Jr. Philharmonic Orchestra of California

Last updated • 1 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Jr. Philharmonic Orchestra of California
Youth orchestra
Jr. Philharmonic Orchestra of California.jpg
Conductor Ernst Katz
Former nameLittle Symphony
Founded1937 (1937)
Location Los Angeles, California
Website Official website

Jr. Philharmonic Orchestra of California is an American youth orchestra, founded in Los Angeles, California, on January 22, 1937, by Ernst Katz. The Jr. Philharmonic is a non-commercial venture. From its inception, it has been a family-run orchestra. [1]

Contents

History and background

The orchestra was originally called the Little Symphony and it started on January 22, 1937, with four boys out of Katz's home in East Los Angeles. [2] As the orchestra grew in size, Katz had to move furniture out of his house to accommodate them. Neighbors of his would sit out on their lawns and listen. [2] On May 15, 1938, they had their public debut at a community hall in East L.A. [2] Those in attendance included Los Angeles mayor Frank Shaw, California entrepreneur Laura Scudder and singer Carrie Jacobs-Bond. [2] After hearing about their performance, William Randolph Hearst Jr. invited the orchestra to play every Sunday on his radio station. [2]

In the orchestra's second year, Katz said he needed a "gimmick", so he started 'The Battle of the Batons' competition, where five celebrities were invited to an anniversary performance to conduct the orchestra. They had no rehearsal, and the audience picked the winner. Notable winners include: Marjorie Main, Jimmy Durante, Jack Benny, George Segal, Danny Thomas, Ed Asner, Chevy Chase, Henry Fonda, Glenn Ford, Leslie Nielsen, Ben Vereen, Connie Stevens, Richard Pryor, Ryan O'Neal, June Lockhart, Helen Reddy and Weird Al Yankovic. [1] [2]

The orchestra also boasts a roster of notable guest musicians who have performed with them, including: Isaac Stern, Jerome Kern, Meredith Willson, Richard Sherman, Jose Iturbi, Pat Boone Dimitri Tiomkin, Rudolf Friml, Lauritz Melchior, Shirley Jones and Edgar Bergen. [1] [2]

After Katz's death in 2009, family members have taken over the orchestra. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Angeles Philharmonic</span> Orchestra in Los Angeles, California

The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra in Los Angeles, California. Colloquially referred to as the LA Phil, the orchestra has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September. Gustavo Dudamel is the current music director; Esa-Pekka Salonen is conductor laureate, Zubin Mehta is conductor emeritus, and Susanna Mälkki is principal guest conductor. John Adams is the orchestra's current composer-in-residence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hollywood Bowl</span> Amphitheater in Los Angeles, California

The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre and public park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California, United States. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in the United States by Rolling Stone magazine in 2018. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zubin Mehta</span> Indian conductor (born 1936)

Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artur Rodziński</span> Polish and American conductor (1892–1958)

Artur Rodziński was a Polish and American conductor of orchestral music and opera. He began his career after World War I in Poland, where he was discovered by Leopold Stokowski, who invited him to be his assistant with the Philadelphia Orchestra. This engagement led to Rodziński becoming music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He also prepared the NBC Symphony Orchestra for Arturo Toscanini before the Italian conductor's debut with them. A dispute in Chicago led to Rodziński's dismissal in 1948, whereupon he shifted his career to Europe, eventually settling in Italy, although continuing to maintain a home in Lake Placid, New York. In November 1958, beset by heart disease, he made his professional return to the United States for the first time in a decade, conducting acclaimed performances of Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Exhausted, he checked into Massachusetts General Hospital where he died 11 days later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bronisław Huberman</span> Polish violinist

Bronisław Huberman was a Polish violinist. He was known for his individualistic interpretations and was praised for his tone color, expressiveness, and flexibility. The Gibson ex-Huberman Stradivarius violin, which bears his name, was stolen twice and recovered once during the period in which he owned the instrument. Huberman is also remembered for founding the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and thus providing refuge from the Third Reich for nearly 1,000 European Jews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Lewis (musician)</span> American conductor

