The San Jose Symphony Orchestra was a symphony orchestra performing in San Jose, California

San Jose, California

San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

. It performed in the Civic Auditorium through 1971, and the Center for the Performing Arts afterwards until its suspension and dissolution in 2001. Symphony Silicon Valley

Symphony silicon valley

Symphony Silicon Valley is the professional symphony orchestra of San Jose and the South Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Founded in 2002 following the demise of the San Jose Symphony, the orchestra debuted to rave reviews and standing ovations on November 23, 2002 at the San Jose Center...

, an orchestra under new management but including many of the same musicians, was created in that year and succeeded the San Jose Symphony as the professional symphony orchestra of San Jose.

A group calling itself the San Jose Symphony first performed in 1879, but its existence was scattered and irregular until a formal symphony association was formed in 1937. A more regularly organized group, at first calling itself the San Jose Civic Orchestra, began playing that year and, except for a suspension during World War II, continued until 2001. At first it was a volunteer group playing only one or two concerts a year. Following the war, the musicians were paid, but 3 concerts a year was normal until the mid 1960s, after which the number began to rise. The 1975-76 season, a bicentennial special featuring appearances by Alan Hovhaness

Alan Hovhaness

Alan Hovhaness was an Armenian-American composer.His music is accessible to the lay listener and often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation...

, Carlos Chavez

Carlos Chávez

Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez was a Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by native Mexican cultures. Of his six Symphonies, his Symphony No...

, Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...

, Virgil Thomson

Virgil Thomson

Virgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music...

, and Lou Harrison

Lou Harrison

Lou Silver Harrison was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison...

 conducting their own works, was a landmark on the orchestra's path to full-time professional status.

Music directors

1937-1942	William Van den Burg
1946-1947	Edward Azhderian
1947-1951	Gastone Usigli
1951-1970	Sandor Salgo Sandor Salgo Sandor Salgo was born Hungarian-born composer. Born into a Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary in 1909, Sandor Salgo studied music in Budapest. A clear standout, his early career was affected by the prewar Anti-Semitism then prevalent in Hungary. In 1937, Sandor Salgo and a string quartet would...
1970-1972	James K. Guthrie
1972-1992	George Cleve
1992-2001	Leonid Grin