The
New Philharmonia Orchestra of Massachusetts, founded in 1995, is a 75-member mostly non-professional regional
orchestraAn orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
based in
Newton, MassachusettsNewton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts bordered to the east by Boston. According to the 2000 census, the population of Newton was 83,829, making it the tenth largest city in the state.-Villages:...
. The
"New Phil" performs in at the First Baptist Church of Newton, and on occasion at
Mission ChurchThe Mission Church is a historic church in Mackinac Island, Michigan, United States. Built in 1829, it is the oldest existing church in the state of Michigan...
in Boston's
RoxburyRoxbury is a neighborhood within Boston, Massachusetts USA. It was one of the first towns founded in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, and became a city in 1846 until annexed to Boston on January 5, 1868. The original town of Roxbury once included the current Boston neighborhoods of Jamaica...
neighborhood, as well as other locations in the region.
The current and founding music director of the orchestra is Ronald Knudsen, a violinist in the
Boston Symphony OrchestraThe Boston Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays the majority of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the...
since 1965 and occasional guest conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra.
The orchestra's programs include a mix of familiar and unfamiliar classical repertoire (including collaborations with local choruses), as well as new music, including commissions.
The
New Philharmonia Orchestra of Massachusetts, founded in 1995, is a 75-member mostly non-professional regional
orchestraAn orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
based in
Newton, MassachusettsNewton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts bordered to the east by Boston. According to the 2000 census, the population of Newton was 83,829, making it the tenth largest city in the state.-Villages:...
. The
"New Phil" performs in at the First Baptist Church of Newton, and on occasion at
Mission ChurchThe Mission Church is a historic church in Mackinac Island, Michigan, United States. Built in 1829, it is the oldest existing church in the state of Michigan...
in Boston's
RoxburyRoxbury is a neighborhood within Boston, Massachusetts USA. It was one of the first towns founded in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, and became a city in 1846 until annexed to Boston on January 5, 1868. The original town of Roxbury once included the current Boston neighborhoods of Jamaica...
neighborhood, as well as other locations in the region.
The current and founding music director of the orchestra is Ronald Knudsen, a violinist in the
Boston Symphony OrchestraThe Boston Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays the majority of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the...
since 1965 and occasional guest conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra.
The orchestra's programs include a mix of familiar and unfamiliar classical repertoire (including collaborations with local choruses), as well as new music, including commissions. In 2005, the New Philharmonia participated in the Made in America commission from noted American composer
Joan TowerJoan Tower is a contemporary American composer, pianist and conductor. Lauded by the New Yorker as "one of the most successful woman composers of all time", her bold and energetic compositions have been performed in concert halls around the world...
, and premiered a number of other pieces by local composers. The 2005-2006 concert series also included a performance of
MahlerGustav Mahler was a Bohemian-born Austrian composer and conductor. He was best known during his own lifetime as one of the leading orchestral and operatic conductors of the day...
's
second symphonyThe Symphony No. 2 in C minor by Gustav Mahler, known as the Resurrection, was written between 1888 and 1894, and first performed in 1895. Apart from the Eighth Symphony, this symphony was Mahler's most popular and successful work during his lifetime. It is his first major work that would...
.
Eminent soloists who have performed with the orchestra include the
flutistThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
Eugenia ZukermanEugenia Zukerman is an American flutist, writer, and journalist. An internationally renowned flute virtuoso, Zukerman has been performing with major orchestras and at major music festivals internationally for more than three decades...
,
violinThe violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
ists James Oliver Buswell IV and
Stefan Jackiw-Biography:Stefan Jackiw was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to a Korean mother and Polish father of Ukrainian origin, both physicists. His mother, So-Young Pi, teaches at Boston University, and his father, Roman Jackiw, at MIT. His surname, pronounced jack-eev, is of Ukrainian origin...
, cellist
Matt HaimovitzMatt Haimovitz is an Israeli-born cellist now based in the United States and Canada. He is known not only for his outstanding technical and musical skill, but also for his highly unusual concert career and repertoire choices...
and pianist
Randall HodgkinsonRandall Hodgkinson is an American pianist. He won the International American Music Competition which was sponsored by Carnegie Hall and the Rockefeller Foundation...
, as well as many soloists drawn from the ranks of the Boston Symphony, including
Ann Hobson PilotAnn Hobson Pilot is the principal harpist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops. Prior to joining the BSO in 1969, she was the second harpist with the Pittsburgh Symphony and the principal harpist of the National Symphony. In addition to solo appearances with the BSO and Boston Pops,...
, Doriot Anthony Dwyer, Tatiana Dimitriades,
Edwin Barker-Career:He graduated with honors from the New England Conservatory in 1976, where he studied double bass with Henry Portnoi. That same year, while a member of the Chicago Symphony, he was appointed at age twenty-two to the position of principal bassist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.Mr...
, Haldan Martinson,
Daniel KatzenDaniel Katzen is a French horn teacher and player, and since September, 2008 has been the Associate Professor of Horn at the "University of Arizona School of Music" in Tucson. Prior to that, he was Second Horn in the Boston Symphony Orchestra from April 1979 to August, 2008...
and Keisuke Wakao. The orchestra's inaugural season featured a guest conducting appearance by
Keith LockhartFor the baseball player, see Keith Lockhart Keith Lockhart is an American orchestral conductor.Lockhart began his musical studies with piano lessons from Gwen Stevens at age seven...
, conductor of the Boston Pops. Its fifteenth season was launched on July 1, 2009 with a concert in Boston's
Symphony HallSymphony Hall is a concert hall located at 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by McKim, Mead and White, it was built in 1900 for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which continues to make the hall its home...
, featuring French music for
organAn organ is an essential component of a machine. The term is applied metaphorically to various "systems", including the components of an organism or a government.Organ may refer to:...
and orchestra, with
James David ChristieJames David Christie is an American organist with an extensive performance career throughout the U.S. and Europe. He is on the organ faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and College of the Holy Cross. He has made several recordings and is a highly sought-after performer...
(organist of the Boston Symphony) as soloist. The concert marked the opening night of the New England convention of the
American Guild of OrganistsThe American Guild of Organists, or AGO, is a national organization of academic, church, and concert organists in the U.S., headquartered in New York City. It was founded in 1896 as both an educational and service organization...
.
The motto of the orchestra is Music for All. In that spirit, the orchestra conducts active outreach programs in the Boston
public schoolsIn most of the world, excluding England and Wales and some Commonwealth countries, a public school is an educational institution that is funded with tax revenue and most commonly administered by a local government or government agency...
and has strong links to other local school systems and civic organizations. The 2007-2008 season concluded with a benefit concert at the Kennedy Library attended by the mayor of Boston,
Thomas MeninoThomas Michael Menino is the mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, United States and the city's first Italian-American mayor.-Biography:...
, honoring the orchestra's partnership with
John Hancock financial servicesJohn Hancock Financial is a loose term for a major United States insurance company which existed, in various forms, from its founding on April 21, 1862, until its acquisition in 2004 by the Canadian insurance company Manulife Financial. It was named in honor of John Hancock, a patriot...
. Under this partnership, members of the orchestra have been offering supplemental music education programs in the
Oliver H. Perry elementary schoolBoston Public Schools is a school district serving the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States.-Leadership:The district is led by a Superintendent, hired by the Boston School Committee, a seven-member school board appointed by the Mayor after approval by a nominating committee of specified...
in South Boston.
The New Philharmonia Orchestra is a member of the American Symphony Orchestra League and the New England Orchestra Consortium.