Henry Jay Lewis was an American double-bassist and orchestral conductor whose career extended over four decades. A child prodigy, he joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 16, becoming the first African-American instrumentalist in a major symphony orchestra and, later, the first African-American symphony orchestra conductor in the United States. As musical director of the Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra, he supported America's cultural diplomacy initiatives in Europe after World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gustavo Dudamel</span> Venezuelan conductor and violinist (born 1981)

Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez is a Venezuelan conductor. He is currently the music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is scheduled to become the Music and Artistic Director of the New York Philharmonic in 2026.

The Pacific Symphony is a symphony orchestra based in Orange County, California. The orchestra performs at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall as a part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. From 1987 to 2016, the orchestra's Summer Festival concerts took place at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in Irvine, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royce Hall</span> Building on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles

Royce Hall is a building on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Designed by the Los Angeles firm of Allison & Allison and completed in 1929, it is one of the four original buildings on UCLA's Westwood campus and has come to be the defining image of the university. The brick and tile building is in the Lombard Romanesque style, and once functioned as the main classroom facility of the university and symbolized its academic and cultural aspirations. Today, the twin-towered front remains the best known UCLA landmark. The 1800-seat auditorium was designed for speech acoustics and not for music; by 1982 it emerged from successive remodelings as a regionally important concert hall and main performing arts facility of the university.

Jacob Avshalomov was a composer and conductor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Werner Janssen</span>

Werner Janssen was an American composer and conductor of classical music and film scores. He was the first New York-born conductor to lead the New York Philharmonic. For his film work he was nominated for six Academy Awards.

The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (HBO) is a symphony orchestra that is managed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and plays the vast majority of its performances at the Hollywood Bowl.

The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra (DPO) is a fully professional musical group in Dayton, Ohio, formed in 1933. It is a member of the League of American Orchestras (LAO) and the Regional Orchestra Players' Association (ROPA), and presents programs mainly of classical music, but also occasionally performs world music, pops, jazz and rock-n-roll.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armen Movsessian</span> Musical artist

Armen Movsessian is a violin player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Alan Miller</span> Musical artist

David Alan Miller is a multi-Grammy Award-winning American symphony orchestra conductor, and since 1992, music director of the Albany Symphony Orchestra. Miller served as assistant and associate conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1987–92 and music director of the New York Youth Symphony from 1982-88. He is currently also Artistic Advisor to both the Sarasota Orchestra and to The Little Orchestra Society in New York City.

Andrew Shulman is an English virtuoso cellist, conductor and composer. He is currently the principal cellist of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and maintains his cello studio at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlo Ponti (conductor)</span> Italian orchestral conductor (born 1968)

Carlo Ponti Jr. is an Italian orchestral conductor working in the United States. He is the son of late film producer Carlo Ponti Sr. and Italian actress Sophia Loren, and the older brother of film director Edoardo Ponti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra</span> Youth orchestra based in San Francisco, California

The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) is a youth orchestra organized by the San Francisco Symphony. The SFSYO performs an annual concert series and has made several recordings. The orchestra rehearses in Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall and has been directed by Radu Paponiu since the 2024-2025 season.

The Pasadena Symphony and POPS is an American orchestra based in Pasadena, California. In 2010, it took up residence at the Ambassador Auditorium, where its Classics Series runs from October through April. Since 2012, it performs a summer series at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden from June through September.

John Manley Barnett was an American orchestral conductor and musician. He played cornet, trumpet, violin and piano. In 1939, he became the youngest professional symphony conductor in the United States. He toured the world extensively as an orchestral conductor and championed new performers and composers.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Woo, Elaine (August 16, 2009). "Founder of Jr. Philharmonic Orchestra". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on February 15, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Beyette, Beverly (December 8, 1996). "The Music Man". Los Angeles Times. Life & Style. p. E1.