The San Francisco Symphony, founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus (1972) are part of the organization. Michael Tilson Thomas became the orchestra's music director in 1995, and concluded his tenure in 2020 when Esa-Pekka Salonen took over the position.
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1906, the TSO gave regular concerts at Massey Hall until 1982, and since then has performed at Roy Thomson Hall. The TSO also manages the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra (TSYO). The TSO's most recent music director was Peter Oundjian, from 2004 to 2018. Sir Andrew Davis, conductor laureate of the TSO, has most recently served as the orchestra's interim artistic director. Gustavo Gimeno is music director of the TSO, since the 2020–2021 season.
Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO) is an Australian symphony orchestra in the state of Queensland. The orchestra is based in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's building in South Bank. The Orchestra is funded by private corporations, the state government and the Australian federal government through the Australia Council.
The Paramount Theatre is a 3,040-seat Art Deco concert hall located at 2025 Broadway in Downtown Oakland. When it was built in 1931, it was the largest multi-purpose theater on the West Coast, seating 3,476. Today, the Paramount is the home of the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Oakland Ballet. It regularly plays host to R&B, jazz, blues, pop, rock, gospel, classical music, as well as ballets, plays, stand-up comedy, lecture series, special events, and screenings of classic movies from Hollywood's Golden Era.
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, it began regular performances at the Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda.
The Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Singapore. It is Singapore's flagship orchestra. Its principal concert venue is the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay. The orchestra also gives concerts at the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, and performs over 60 concerts per year. The orchestra was first established In 1978 with Choo Hoey its resident director. The orchestra's music director from 1997 to 2019 was Shui Lan, and Hans Graf its Chief Conductor from 2020 and Music Director from 2022. The SSO is part of the Singapore Symphony Group, which also manages the Singapore Symphony Choruses, the Singapore National Youth Orchestra (SNYO), the VCHpresents chamber music series, the Singapore International Piano Festival and the biennial National Piano and Violin Competition. It achieved third place in 2021 for Gramophone's Orchestra of the Year award, and made the list of the BBC Music Magazine's Top 21 Best Orchestras in the World in 2022.
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is an American orchestra based in the city of Rochester, New York. Its primary concert venue is the Eastman Theatre at the Eastman School of Music.
The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra (HPO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Hamilton, Ontario. The orchestra gives concerts primarily at the FirstOntario Concert Hall.
The Florida Orchestra is an American orchestra based in the tri-city area of Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg, Florida. It was founded as the Florida Gulf Coast Symphony upon the 1968 merger of the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra and the Tampa Philharmonic. The present name was adopted in 1984.
The Nashville Symphony is an American symphony orchestra, based in Nashville, Tennessee. The orchestra is resident at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.
Symphony Nova Scotia is a Canadian orchestra based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Its primary recital venue is at the Dalhousie Arts Centre's Rebecca Cohn Auditorium.
Harold Farberman was an American conductor, composer and percussionist.
Calvin Eugene Simmons was an American symphony orchestra conductor. He was the first African-American conductor of a major orchestra.
The Community Women's Orchestra (CWO), based in Oakland, California, was founded by conductor Nan Washburn in 1985 as a community project adjunct to The Women's Philharmonic (TWP), a now-defunct, professional orchestra.
The Sacramento Philharmonic is the leading professional symphony orchestra in the Sacramento region, established in 1997 after the disbandment of the Sacramento Symphony that same year. Led by Maestro Michael Morgan until his death in 2021, the orchestra performs at the SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center and at the Mondavi Center at the University of California, Davis. Ari Pelto joined the Sacramento Philharmonic as Artistic Advisor and Principal Conductor in the fall of 2023. His contract runs through 2026.
Michael DeVard Morgan was an American conductor. He was music director of the Oakland East Bay Symphony for 30 years. He was also music director of the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra and artistic director of Festival Opera in Walnut Creek, California.
Paul Mauffray is an American conductor and laureat of the 2007 Bartók International Opera Conducting Competition, The American Prize for Conductors, and 1996 Freedman Conducting Competition. He has studied at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Louisiana State University, Justus Liebig University (Giessen), Masaryk University (Brno), and earned a Masters of Music degree in Orchestra Conducting as an Associate Instructor / Assistant Conductor at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music.
Johannes Fritzsch is a German conductor.
The Oakland Symphony is an American orchestra based in Oakland, California. The orchestra is resident at the Paramount Theatre . Founded in 1933, the orchestra filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 1986. Musicians from the orchestra reorganised in 1988 as the Oakland East Bay Symphony (OEBS). The orchestra reverted to its original name in 2015.
Black conductors are musicians of African, Caribbean, African-American ancestry and other members of the African diaspora who are musical ensemble leaders who direct classical music performances, such as an orchestral or choral concerts, or jazz ensemble big band concerts by way of visible gestures with the hands, arms, face and head. Conductors of African descent are rare, as the vast majority are male and Caucasian.
