External links
 | This North Dakota–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article about a United States classical music orchestra is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
The Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra (GGFSO) is a community orchestra based in Grand Forks, North Dakota that began operation in 1908. One of eighteen American orchestras to have surpassed their centennial year, the symphony employs local and regional musicians in performances of classical and modern symphonic music.
Fourteen conductors have held the post of Music Director during the life of the symphony:
Famed composers brought their batons to Grand Forks: Ernst von Dohnanyi conducted in 1955 and Gunther Schuller in 1978. Yehudi Menuhin, the most notable soloist to appear in the symphony's history, performed in 1962.[ citation needed ]
Recent events with the symphony have included a two-year residency from 2003 to 2005 by the Chiara String Quartet; participation in 2009 with a consortium of American orchestras presenting the premiere of Joseph Schwantner's Chasing Light, made possible through a grant from Ford Motor Company; celebrating the 100th anniversary season (one of 18 American orchestras to achieve that milepost) with a season-opening Beethoven 9 under the baton of Music Director James Hannon; presenting the North American premiere of the "Temporal Variations for Oboe and Strings" by Benjamin Britten, featuring Philip McKenzie as soloist, conducted by Music Director Alexander Platt; and another North American premiere of Britten, "Movements of a Clarinet Concerto", written for Benny Goodman but not completed by the composer. That performance on October 1, 2011, was by the orchestra's principal clarinetist, Douglas Monroe, conducted by Platt. [ citation needed ]
The orchestra maintains close ties with arts patrons, the business community, local educators, and the University of North Dakota for its supporters, its audience, and its musicians.[ citation needed ]
| | This North Dakota–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
| This article about a United States classical music orchestra is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was an English conductor of Polish descent. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appearance in the Disney film Fantasia. He was especially noted for his free-hand conducting style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from the orchestras he directed.
Eugene Ormandy was a Hungarian-American conductor and violinist, best known for his association with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as its music director. His 44-year association with the orchestra is one of the longest enjoyed by any conductor with a single orchestra. Under his baton, the Philadelphia Orchestra had three gold records and won two Grammy Awards.
The Houston Symphony is a Grammy Award winning orchestra based in Houston, Texas. Since 1966, it has performed at the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts in downtown Houston.
James Conlon is an American conductor of opera, and symphonic and choral works. He is Music Director of Los Angeles Opera and Principal Conductor of the Italian RAI National Symphony Orchestra. He was the long serving director of the two-week Cincinnati May Festival from 1979 through 2016. From 2005 to 2015, he was music director at the Ravinia Festival, the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He is known for his efforts in reviving music by composers suppressed during the Nazi regime.
Maurice Abravanel was an American classical music conductor. He is remembered as the conductor of the Utah Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years.
Artur Rodziński was a Polish conductor of opera and symphonic music. He is especially noted for his tenures as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic in the 1930s and 1940s.
Walter Johannes Damrosch was a German-born American conductor and composer. He is best remembered today as long-time director of the New York Symphony Orchestra and for conducting the world premiere performances of George Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F (1925) and An American in Paris (1928). Damrosch was also instrumental in the founding of Carnegie Hall. He also conducted the first performance of Rachmaninov's third piano concerto with Rachmaninov himself as a soloist.
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.
Rudolph Ganz was a Swiss-born American pianist, conductor, composer, and music educator.
Albert Frederic Stoessel was an American composer, violinist and conductor.
Gabriela Lena Frank is an American pianist and composer of contemporary classical music.
Manny Laureano is an American trumpet player and conductor.
(Albert) Meredith Davies CBE was a British conductor, renowned for his advocacy of English music by composers such as Benjamin Britten, Frederick Delius and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Gerald English was an English tenor. He performed operatic and concert repertoire, was a recording artist, and has been an academic.
Konstantin Saradzhev was an Armenian conductor and violinist. He was an advocate of new Russian music, and conducted a number of premieres of works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Modest Mussorgsky, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Nikolai Myaskovsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Aram Khachaturian. His son Konstantin Konstantinovich Saradzhev was a noted bell ringer and musical theorist.
The Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra is Hungary's oldest extant orchestra. It was founded in 1853 by Ferenc Erkel under the auspices of the Budapest Philharmonic Society. For many years it was Hungary's only professional orchestra. The ensemble is an independent body, now organised by musicians of the Opera House, directed by the chairman-conductor and the board of directors. Its main concert venue is the Hungarian State Opera House, where they give around ten concerts per year.
Alexander Platt is an American symphony orchestra conductor and music director. He is currently the music director for Maverick Concerts, the Wisconsin Philharmonic, and the Waukegan and La Crosse Symphony Orchestras. Born in New York City in 1965, Platt was raised in Westport, Connecticut. He currently resides in Chicago and New York.
The Russian Symphony Orchestra Society was founded in 1903 in New York City by Modest Altschuler, and functioned for fifteen years.
Thomas Edward Clark was an English conductor and music producer for the BBC. Through his positions in leading new music organizations and his wide-ranging contacts with British and European composers, he had a major impact on making contemporary classical music available to the British public for over 30 years. He was a leading figure in the BBC's Concerts of Contemporary Music between 1926 and 1939, and he played a significant role in the founding and early development of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He held prominent positions in the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) from its inception in 1922, and was its President from 1947 to 1955.
Ayrat Kashaev is a Russian conductor.