Kingston Symphony

The Kingston Symphony (KS) is a Canadian orchestra based in Kingston, Ontario. The orchestra was founded in 1953 under the name the New Symphony Association of Kingston. It was renamed the Kingston Symphony in 1963 with the formation of its new umbrella organization the Kingston Symphony Association. The KS is currently led by Evan Mitchell who has been principal conductor of the orchestra since September 2014. The ensemble performs most of its concerts at The Grand Theatre.

The KS's first principal conductor was Graham George and he led the orchestra's debut concert of Joseph Haydn's The Creation on 12 April 1954 at The Grand Theatre with the Kingston Choral Society and baritone James Milligan. For its first three years the orchestra performed only two concerts a year, but the number of concerts increased steadily beginning in 1957, and by 1990 the KS season encompassed over a dozen concerts annually. Principal conductors for the orchestra have included William Hill (1957–1959), Edouard Bartlett (1960–1965), Alexander Brott (1965–1981), Brian Jackson (1982–1991), and Glen Fast (1992-2014).

Under Fast's direction, the KS has shown a strong commitment towards playing new works by Canadian composers. Recently the orchestra has given the world premieres of Chan Ka Nin's Violin Concerto (1998); Marjan Mozetich's Piano Concerto (2000); Srul Irving Glick's last work, Isaiah (2002); John Burge's Clarinet Concerto (2004); István Anhalt's The Tents of Abraham (2005); and Peter Paul Koprowski's Tapestries of Love: Symphony for Soprano and Orchestra (2007).

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