About the Quincy Symphony Orchestra
The Quincy Symphony Orchestra ("QSO") is a non-profit organization consisting of amateur and professional musicians and a supportive group of volunteers devoted to bringing symphonic music to the metro-south Boston area. Members are from all walks of life, of all ages, and collectively have a wide range of expertise. From this premise, 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.
The QSO performance repertoire has been, and remains, world class in its breadth and sophistication. Click on "The Music" to view the selections and symphonic works the Quincy Symphony has performed since mid-1983.
Birth of the Quincy Symphony
(Prior to 1960)
The Quincy Symphony Orchestra developed from a pre-World War II organization called the "Quincy Musical Society". In 1953, the Thomas Crane Library of Quincy began sponsoring the Quincy Music Society. At that time, it was made up of two parts: a symphony orchestra and a chorus under the musical direction of Armand Vorce.
Culminating the society's first season in 1954, the orchestra and chorus performed a joint concert in the Quincy High School auditorium in May of that year. Following this concert it was agreed that a more formal structure was needed than could be provided by the Thomas Crane librarians.
On February 21, 1955, a charter was drawn up declaring the orchestra as a separate entity, that it's new name would be "The Quincy Symphony Orchestra", that it was to be a non-profit organization which would contribute to the culture of the "South Shore" (i.e. southeastern Massachusetts), and that it would present public concerts of classical and semi-classical music. The first performance as "The Quincy Symphony Orchestra" was in April 1955 in the Quincy High School auditorium under the baton of Armand Vorce.
The Sixties
(1960 - 1967)
Vorce was succeeded in 1964 by the notable composer Nicholas van Slyck, a Harvard University M.A. graduate, then residing at the Longy School of Music. Slyck found it necessary to resign after three seasons due to serious heart problems, although he continued to compose into the 1980s.
In 1967, Robert E. Brown began his remarkable 20 year tenure as the QSO's most tenacious conductor. Brown came to the QSO from nearby Eastern Nazarene College.
Robert E. Brown Era
(1967 - 1987)
As conductor, Brown worked tirelessly to bring the finest music to Quincy, sometimes conducting as many as three performances in as many consecutive evenings. Notable among his efforts was his reestablishment of the link with the QSO's birth sibling, the Quincy Chorale Society, via a massive performance of Honegger's "King David". Brown also produced a concert version of the first act of "Hansel and Gretel".
Brown introduced composer concerts at the QSO, which were produced with appropriate lobby souvenirs, such as the "An Evening of Beethoven" and "An Evening of Mendelssohn" programs. In one of his final performances with the QSO, none other than a timpanist won the soloist audition for the "Youth Performs" series, and Brown conducted the Tcherepnin Sonatina for Timpani and Orchestra.
During this period, the orchestra moved "northward" in Quincy, establishing their current rehearsal/performance base and a relationship with Brown's school, also in North Quincy. Brown's students from Eastern Nazarene College became an important source of talented new musicians for the orchestra. With the advent of community cable TV, Quincy Cablesystems began producing city-wide live telecasts of the orchestra in the 1980s.
After Brown stepped down in 1987 for health reasons, he returned in a cameo appearance as the telecast musical commentator for the Quincy Cablesystem's production of Mendelssohn's 5th Symphony under the baton of his successor, Francisco Noya.
Until this day, the Quincy Symphony administers the "Robert E. Brown Scholarship" to the annual winner of an auditioned contest among the area's best young instrumental soloists. The scholarship's winning concerto performances remain staples of the QSO's Spring concerts.
Quincy Symphony Orchestra
Table of Conductors |
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1955 - 1964 |
Armand Vorce |
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1964 - 1967 |
Nicholas van Slyck |
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1967 - 1987 |
Robert E. Brown |
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1988 - 1991 |
Francisco Noya |
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1991 - 1994 |
Ann Danis |
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1994 - 1995 |
Gil Rose |
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1996 - Present |
Yoichi Udagawa |
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A Conductor Audition
(and Francisco Noya period)
1987 - 1991
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, a situation they had not faced in 20 years. The Board decided on a novel approach to select a replacement conductor: a season of auditioning concerts. Four candidate conductors were selected, each to lead the orchestra in a single concert in a program of their choice. At the end of the season, the orchestra members would vote on which conductor would be the new QSO conductor.
The audition was held during the 1987-1988 season. The season turned out to be a challenge for the orchestra players as well: they were slated to play, at a more rigorous pace, 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. (note: the competing audition conductors are listed on the "The Music" page.)
