BACKGROUND AND HISTORY OF THE

Background:

The Quincy Symphony is made of virtually all volunteers from all walks of life, including some professional and semi-professional musicians as well as professors and students of music. From this standpoint, it is evident that the motivation behind their rehearsal and concert activities is their love of music, accompanied by their never-ending aspirations to better their musical talent.

History:

The Quincy Symphony Orchestra developed from a pre-WW II organization called the Quincy Musical Society. The first season was in 1954. The orchestra's first conductor was Armand Vorce. He was succeeded by Nicholas van Slyck from the Longy School in 1964.

In 1967, Robert E. Brown began his remarkable 20 year tenure as conductor of the orchestra. Highlights of this period included performances of the first act of the opera "Hansel and Gretel", Honegger's "King David" and the introduction of televised concerts via Quincy Cablesystems.

When Robert E. Brown stepped down from the podium in 1987, the Quincy Symphony was faced with the serious task of finding a replacement conductor for the 1987-88 season. The Board decided on a novel approach to select a replacement: conductor-auditioning concerts. Four candidate conductors were selected, each to lead the orchestra in one concert. At the end of the season, the orchestra would vote on which conductor would be the new QSO conductor.

The audition was held during the 1987-1988 season. The season was a challenge for the orchestra as well as the guest conductors, as they were slated to play, at a more rigorous frequency, the more sophisticated symphonic works in order to best demonstrate the skills of the competing candidate conductors. Although all candidates produced excellent results, the winner was Francisco Noya, an accomplished Venezuelan-born conductor and cellist who received an honorary Master's degree in Conducting from Boston University.

Under the baton of Noya, the Quincy Symphony's concert attendance was noticeably increased, and the orchestra began to enjoy a greater notoriety. Noya and the QSO gave the debut performance of Vernon Fritch's "Fanfare for Orchestra" during this period. In the Spring of 1991, Noya stepped down, and the orchestra reemployed its proven conductor-auditioning approach in the 1991-1992 season.

In May 1992, the audition results were again difficult for the orchestra as all candidates were again excellent choices. The winner this time was Ann Danis, who conducted the QSO until May 1994, where she led the QSO in the debut performance of the "Wollaston Beach Overture" by Gregory Fritz.. Ms. Danis would later go on to be the Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Rhode Island and remains a major figure in Rhode Island's classical music arena..

The QSO appointed the young and energetic Gil Rose to lead the 1994-95 season. Gil conducted the QSO in a televised concert of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony swapping the cello section seating location with the 2nd violin section, an arrangement used in Beethoven's time. Gil would later go on to create and direct the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.

The QSO's current conductor, Yoichi Udagawa, was selected from the resulting 1995-96 audition of three perspective candidate conductors. Udagawa, a member of the Boston Conservatory's faculty, enjoys working with Christopher Hogwood as a rehearsal assistant for the famed Handel and Haydn Society. Yoichi's leadership continues to bring positive review of the QSO, and he has an uncanny knack for materializing remarkably talented soloists to perform the concerto repertoire.

At the beginning of their 45th season, the QSO played a "hatch shell"-style concert at the Quincy Shipyard with fellow musicians "Sha-na-na" and "The Fat City Band" for Quincy Family Day.

Under the baton of Udagawa, world premieres, such as Kukuchi's "Overture for Full Orchestra" in April 1999, are being programmed with ever increasing frequency. In the 1999-2000 season, the QSO performs a world premiere work each concert. Udagawa aurally demonstrates the musical format of compositions to the audience at concerts, as cited in the Boston Globe's November 1998 article about the QSO.