The New Haven Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in New Haven, Connecticut. The New Haven Symphony Orchestra gave its first concert on January 25, 1894 and is the fourth oldest orchestra in the United States. Today, the orchestra is made up of over 65 professionals, many of whom live and work in the Greater New Haven area. The NHSO is currently directed by Music Director Alasdair Neale.
The vision of the NHSO is to inspire, delight, challenge, and connect diverse audiences and communities through the power of live music.
History
The NHSO was founded in 1894 by Morris Steinert (a music merchant) and Horatio William Parker (the head of Yale University's Department of Music). Many of the earliest American symphony orchestras were based in large cities like Boston or New York City, yet Steinert and Parker were able to form a viable orchestra made up of local musicians in a relatively smaller city. The original members of the NHSO were mainly German-Americans seeking to continue the orchestral traditions of their native country in the United States, where classical music was less appreciated at the time.
The first performance of the NHSO took place January 25, 1895 at a now-defunct theater on Chapel Street in New Haven near the present-day Union League Café. The program included works by Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Schubert, as well as two solos performed by Isidore Troostwyk, a Dutch-born violinist who had recently arrived as a Professor of Music at Yale. Troostwyk served as concertmaster of the new orchestra.
In its early years, the NHSO was closely tied to Yale University, drawing its conductors from the School of Music faculty and serving on occasion as a laboratory for Yale composers and performers. The University also offered financial and organizational support. Before the construction of Woolsey Hall in 1901, the orchestra performed in various local venues including the Hyperion Theater, Alumni Hall (later replaced by Wright Hall, on Elm St) and College Street Hall (on the site of the present Palace Theater)
In 1901, the newly built Woolsey Hall became the chief performance venue of the NHSO. The inaugural concert at Woolsey featured an organ concerto, which made use of the hall’s iconic organ.
The Pops concert series began in 1945, with the first performance indoors at the New Haven Arena, on Grove Street, home of the New Haven Eagles ice hockey team. Later that summer, four more concerts were played in the Yale Bowl, for which a band shell was eventually constructed. The outdoor concerts were a great financial success, drawing nearly 40,000 people the first summer.
Throughout the years, the NHSO has continued these traditions of performance and education—supporting programs in the schools and community, and presenting both classical repertoire and pops concerts. The orchestra has performed regularly in New Haven and has also toured throughout Connecticut and beyond (including performances at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall); it has given numerous radio broadcasts and made the world-premiere recording of the complete five-movement version of Mahler's first symphony.
Now exceeding 125 years of continuous operation, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra continues to fulfill its mission of enriching Connecticut’s cultural landscape through exceptional performances and education programs that are accessible to residents from all walks of life. Innovative programming offered statewide inspires deeper audience engagement and meaningful artistic and educational collaborations which increase the reach and impact of the Symphony. Authentic commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access move the NHSO to provide representation that reflects the richly diverse communities it serves in all areas of Symphony leadership.
NHSO Today
Concerts
The NHSO plays concerts across the city of New Haven primarily from September - June. Their Main Stage series concerts take place in Woolsey Hall at Yale University and the Lyman Center for the Performing Arts at Southern Connecticut State University.
Additionally, the orchestra plays at houses of worship, schools, businesses, parks, festivals, and social service organizations across the city all year round.
The NHSO offers regional performances regularly in its satellite venues in Shelton, CT, including its immensely popular Pops Series led by Principal Pops Conductor Chelsea Tipton.