Seattle Symphony

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Seattle Symphony is an American symphony orchestra based in Seattle , the largest city in Washington state . The orchestra has had its own 2,500-seat venue, the Benaroya Hall , since 1998 , but is also affiliated with the Seattle Opera as the house orchestra .

Seattle Symphony Logo
Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall, May 2009
Benaroya Hall

history

founding

The orchestra gave its first concert on December 29, 1903 under the direction of the conductor Harry West. Just eight years later, in 1911, the orchestra's legal form and name were changed to Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Due to financial problems, the seasons in 1921 and 1922 had to be canceled entirely.

Pacific Northwest Symphony Orchestra

In 1947 the Seattle Symphony merged with the Tacoma Philharmonic to form the Pacific Northwest Symphony Orchestra . As a result of this reorganization, the Seattle orchestra's venues also extended to Tacoma and Olympia . The conductors shared that year with Carl Bricken and Eugene Linden. However, this merger only lasted a year, as a majority of the orchestra members had fallen out with the orchestra's management. Therefore the orchestra was renamed the Seattle Orchestra in 1948 and from then on appeared as conductor under Eugene Linden. In competition with this, the Seattle Symphony was reconstituted under the conductor Stanley Chapple and gave eighteen concerts in the Meany Hall for the Performing Arts on the campus of the University of Washington . The orchestra was able to win Artur Rodziński , Jacques Singer and Erich Leinsdorf as guest conductors during this one-year period . But in October 1948, some members of the Seattle Symphony announced in the press that they had no interest in competing with the Seattle Orchestra and would instead seek a collaboration. The result was that scheduled performances of the Seattle Symphony were postponed and finally canceled entirely. A close partnership between the two orchestras was agreed under the name Seattle Symphony Orchestra . This partnership was finally replaced at a request by Milton Katim in favor of a new merger with the old and still valid name Seattle Symphony .

Gerard Black

In 1983 the orchestra was able to recruit Gerard Schwarz as a music advisor, who had taken over the position of chief conductor in 1984 and finally headed the orchestra as music director from 1985. Under the leadership of Schwarz, the orchestra attracted attention by performing works from the 20th century, paying particular attention to almost forgotten American composers. The orchestra was responsible for Gerard Schwarz's work on more than 100 commercial records. These include in particular the main works by Howard Hanson and David Diamond , but also by other composers such as Charles Tomlinson Griffes , Walter Piston , Paul Creston , William Schuman , Alan Hovhaness , Morton Gould and others, those of Delos International (absorbed in Naxos) and Naxos were relocated.

The orchestra received its first Grammy nomination in 1990 for the recording of phonograms of Howard Hanson's works in 1989. The orchestra was also responsible for the recording of the musical A'lure, The Call of the Ocean, at the SeaWorld Group's amusement park in Orlando .

Schwarz received a lot of praise for the masterly implementation of the works of the American composers and his skill in raising money for the orchestra. On the other hand, the controversies with some orchestra members increased over the years, and they even had to go to court. As early as September 2008, the orchestra's management announced that the contract with Schwarz, which ran until 2011, would no longer be extended.

Ludovic Morlot

In October 2009 Ludovic Morlot was a guest conductor with the Seattle Symphony and it was already becoming apparent that he would be considered as Schwarz's successor. In April 2010 he received a contract as second conductor with the orchestra. Depending on this, it was announced in June of the same year that Morlot would succeed Schwarz as the orchestra's 15th music director. Initially, he signed a contract for 2011 and 2012 with the option for six more years, but it was agreed in July 2015 that the cooperation would continue until 2019.

Morlot had a particular interest in performing works by Seattle-based composers, including compositions by members of his own orchestra. Morlot and the Seattle Symphony brought the the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2014 excellent and the Grammy for classical contemporary music piece 2015 Become Ocean by John Luther Adams for the first performance. Taylor Swift was so impressed with the commercial recording of the piece that she donated $ 50,000 to the Seattle Symphony. As agreed, Morlot's term of office as music director ended in 2019. As “conductor emeritus” he remains connected to the orchestra.

Thomas Dausgaard

In autumn 2019, the Dane Thomas Dausgaard took over the position of music director, initially with a four-year contract. He conducted the orchestra for the first time in 2003 and had been the principal guest conductor there since 2014.

Artistic director

Venues

  • 1903–1905 Christensen Hall, Arcade Building
  • 1905–1907 Grand Opera House
  • 1907-1911 Moore Theater
  • 1911-1919 Metropolitan Theater
  • 1919–1921 Meany Hall for the Performing Arts
  • 1926–1938 Metropolitan Theater
  • 1938-1945 Music Hall
  • 1945–1949 Moore Theater
  • 1949-1950 Meany Hall for the Performing Arts
  • 1950–1953 Seattle Civic Auditorium
  • 1953–1955 Orpheum Theater
  • 1955-1956 Moore Theater
  • 1956–1962 Orpheum Theater
  • 1962-1998 Seattle Opera House
  • since 1998 Benaroya Hall

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Benaroya Hall. Retrieved December 1, 2016 .
  2. ^ "No Symphony This Season" The Seattle Times , October 9, 1921, p. 21 (English)
  3. ^ Joe Miller, "NW Symphony Selects Name," The Seattle Post-Intelligencer , Oct. 1, 1947.
  4. ^ Esther W. Campbell: Bagpipes in the Woodwind Section: A History of the Seattle Symphony and its Women's Organization . Seattle Symphony Women's Organization, Seattle 1978, pp. 57-58, OCLC 5792179 .
  5. ^ Richard E. Hays, "Seattle Symphony Lists 18 Concerts for Season," The Seattle Times , October 10, 1948.
  6. ^ "Orchestra Personnel for 2 Groups Listed," The Seattle Post-Intelligencer , October 24, 1948.
  7. ^ "Orchestra Personnel for 2 Groups Listed," The Seattle Post-Intelligencer , October 24, 1948.
  8. ^ Suzanne Martin, "Music Groups in Agreement on Symphony," The Seattle Post-Intelligencer , Jan. 13, 1949, p. 3.
  9. ↑ Homepage Gerard Schwarz (English)
  10. ↑ Melinda Bargreen: Grammy City - Three Nominations Put Seattle Symphony And Schwarz In The Big Time . In: The Seattle Times , January 12, 1990. Retrieved August 9, 2010. 
  11. ↑ A'lure (The Call of the Ocean). Retrieved December 4, 2016 .
  12. ^ Daniel J. Wakin and James R. Oestreich: In Seattle, a Fugue for Orchestra and Rancor . In: New York Times , December 16, 2007. Retrieved April 24, 2010.  (English)
  13. ^ Daniel J. Wakin: Seattle's Conductor Plans His Departure . In: New York Times , September 11, 2008. Retrieved April 24, 2010.  (English)
  14. ↑ Homepage Ludovic Morlot (English)
  15. ^ Zachary Woolfe: A Symphony's Leader Takes Seattle by Storm . In: The New York Times , January 27, 2012. Retrieved June 4, 2016.  (English)
  16. ↑ Pulitzer Prize for Classical Music 2014. Accessed December 4, 2016 .
  17. ↑ Michael Cooper: Taylor Swift Gives $ 50,000 to Seattle Symphony . In: The New York Times (ArtsBeat blog) , December 3, 2015. Accessed June 4, 2016.  (English)
  18. ^ Ludovic Morlot Named Conductor Emeritus. In: seattlesymphony.org. June 11, 2019 (English).;
  19. ^ Thomas Dausgaard Named Next Music Director of the Seattle Symphony. In: seattlesymphony.org. October 3, 2017 (English).;

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