What are the opening hours?

Tuesday 1pm - 6pm Wednesday 1pm - 6pm Thursday 1pm - 6pm

Roswell Symphony Orchestra

Home
United States
Roswell, NM
Roswell Symphony Orchestra

The Roswell Symphony Orchestra is celebrating 66 years! It all began in the basement of the First Methodist Church on July 28, 1959.

That first group included lawyers, accountants, teachers, florists, housewives and geologists. Although not professional musicians, they were determined to give Roswell and southeast New Mexico a professional sounding orchestra. For a city the size of less than forty-thousand the formation of the Roswell Symphony Orchestra was quite an accomplishment. Maestro John Farrer became the director of the

RSO for the 1972 season. He followed William Kirschke, Thomas Lewis, and Glenn Cunningham, the first director of the RSO. Under the leadership of Maestro Farrer the RSO has earned a reputation for musical excellence by sharing with the under served target audience of southeast New Mexico the talents of professional musicians, many of whom have performed renowned symphonies across the United States as well as in Canada and Europe. The first concert season in 1960-1961 featured three concerts held in New Mexico Military Institute's Pearson Auditorium. Since then the season has grown to include a Subscription Concert Series of five classical concerts in Pearson Auditorium, featuring world renowned guest artists, Children's Educational Concerts for elementary students in Roswell, Dexter and Hagerman, and a free Labor Day Concert at Spring River Park and Zoo.

09/02/2026

Season Tickets are still available! roswellsymphony.org or call 575.623.5882

09/01/2026

🎺🎺🎺 Three trumpets. One dazzling showpiece. Get ready for pure musical fireworks!

The Roswell Symphony Orchestra is thrilled to bring Leroy Anderson's "Bugler's Holiday" to the stage as part of our Patriotic Concert, Saturday, September 26th at 7:00 PM at Pearson Auditorium!

Anderson — the same composer behind beloved favorites like "Sleigh Ride" and "The Typewriter" — wrote this delightful showpiece in 1954 as a feature for three solo trumpets (or cornets). Playful, fast, and bursting with virtuosic energy, it's like watching a musical high-wire act — three soloists trading dazzling runs back and forth while the orchestra keeps the energy soaring underneath.

It's a crowd favorite for good reason: equal parts technical brilliance and pure fun. You'll be amazed at what these trumpet players can do!

🎟️ Get your tickets here: https://prod1.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/list.aspx?epguid=51e086b0-0902-4795-aa77-7085319fae8d

Join us September 26th at 7:00 PM and watch our trumpet section shine! 🎶

08/31/2026

🤠🎻 Saddle up! Our orchestra is bringing the wide-open energy of the American West to the stage with Aaron Copland's "Hoedown" from Rodeo — live in concert on September 26th!

Copland wrote Rodeo in 1942 as a ballet about a lonely cowgirl trying to fit in on the ranch — and "Hoedown," the rowdy finale, is where the whole thing kicks into high gear. Built on old American fiddle tunes, it's bursting with stomping rhythms, playful energy, and that unmistakable Copland sound — wide-open harmonies that practically paint the prairie sky.

You've probably heard it before, even if you didn't know the name — it's been used everywhere from beef commercials to movie soundtracks. But nothing beats hearing it live, with a full orchestra kicking up the dust in real time.

🎟️ Tickets available at roswellsymphony.org

Grab your seat for September 26th and let "Hoedown" get your boots tapping! 🥁🎶

08/26/2026

John Philip Sousa (November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for US military marches.[3] He is known as "The March King" (or the "American March King" to distinguish him from his British counterpart Kenneth J. Alford). Among Sousa's best-known marches are "The Stars and Stripes Forever" (national march of the US), "Semper Fidelis" (official march of the United States Marine Corps), "The Liberty Bell", "The Thunderer", and "The Washington Post".

Sousa began his career playing violin and studying music theory and composition under John Esputa and George Felix Benkert.

