City

New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...

. Such notables as Dave Brubeck

Dave Brubeck

David Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...

, Arthur Fiedler

Arthur Fiedler

Arthur Fiedler was a long-time conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, a symphony orchestra that specializes in popular and light classical music. With a combination of musicianship and showmanship, he made the Boston Pops one of the best-known orchestras in the country...

, Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...

, Benny Goodman

Benny Goodman

Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...

, Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...

, Buddy Rich

Buddy Rich

Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.-Early life:...

, and Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...

 have delighted audiences onstage with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.

Programs and venues

• Symphony Series at Woolsey Hall

The NHSO Symphony Series consists of seven concerts held at Woolsey Hall

Woolsey Hall

Woolsey Hall is the primary auditorium at Yale University. Woolsey Hall, which seats 2,695 people, was built as part of the Yale bicentennial celebration in 1901. The architects were Carrère and Hastings, designers of the New York Public Library....

 in New Haven and conducted by William Boughton

William Boughton

William Boughton is an English conductor.Boughton has guest conducted with many of the world’s leading orchestras from San Francisco to Helsinki. As Founder, Artistic and Music Director with the English Symphony Orchestra , Boughton developed the Orchestra’s repertoire through the Viennese classics...

, Music Director

Music director

A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...

. These concerts feature classical works from a variety of artistic periods, and take place on selected Thursday nights. During the 2009-2010 season the NHSO will perform the complete Beethoven symphonies as well as works by composers in residence Jin Hi Kim and Augusta Reed Thomas.

The free Preludes at Slifka Center precede the concerts by one hour, and feature a guest speaker (often Boughton himself). The Showcase of Young Artists takes place in the rotunda of Woolsey Hall 45 minutes before each curtain, and features talented students from the region.

• Pops Series at the Shubert Theater

The NHSO Pops Series takes place on selected Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternnons at the East Haven High School in East Haven CT, the Hamden Intermediate School in Hamden CT, and at Shelton Intermediate School in Shelton CT. The well-attended shows highlight works not traditionally found in the classical repertoire — the 2007-'08 season, for example, consists of flamenco

Flamenco

Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....

, vocal jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, and big band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

music. The 2009-2010 season has programs based on the music of Ella Fitzgerald, Holiday favorites in December and a Valentines program of romantic Irish pieces. These shows are led by Gerald Steichen, Associate Conductor of the NHSO.

• NHSO to Go
• Summer Concerts
• Education Programs