The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is a leading American orchestra based in Detroit, Michigan whose performances are heard throughout the world. The orchestra is the fourth oldest in the United States. Its main performance center is Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood.[1][2]
The DSO is currently heard by one million listeners a week on the nationwide broadcast, the General Motors' "Mark of Excellence" radio series. Its live concert series is attended by 450,000 people a year and includes a series of free educational concerts for children begun in 1926.
History
The Detroit Symphony was founded in 1914 by ten Detroit society women who each contributed $100 to the organization and pledged to find 100 additional subscribers. They soon hired the orchestra's first music director, Weston Gales, a 27-year-old church organist from Boston. The orchestra's first performance was held on February 26, 1914 at the old Detroit Opera House.
The appointment of famed Russian pianist Ossip Gabrilowitsch as music director in 1918 brought instant status to the new orchestra. A friend of composers Gustav Mahler and Sergei Rachmaninoff, Gabrilowitsch demanded a new auditorium be built as a condition of his accepting the position. Orchestra Hall was completed for the new music director in 1919 in a remarkable four months and twenty-three days. Under Gabrilowitsch, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra quickly became one of the most prominent orchestras in the country, performing with the leading artists of the day. In 1922, the orchestra gave the world's first radio broadcast of a symphony orchestra concert with Gabrilowitsch conducting and guest artist Artur Schnabel at the piano. From 1934 to 1942, the orchestra performed for millions across the country as the official orchestra of the The Ford Sunday Evening Hour (later the Ford Symphony Hour) national radio show.
In 1939, three years after Gabrilowitsch's premature death, the orchestra moved from Orchestra Hall to the Masonic Temple Theatre due to major financial problems caused by the Great Depression. The orchestra disbanded twice in the 1940's as it moved around three different performing venues. In 1956, the orchestra moved to Ford Auditorium on the waterfront of the Detroit River, where it remained for the next 33 years. The orchestra once again enjoyed national prestige under music director Paul Paray, winning numerous awards for its 70 recordings on the Mercury label. Paray was followed by noted music directors Sixten Ehrling, Aldo Ceccato, Antal Doráti, and Günther Herbig. It should be noted that most, if not all, of the recorded string accompaniments on Motown's classic hits were performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
In 1970 the DSO instituted the Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra as a training group, under Maestro Paul Freeman.
In 1989, following a 20-year rescue and restoration effort, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra returned with great acclaim to Orchestra Hall. Music director Neeme Järvi began his tenure in 1990, the second-longest in the orchestra's history upon Järvi's departure in 2005.
In 2003, the Detroit Symphony completed further renovations to Orchestra Hall and added a $60 million addition, including a recital hall and education wing, named the Max M. Fisher Music Center. The Detroit School of Arts was added to the DSO campus in 2005.
The symphony has produced many recordings on the Victor, London, Decca, Mercury, RCA, Chandos and DSO labels. The DSO recording of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring was the first CD to win the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque of the Charles Cros Academy. A fine arts high school on part of the symphony's property opened in 2005.
The Orchestra today
After a five-year search, the DSO announced on October 7, 2007, that Leonard Slatkin, music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, would become its twelfth music director, succeeding Neeme Järvi.[3] Peter Oundjian, currently Music Director of the Toronto Symphony, is the DSO's current Artistic Advisor and Principal Guest Conductor. The current Resident Conductor is Thomas Wilkins. (See below for a complete list of DSO Music Directors)
Music directors
Notes
References and further reading
- Bargreen, Melinda (September 25, 2007), "Symphony plays musical chairs", The Seattle Times, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thearts/2003900131_concertmaster25.html
- Detroit Symphony Orchestra (a), Meet the Musicians: Emmanuelle Boisvert, http://www.detroitsymphony.com/page.aspx?page_id=294, retrieved 2009-10-26
- Detroit Symphony Orchestra (b), History of the DSO, http://www.detroitsymphony.com/page.aspx?page_id=242, retrieved 2009-10-26
- Gavrilovich, Peter and Bill McGraw (2000). The Detroit Almanac. Detroit Free Press. ISBN 0937247341.
- Heiles, Ann Mischakoff (2007). America's Concertmasters (Detroit Monographs in Musicology). Harmonie Park. ISBN 0899901395.
- Stryker, Mark (October 7, 2007), "World-class maestro is heading to Detroit" ([dead link] – Scholar search), Detroit Free Press, http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071007/ENT04/71007040
- Woodford, Arthur M. (2001). This is Detroit 1701–2001. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-2914-4.
External links
See also
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Detroit Symphony Orchestra Music Directors |
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