In 1868, Sousa's father enlisted him in the United States Marine Band as an apprentice. Sousa left the band in 1875, and over the next five years, he performed as a violinist and learned to conduct. In 1880, Sousa rejoined the Marine Band and served there for 12 years as director. In 1892, he left the Marine Band and organized the civilian Sousa Band. From 1880 until his death, Sousa focused exclusively on conducting and writing music. He aided in the development of the sousaphone, a form of marching tuba based on the helicon.

Upon the US joining World War I, Sousa was awarded a wartime commission of lieutenant to lead the Naval Reserve Band in Illinois. He thereafter returned to conduct the Sousa Band until his death in 1932. In the 1920s, Sousa was promoted to the permanent rank of lieutenant commander in the naval reserve.

08/25/2026

Richard Charles Rodgers was born in New York City on June 28, 1902. His earliest professional credits, beginning in 1920, included a series of musicals For Broadway, London and Hollywood written exclusively with lyricist Lorenz Hart. In the first decade of their collaboration, Rodgers & Hart averaged two new shows every season, beginning with Poor Little Ritz Girl, and also including The Garrick Gaieties (of 1925 and 1926), Dearest Enemy, Peggy-Ann, A Connecticut Yankee and Chee-Chee.

After spending the years 1931 to 1935 in Hollywood (where they wrote the scores for several feature films, including Love Me Tonight starring Maurice Chevalier; Hallelujah, I'm a Bum starring Al Jolson; and The Phantom President starring George M. Cohan), they returned to New York to compose the score for Billy Rose's circus extravaganza, Jumbo. A golden period followed -- golden for Rodgers & Hart, and golden for the American musical: On Your Toes (1936), Babes in Arms (1937), I’d Rather Be Right (1937), I Married an Angel (1938), The Boys From Syracuse (1938), Too Many Girls (1939), Higher and Higher (1940), Pal Joey (1940), and By Jupiter (1942).

The Rodgers & Hart partnership came to an end with the death of Lorenz Hart in 1943, at the age of 48. Earlier that year Rodgers had joined forces with lyricist and author Oscar Hammerstein II, whose work in the field of operetta throughout the '20s and '30s had been as innovative as Rodgers' own accomplishments in the field of musical comedy. Oklahoma! (1943), the first Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, was also the first of a new genre, the musical play, representing a unique fusion of Rodgers' musical comedy and Hammerstein's operetta. A milestone in the development of the American musical, it also marked the beginning of the most successful partnership in Broadway musical history, and was followed by Carousel (1945), Allegro (1947), South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951), Me and Juliet (1953), Pipe Dream (1955), Flower Drum Song (1958) and The Sound of Music (1959). The team wrote one movie musical, State Fair (1945), and one for television, Cinderella (1957). Collectively, the Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals earned 34 Tony Awards, 15 Academy Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes, two Grammy Awards and 2 my Awards.

In 1998 Rodgers & Hammerstein were cited by Time Magazine and CBS News as among the 20 most influential artists of the 20th century and in 1999 they were jointly comm orated on a U.S. postage stamp. Despite Hammerstein's death in 1960, Rodgers continued to write for the Broadway stage. His first solo entry, No Strings in 1962, earned him two Tony Awards for music and lyrics, and was followed by Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim), Two By Two (1970, lyrics by Martin Charnin), Rex (1976, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick) and I Remember Mama (1979, lyrics by Martin Charnin and Raymond Jessel). No Strings was not the only project for which Rodgers worked solo: as composer/lyricist he wrote the score for a 1967 television adaptation of Bernard Shaw's Androcles and the Lion For NBC; contributed songs to a 1962 remake of State Fair; and to the 1965 movie version of The Sound of Music. He composed one ballet score (Ghost Town, premiered in 1939), and two television documentary scores -- Victory At Sea in 1952 and The Valiant Years in 1960 (the former earning him an my, a Gold Record and a commendation from the U.S. Navy.)

