Palm Beach Symphony

Welcome to the web site of the Palm Beach Symphony! We are delighted that you have taken the time to learn more about our musical organization. The Palm Beach Symphony was founded in 1974 in recognition of the need for a professional orchestra in Palm Beach. The orchestra had a humble beginning, with only a few concerts a year, a part-time conductor and a volunteer staff. It was not until Mrs. Ethel S. Stone became Chair of the Symphony’s Board of Directors, a position that she held for twenty-three years, that the orchestra became a cultural force in the community. Mrs. Stone was a visionary leader with a love of music that she inherited from her family and a love of the Palm Beach Community with which she shared her musical interests. She died on August 6, 1996, leaving an undeniable legacy as one who played a key role in nurturing an interest in classical music in this community. During her tenure, a number of well-known musical figures served in leadership roles with the orchestra, including Karl Karapetian, John Iuele, Kenneth Schermerhorn, Stewart Kershaw, David Gray, Ulf Bjorlin and John Covelli.

Following the death of Mrs. Stone, there was deep concern about the future of the orchestra. Who would step into the leadership role now that she was gone? Fortunately John and Joan Tighe were waiting in the wings. Literally running the organization out of their apartment, first in North Palm Beach and later in Palm Beach, the Tighes took the Symphony under their wing and began to nurture it back to health; and what a surperb job they did. Among the musicians who led the orchestra during their tenure, we can count Alan Kogosowski, Vladimir Ponkin, Sergiu Schwartz, Ray Robinson and Donald Oglesby, Music Director of the Miami Bach Society. In the space of ten years, the growth has been miraculous. Thanks to the Tighes’ leadership, there is now a stable board of directors; a dedicated and competent administrative staff; a small endowment fund that now totals $1.4 million; and, perhaps, best of all, an orchestra that is capable of performing the best of symphonic music.

As the Palm Beach Symphony enters its 36th anniversary season, there is a great deal of discussion in the music world about the future of the institution we lovingly call the “symphony orchestra”. Leonard Bernstein was the first to cast doubt on the long range viability of this venerable institution when he was quoted in the 1960s as saying that the symphony orchestra in the 20th century was little more than a museum for the preservation of the classical masters. His point, of course, was the need for more adventuresome programming by the average orchestral ensemble. But there was another meaning as well: that to survive, the symphony orchestra needed to become more “user friendly” with respect to its audiences. In the four decades since that pronouncement there have been numerous attempts to do just that. One of the most successful has been the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York.

As the powers that be in the orchestra world wring their hands in a desperate search for new models for the future, the St. Luke’s Orchestra moves forward with an interesting alternative to the traditional model. The Palm Beach Symphony could learn a great deal from its attempts to reform the way an orchestra is viewed and operated in the twenty-first century. First of all, because the Orchestra of St. Luke consists of a freelance group of musicians, it can expand or contract at will, responding to a specific piece or to economic hardship by simply using fewer musicians. The result is an orchestral ensemble that is able to live within its budget. Because it is not committed to a single hall, it can present a wide range of programs to different audiences. And since it is independent it can explore different and timely options for its future. At a time when the model of the symphony orchestra is no longer dictated by tradition, as the audience matures and shrinks, and as younger people see less and less reason to attend traditional orchestral concerts, it is hard to ignore the example of an orchestra capable of making interesting music in a wide range of settings, and sustaining that model economically.

If you take a careful look at this season’s schedule, you will notice that the Palm Beach Symphony has also made some important changes as well. This year it will present most of its concerts in Palm Beach by utilizing the most desirable and prominent venues on the Island; the Symphony will perform at the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum, The Society of the Four Arts, and the Church of Bethesda by the Sea. The Orchestra will also appear at the beautiful new DeSantis Chapel at Palm Beach Atlantic University and at the Honors College of Florida Atlantic University at the Jupiter campus.

We are looking forward to a great season, and we hope you will attend each concert. And, thanks to all of you for the generous support you have graciously given that allows us the luxury of approaching 2010-2011 with a great deal of enthusiasm.

Ray Robinson
Artistic Director and General Manager