The Richmond Symphony
Vision
We, the Symphony, will be the organization to which our community will turn for outstanding and innovative concert experiences of symphonic music of all kinds. We will make every effort to educate, and be educated by, our constituents. We pledge to engage our community, to sustain and build the relationship among the musicians and our audiences, and to perform with an intensity and passion unlike that of any other orchestra.
History
The Richmond Symphony was founded in 1957 by a small, dedicated group of music-lovers who desired to provide with a professional orchestra. The Symphony performed only three concerts in its inaugural season; today, the orchestra makes more than 200 public appearances each season. We employ 36 core (full-time) and more than 40 part-time musicians, perform for approximately 125,000 patrons each season, and reach thousands more area residents through educational outreach programs and weekly radio broadcasts on WCVE Public Radio.
The Richmond Symphony is dedicated to achieving excellence in both contemporary and traditional symphonic repertoire. We incorporate classical, gospel, jazz, and contemporary and popular music into our repertoire, making good music interesting and accessible to everyone. Among our ticketed series are:
Altria Masterworks Series - Beloved masterpieces in the traditional European art music repertory.
Genworth Financial Symphony Pops Series - Lighter popular and classical favorites, often featuring celebrity performers.
McKinney & Company Haydn Festival - Four unique concerts celebrating the music of classical composer, Franz Joseph Haydn.
CapTech Kicked Back Classics – Family - Featuring selected Masterworks repertoire in a more casual and interactive format, these concerts serve as a great introduction to the world of classical music. A pre-concert festival provides activities for children including an instrumental petting zoo.
Kicked Back Classics – Club - Featuring selected Masterworks repertoire in a more casual format, these concerts serve as a great introduction to the world of classical music. Early evening weekday concerts provide an afterwork entertainment opportunity.
Our roster of guest artists has included numerous internationally respected musicians such as Aretha Franklin, Marvin Hamlisch, Ani Kavafian, Chirstopher O’Riley, Elmar Olivera, Itzhak Perlman, Joseph Silverstein, Pink Martini, Jubilant Sykes, and André Watts.
The Symphony’s educational programs seek to foster and develop diverse, informed audiences who value live symphonic performances and music education in our community; to help nurture and develop young musicians; and to advocate for music education and orchestral music. We serve more than 35,000 area school-aged children each year through in-school ensemble performances and masterclasses, academically themed Discovery concerts, and our Youth Orchestra Program (YOP) with its four youth orchestra ensembles.
We at the Symphony are proud of our more than 50 years of service to the community, and of the critical and popular recognition that many of our past programs have garnered - including 7 awards for adventurous programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). As a nonprofit corporation, the Richmond Symphony is partially supported by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and is proud to have been a member of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Orchestra Program since its inception in 1999.