08/24/2026

Morton Gould (composer, born December 10, 1913, Richmond Hills, New york; died February 21, 1996) Morton Gould was a prolific and versatile composer whose works throughout this century reflected the moods and outlook of this country in all its rough-and-tumble optimism. Like Gershwin, Copland, and Ives, Gould turned to the indigenous musical styles of the peoples of this country for inspiration--jazz, folk, hymns, spirituals, gospel, and Latin American music--and produces full-blown orchestral works that are immediately accessible and unmistakably American. Gould wrote in a wide range of genres, but he was best known for his orchestral works, which include scores for radio American Symphonette, 1938), Broadway musicals Million DollaR&Baby, 1945), ballets Fall River Legend, 1947), film Windjammer, 1958), and television Holocaust, 1978). As conductor, he led orchestras around the world and made first recordings of works by Shostakovich, Ives, and Copland. He was the oldest of four boys of a nonmusical family. A player piano in the living room was his earliest musical memory. A piano prodigy by the time he was 5, he played a concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music during his first year in school which included his first composition.

At 8 he was a scholarship student at the Institute of Musical Arts in New York City. Entering his teens, Gould's family faced financial difficulties. The player piano was sold, and he had to leave school to earn a living as a pianist for vaudeville acts, and giving recitals in which he improvised works constructed around themes contributed by the audience. Eventually he landed the job of staff pianist for the opening of Radio City Music Hall. The year was 1931, and he was 18 years old. Playing for shows at the nation's premier palace for pop entertainment while at the same time studying "serious" music with the likes of conductor Fritz Reiner kept him straddling the two very different worlds of music, which over the years he helped enormously to bridge.

Gould next went into radio, in charge of music on the Mutual Radio Network from 1934-42, and in 1943 becoming music director of the popular "Chrysler Hour" on CBS. His audiences ranged in the millions. At the same time he was writing symphonic music that was being performed by such major conductors as Stokowsky, Rodzinski, and Toscanini. His later compositional activities included a Cello Suite commissioned by the Chamber Society of Lincoln Center, I'm Old Fashioned, a ballet score for New York City Ballet based on the Jerome Kern song; America Sing, commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, a flute concerto commissioned by the Chicago Symphony, and a new work commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra to celebrate the composer's 80th birthday. Gould's keen interest in music education led him to give lectures on the art of composition, and he was often been found conducting an orchestra of his favorite musicians--students. His peers elected him to the presidency of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and ASCAP, the oldest performing rights organization in the world.

08/23/2026

Don't forget your season tickets! Renewals are due by September 1st to keep your seats. Go to roswellsymphony.org or call 575.623.5882.

08/22/2026

American composer George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn on September 26, 1898, to a non-musical family. He did not begin his formal musical training until age 12, when he began piano instruction. He left school at 15 to become a “Song Plugger” at the Tin Pan Alley music publishing firm of Jerome Remick. His job there was to play and sing newly published music for potential buyers. He began composing his own songs while he worked.

In the following years, his success as a composer of popular songs soared and he became equally successful as a man about town. With his brother, Ira Gershwin, and other lyricists, Gershwin wrote twenty-two of the most successful musical shows for Broadway during the 1920s and early 1930s; these shows starred most of the famous stage performers of the time, including Ruby Keeler, Fred Astaire, Jimmy Durante, F***y Brice, and Gertrude Lawrence.

Of Thee I Sing, a brilliant political satire Gershwin wrote with George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, won the Pulitzer Prize for 1932, the first musical to win that prestigious award. Songs from most of his musical shows became standards of the popular music performing world.

By 1935, Gershwin’s interests turned to more serious music. With his brother Ira and Dubose and Dorothy Heywood, he wrote wrote the “Black folk opera” Porgy and Bess based on the novel by DuBose Heywood. It was received with mixed reviews and excited some controversy, but has nonetheless remained a staple in musical theater repertory to this day.