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 "Fanfare for Orchestra", composed by the orchestra's principal String Bass player, Vernon Fritch, in the Spring of 1991. In resigning from the QSO that year, Noya would leave a broad musical impression on the QSO's repertoire: the Spanish flavor of Texidor's Amparito Roca, the charm of Britten's "Soirees Musicale", and the contemporary composition "Agenda", by Bernard Rands, where the wind players must speak their name during the performance. Noya is currently resident conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic and a member of the Berklee faculty.
Danis & Rose Period
(1991 - 1995)
Following Noya, the QSO chose its next two conductors without using the formality of the concert audition process. Prominent Rhode Island musical figure, conductor and violinist Ann Danis was hired in mid-1991, and would conduct the orchestra until May 1994. The most celebrated of her concerts was one recited within Quincy's historic First Parish Church in November 1993. The selections focused on favorite compositions of founding forefather John Quincy Adams (or at least those he heard in his day). Adams' preferred but very curious composition, the "Judgment of Midas Overture" (by Andre Gretry) was featured as the opener, following an introductory speech by Quincy Mayor Sheets.
If one goes to the beach in Quincy, its is probably Wollaston Beach. If there is ever a composition written about Wollaston Beach, it must be none other than the "Wollaston Beach Overture" by Gregory Fritz debuted by the QSO during this period. Ms. Danis's new contributions to the QSO repertoire include medleys from "Jurassic Park" and Burke Christmas carols.
Ms. Danis would later go on to be the Associate Professor of Music and Director of Orchestral Activities Director at the University of Rhode Island.
The QSO appointed the young and energetic Gil Rose to lead the 1994-95 season. Rose 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. From the QSO, Rose would go on to create and direct the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.
A Second Conductor Audition
(1995 - 1996)
When Rose relinquished the podium, the QSO had seen three conductors in seven years. The call for an accomplished conductor which could give the QSO a longer run was evident. This call was satisfied by the orchestra's current conductor, Yoichi Udagawa, who has recently exceeded the founding conductor's (Armand Vorce's) tenure; and is now second only to Robert Brown's 20 year course.
The selection of Udagawa was the result of the 1996 QSO members voting on auditioning candidate conductors, very similar to the procedure used in the 1987-1988 season. Udagawa made his winning audition in November 1995 featuring Brahms' 2nd Symphony.
Current Era
(1996 - Present)
The QSO's latest conductor, Yoichi Udagawa, studied under Seiji Qzawa and Gunther Schuller. He is a member of the Boston Conservatory's conducting faculty and is an understudy for the Boston Pops' Keith Lockhart. He has enjoyed conducting positions with Christopher Hogwood of the famed Handel and Haydn Society and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra.
Udagawa develops a rapport with each QSO concert audience, as cited in the Boston Globe's November 1998 article on the QSO. He has an uncanny knack for materializing remarkably talented soloists as well as debut compositions and their composers to QSO concerts. He has also produced the "Greatest Hits of Classical Music" family concert series, compacted excerpts from the most popular symphonic works designed to expose the audience to the masterworks in a family venue.
In the past 10 years, Udagawa has brought the QSO into new areas of the standard symphonic repertoire as marked by performances of the Mussorgsky-Ravel "Pictures at an Exhibition", Dvorak's 7th Symphony, Bruckner's 4th Symphony, Shostakovich's 5th Symphony, and the early Tchaikovsky symphonies.
In this era, the orchestra has expanded the vehicles from which it conveys the music to its audiences. At the beginning of the 45th season, the QSO played a concert at the historic Quincy Shipyard with the popular musicians "Sha-na-na" and "The Fat City Band" for Quincy Family Day. Beginning in the 50th season, holiday gala dinner concerts were introduced. For recitals calling for orchestral narration, celebrity narrators, such as Boston Channel 5's Natalie Jacobson and Quincy Mayor Phelan, were used. The QSO began forging an important ongoing relationship with the city's Quincy Public Schools Department in a 2004 open-air Flag Day concert, where Quincy Mayor Phelan conducted the orchestra in a Sousa march.
In this period the QSO Board of Directors, under the leadership of President Barbara Clement, has made impressive strides in building the organization: development of business and artistic relationships with the City of Quincy, improved financial accounting and analysis, development of an annual organizational task calendar, pro-active solicitation of grants and corporate sponsorships, establishment of a web site and email address, new electronic ticketing and contribution vehicles, a music library database, and electronic voice mail, to name a few examples.