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Symphoria's New Season is Here With a Variety of Music and Venues

Jillian Honn
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Symphoria's facebook page

Symphoria’sfifth season begins Friday evening after a full summer of performances, including a second fourth of July concert a the Lakeview Amphitheater.  The orchestra remains convinced that diversity in programming and venues is critical to their success.

Imagine a song like "Rocket Man" from Elton John or "Don't Stop Believin'" from Journey...with star vocalist Brody Dolyniuk backed by an orchestra.  That’s how Symphoria is opening its season Friday and Saturday.  Managing Director Catherine Underhill says the performances are part of a line-up that naturally includes Masterworks, but also music that’s likely to appeal to a wider audience…

"We're going from Mozart and Mendelssohn to Disney and a red carpet night to celebrate the Oscars.  We'll be at Crosscreek Nursery in Manlius and  at the state fairgrounds."

She says they’ll also be at the Palace Theater April as part of the Syracuse International Film Festival performing music to the winner of a video contest.  Underhill says getting out and about is one way to reach more people.

Credit Symphoria's facebook page
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Symphoria's facebook page
Symphoria performs at the Jazz and Wine Festival downtown July 28.

"The Civic Center is great for some things.  It's a 2,000 seat hall, so it's a certain kind of experience.  But there's lots of ways to connect with an orchestra like ours, and that's what we're trying to illustrate through out programming and our venue choices."

Underhill says up to one quarter of their patrons are new to the orchestra, and many are families.

 "I do think that making our music accessible to families with children has been critical.  Sometimes they'll come to introduce the kids, but they'll come back for something else that is appealing only to the adults."     

Underhill says Symphoria is seeing steady support and growth thanks to a strong donor base and ticket sales, success in securing grants, and solid corporate sponsorship.  She says they’re also able to maintain a core group of about 50 musicians.

"We have had the opportunity to bring in some new players, many of them are younger players.  They bring a certain energy and vigor to the group, which I think is great.  Syracuse is uniquely positioned to provide opportunities for some of these emerging, fantastic talents as a way to get their feet on the ground with a professional orchestra."

Maybe some of the young musicians came from the Youth Orchestra for grades 5 through 12.  Underhill says three ensembles are now operating under Symphoria after previously being managed by Syracuse University. 

More information about schedules and tickets is here.

Scott Willis covers politics, local government, transportation, and arts and culture for WAER. He came to Syracuse from Detroit in 2001, where he began his career in radio as an intern and freelance reporter. Scott is honored and privileged to bring the day’s news and in-depth feature reporting to WAER’s dedicated and generous listeners. You can find him on twitter @swillisWAER and email him at srwillis@syr.edu.