New Bedford Symphony Orchestra

What We Believe

• We believe in the power of music to enrich and transform lives.
• We believe that a vibrant community needs an orchestra performing great music at the highest artistic level, with the most exciting and talented guest soloists in the world.
• We believe that children need the creative and academic benefits that music education provides: studies overwhelmingly show that children in music programs—especially at-risk children—are more likely to stay in school, do better in math, science and reading, and are more likely to go to college.
• We believe that an organization driven by a passionate commitment to community engagement and artistic excellence can make a real difference in our community.

The Orchestra

• The New Bedford Symphony Orchestra (NBSO) is a professional symphonic orchestra that presents a seven-concert subscription series.
• The repertoire of the orchestra ranges from timeless masterworks to important and exciting works of the 20th and 21st centuries.
• The NBSO performs with guest soloists from around the world. Recent performers include pianists Roberto Plano and Martina Filjak, 2009 first prize winner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, as well as violinists Mark Kaplan and Catherine Manoukian and cellist Zuill Bailey.

Education Programs

• Serving Over 30,000 Children Annually
• Music in the Mornings is a classical music enrichment program presently in 57 schools and serving over 18,000 students every day of the school year. These children begin each day of the school year by listening to five minutes of classical music, along with an introductory narrative that describes the music and makes listening to it fun.
• Symphony Tales features a David MacKenzie composition which is played by an NBSO musician in accompaniment to the reading of a children's book. Children also participate in activities with the musician and reader that reinforce the literacy element of the program and introduce them to music-making and musical instruments.
• The Young People’s Concert series introduces thousands of students to a live performance of classical music each year. The program is specifically designed to introduce children to the fun and exciting world of classical music.
• The New Bedford Symphony Youth Orchestras program is made up of four ensembles for children of all ages: Poco Strings for beginners, Debut Orchestra for young players, Repertory Orchestra for intermediate players, and Symphony Orchestra for advanced students.
• SchoolsMusic brings a trio of NBSO musicians into schools to perform. The musicians play a wide range of music and explain (and play examples of) the basic elements of music like tempo, pitch, and rhythm. This year, 2,500 New Bedford school children participated in the program.
• Master Classes bring together the NBSO’s guest artists with local students to provide them with musical instruction.

NBSO Partners

The NBSO believes that collaboration strengthens all the organizations involved and the community.

Acushnet Classical Ensemble | AHA! | Artworks! | Buttonwood Park Zoo | Buzzards Bay Musicfest | Cranberry Coast Concerts | Downtown New Bedford, Inc. | Dartmouth Public Schools | Fairhaven Public Schools | Grace Episcopal Church | Hawthorn Medical | Mastersingers by the Sea | Nativity Prep | New Bedford Art Museum | New Bedford Ballet | New Bedford Creative Economy Task Force | New Bedford Festival Theater | New Bedford Ocean Explorium | New Bedford Public Schools | New Bedford Tourism Task Force | New Bedford Whaling Museum | Old Rochester Regional School District | Our Sisters School | St. Anthony’s Church | Sine Nomine | South Coast Chamber Music Society | Southcoast Hospitals | Symphony Music Shop | Tri-County Symphonic Band | University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth | Your Theater | Zeiterion Performing Arts Center