Oakland Symphony
| Oakland Symphony Orchestra Association | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Oakland, California, USA |
| Genres | Classical |
| Occupation(s) | Symphony Orchestra |
| Years active | 1933–1986 |
| Associated acts | Oakland Symphony Chorus Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra |
The Oakland Symphony Orchestra Association (OSOA) was a professional regional symphony orchestra in Oakland, California, from 1933 to 1986. In 1986 the symphony filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy. It is succeeded by the Oakland East Bay Symphony (OEBS).
The Oakland Symphony Orchestra was formed 1933 under the leadership of conductor Orley See; the orchestra presented four concerts in the lobby of the Oakland YMCA as its first season. See conducted until his death in 1957, at which time Piero Bellugi was appointed music director. In 1959 Bellugi was replaced by Gerhard Samuel.
During the 1960s the home of the orchestra was the Oakland Civic Auditorium (now the Kaiser Convention Center). During that same the Symphony season expanded from eight to twenty-four concerts, and the organization established a national reputation for innovative programming and community involvement.
In 1964 Samuel oversaw the creation of the Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra, one of the Oakland Symphony’s most successful ventures. Composed of seventy-five teenage players, it made five commercial recordings and toured internationally, winning the Silver Medal at the Herbert von Karajan Festival in Berlin. It performed in schools and for community organizations, and regularly commissioned and premiered works – projects it financed through volunteer activities. Samuel also supervised the formation of the Oakland Symphony Chorus, which grew to 120 voices and performed with other Bay Area orchestras,including the San Francisco Symphony.
In 1966 the Ford Foundation undertook a national program of matching grants to selected cultural institutions, with the aim of enabling them to achieve long-term financial stability through the building of a substantial endowment fund. The Oakland Symphony was one of sixty-one American orchestras selected, and received $1.35 million, the largest grant available to orchestras of its size.
In 1971 Harold Farberman replaced Samuel as music director. Under Farberman the annual subscription series grew from twenty-four to thirty-three concerts. The orchestra introduced its Pops Series and mounted a program of concerts directed at young people, with educational programs in schools. The Symphony also undertook free concerts in public places and campaigns to reach out to diverse ethnic populations. The latter included sponsoring the Minority Orchestral Fellowship Program, that offered young string players from nonwhite backgrounds the opportunity to play one year with a professional orchestra.
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