Orchestra Spotlight

The Central Ohio Symphony is a small budget orchestra located in Delaware county, Ohio. The City has a population of 38,000, the county about 185,000.  Delaware, 23 miles from Columbus, is home to Ohio Wesleyan University and is very much a college town. Indeed, the Symphony was originally affiliated with the University, and became an independent […]

 Chicago Philharmonic Society An Orchestra Spotlight Ann Drinan, June 2014 When Paul Judy, Board Chairman of the Chicago Philharmonic Society (CPS), inquired as to whether Polyphonic would be interested in a story about the CPS organization, I was chagrined to admit that I was not familiar with it. My immediate question was, “What makes this […]

Portland is the largest city in Maine, and the Portland Symphony is the largest cultural institution in Maine. With a metropolitan population of about 230,000, the greater Portland area is home to almost one-quarter of Maine’s total population. However, the orchestra draws its audience from well beyond the Portland area, including south-central Maine and New […]

Currently Memphis is best known for its innovative community engagement programs, which bring MSO musicians into the community in a variety of very unusual ways. The orchestra recently announced that they will be receiving $1 million in support of their community engagement and professional support of musicians.

Once again, NSO cellist Yvonne Caruthers is sending daily “postcards” to Polyphonic about their residency – this year in Kentucky. Here’s a link to some pre-concert publicity from the Commonwealth Journal in Somerset, Kentucky; and here’s a link to the NSO’s blog about their Residency, which includes some fun photos of the musicians (including Yvonne) […]

The National Symphony is in residence in West Virginia from April 6 through April 13. Cellist Yvonne Caruthers is sending Polyphonic postcards of their trip.

The Dayton Philharmonic celebrated their 75th anniversary in 2008 and released an anniversary CD (featured here on our Spotlight), but their big celebration was in 2003, when they moved into the new Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center that March and started performing in the breath-taking Mead Theater.

Most American orchestras perform an outdoor concert during the July 4th weekend, even those orchestras that don’t have a summer season. Here’s a sample.

Dan Trahey & José Antonio Abreu, founder of El Sistema
I hope that these postcards will expose my readers to the wonders of El Sistema and help invigorate educators, musicians, administrators, parents, students, and community members through the belief that we can create social change through music.

The National Symphony Orchestra left for China on June 6, 2009, and NSO cellist Yvonne Caruthers is sending us “postcards” from their trip.