Manchester Symphony Orchestra

08/29/2026

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08/21/2026

Don't miss our season opening concert on October 4th!

08/16/2026

Happy Birthday to composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. 🥳 MSO will perform his delightful Symphonic Dance entitled "The Bamboula" on our February 21 concert at the Honeywell Center in Wabash. Mark your calendar to hear this and other masterworks for orchestra.

151 years ago today, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was born in London, a gifted composer whose music crossed borders, challenged prejudice and opened new possibilities for classical music. Of English and Sierra Leonean heritage, he grew up to become one of Britain’s most important Black composers of the early 20th century.

His music drew on European classical traditions while embracing African and African-American melodies, spirituals and themes. Works such as Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, The African Suite and Twenty-Four Negro Melodies revealed a powerful musical identity rooted in heritage, imagination and pride.

Coleridge-Taylor was more than a remarkable composer: he was also a passionate advocate for racial equality and Pan-African solidarity. Although he died at only 37, his music and ideals continue to challenge concert halls to listen more broadly , and to recognise the voices that helped shape classical music.

08/11/2026

Conducting—waving a wand to summon ravishing or ethereal or earsplitting sounds—can look like either inexplicable magic or embarrassing nonsense, the conductor and composer Matthew Aucoin writes. But “with an exceptional conductor on the podium, an electricity can flow through the ensemble, an extra energy that helps dozens of musicians breathe and speak as one complex, multifarious organism,” Aucoin continues. https://theatln.tc/3IeMQaE2

At the link, Aucoin explores the profession's power and purpose.

🎨: Stefano Bianchetti / corbis / Getty

07/29/2026

We're very excited to perform Dvorak's beloved New World Symphony on Oct. 4 at 3 p.m. in Cordier Auditorium. Mark your calendars!

07/16/2026

On April 11, 2027, MSO will perform Felix Mendelssohn's Overture to "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Included in the original instrumentation is a part for this instrument: the ophecleide. Our tubaist, Terry Solomonson will play the part on his F Tuba (sort of like a piccolo tuba, one of the smallest of the tuba family).

Check out this nifty little video introduction to the ophecleide.

07/12/2026

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07/09/2026

Thanks to the North Manchester News-Journal for its story about the symphony. We’re excited about the new season!

07/03/2026

Have you voted? The MSO needs your votes for a Beacon Credit Union Project Spotlight grant to help support our guest artist program. Please pass it on!

You can vote once a day through July 31 at https://www.beaconcu.org/project-spotlight/project-spotlight-nominees-wabash-county-city-of-north-manchester/?fbclid=IwY2xjawS0oXdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeIDSj1uM10nNMKitCANn6rFVg0Gjo90B94DjYrtO9nh5n2B-mFhl6rISf8Jk_aem_wbA8eLkZ-g5PTqPmDWgJOQ

Conductor Dr. Debra Lynn started the MSO Guest Artist Residency program to bring national and international musicians for annual week-long residencies at Manchester University. Guest artists offer outreach to the wider community through public school visits, master classes, and recital performances in addition to their spotlight performance with the symphony. Guest artists raise the bar of excellence, challenge and engage our musicians, and connect our community with the wider world.

06/29/2026

HBD Leroy Anderson! Composer of Blue Tango, The Typewriter, The Syncopated Clock, and Sleigh Ride to name just a few.

The MSO will perform Sleigh Ride during our November 22 concert at Cordier Auditorium.

Here are some fun facts about this prolific maestro:
🎵He graduated magna cm laude from Harvard College in 1929, and completed a Master of Arts from Harvard University just one year later.
🎵He spoke 8 languages besides English: Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, German, French, Italian, and Portuguese.
🎵In 1942, he joined the US Army and was stationed in Iceland with the Counterintelligence Corps as a translator and interpreter.
🎵In 1995 the new headquarters of the Harvard University Band was named the Anderson Band Center in his honor.