After Porgy and Bess closed on Broadway in 1935, Gershwin went to California to begin writing scores for film musicals. Shall We Dance starred Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and A Damsel In Distress featured Astaire, Joan Fontaine, and Gracie Allen.

By 1937, Gershwin was experiencing increasingly severe headaches and dizzy spells. He collapsed into a coma caused by a brain tumor on July 9 and died on July 11.

08/21/2026

Copland was born in Brooklyn on November 14, 1900, the youngest of five children. He spent the first 20 years of his life here. As a child, he longed to study piano, but was forced to settle for lessons from one of his sisters. After graduating from high school, Copland decided to make music his career. He encountered his share of failures during his first years as a musician. His first teacher considered his modernisitc chords to be sour notes, and his efforts at composition during a trip to Paris in 1920 went unnoticed. The young Copland persevered, however, and under the instruction of Nadia Boulanger, a well-known teacher of harmony, he continued to compose.

Copland returned to the United States three years later only to face more disappointing reactions to his composing endeavors. He decided to settle for a job playing piano in a trio at a Pennsylvania hotel. While he was a member of the trio, Boulanger asked him to write an organ concerto for her. During his off hours, Copland worked on the concerto, a piece that would eventually be written without organ to become his "First Symphony."

His "First Symphony" premiered in 1925 by the New York Symphony Orchestra. Conductor, Walter Damrosch, expressed his feelings about Copland's work by saying, "If a young man (age 25) can write a symphony like that, in five years he will be ready to commit murder." A few months later, in Boston, Serge Koussevitsky conducted the premiere of Copland's jazzy "Music for the Theater." The positive reception of this piece prompted him to continue experimenting with jazz, resulting in his "Piano Concerto."

In 1936, Copland began to change his style, concentrating on folk themes. He wrote music for high school musicians before moving on to ballet on American themes, such as Billy the Kid (1938), Rodeo (1942), and Appalachian Spring (1944). Among the many awards Copland received are, an Oscar for Best Dramatic Film Score for The Heiress in 1949, the Pulitzer Prize for Appalachian Spring in 1944, the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Johnson, and the National Medal of Arts in 1986.

08/20/2026

Leroy Anderson was born on June 29, 1908 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and fell in love with music at a very young age. His musical gifts were so great that in 1919 (at age 11) he began piano and music studies at the New England Conservatory of Music. In 1925 he composed, orchestrated, and conducted the Cambridge High and Latin School orchestra in the class song for his graduation. He was in high school when his father bought him a trombone so that he could play in the front row of the Harvard University Band where he would be going to college.

After college, Anderson became Director of the Harvard University Band and wrote numerous clever arrangements for the band that brought him to the attention of Arthur Fiedler, Director of the Boston Pops Orchestra. His first arrangement for Fiedler in 1936 was a medley of Harvard songs called Harvard Fantasy. In 1938 the Boston Pops performed his first original composition for orchestra, Jazz Pizzicato. It was an immediate hit, and Fiedler encouraged him to write more original compositions for the orchestra, many of which are now famous and played by orchestras across the globe.

In the early 1950’s, CBS-TV chose The Syncopated Clock as the theme for its new program “The Late Show.” CBS used it for more than 25 years. Plink, Plank, Plunk! was known to many in the 1950’s as the theme for the TV game show “I’ve Got a Secret”, and The Typewriter has become a favorite for a variety of radio news productions.

Anderson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1976 and was elected posthumously to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1988. His music is frequently used to entertain visiting dignitaries at the White House as well as to greet U.S. Presidents when visiting foreign countries.

Address

1717 W 2nd Street, Ste 205
Roswell, NM
88201

Opening Hours

Tuesday	1pm - 6pm
Wednesday	1pm - 6pm
Thursday	1pm - 6pm

Website

http://www.roswellsymphony.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Roswell Symphony Orchestra posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Establishment

Send a message to Roswell Symphony Orchestra:

Want your establishment to be the top-listed Arts & Entertainment in Roswell?