Clark in 2013. The orchestra’s programming focuses on masterworks (standard orchestral repertoire), commissions, education, community-based and family-friendly programming, interdisciplinary artistic collaborations, and diversity. The orchestra’s masterworks programming features local artists and composers. These artists have included Columbus Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Louisville Orchestra members and faculty from The Ohio State University, Capital University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. WCO performers include college professors, professional freelance musicians, talented college and high school students, and musicians from Black, Asian, and Latinx groups. WCO has commissioned new works from Ohio composers: Dr. Matthew Saunders, Dr. Michael Torres, Jacob Reed, Christopher Weait, Dr. Linda Kernonhan, Dr. Tony Zilincik, and Dr. Mark. The orchestra’s educational programming provides late elementary-middle schoolers an opportunity to connect to live orchestral music in their community and the classroom curriculum. In addition, musicians of WCO provide masterclasses to Worthington students. WCO provides professional performance experience for college and high school students within the orchestra and as soloists. Community-based and family-friendly programming includes free pops concerts on the Peggy R. McConnell Worthington Center for the Art’s lawn, free gala/opening season concerts, and programming supporting the King Arts Complex’s The HeART of Protest campaign. Interdisciplinary artistic collaborations are a hallmark of WCO. Over the past nine seasons, the chamber orchestra has collaborated with artists from diverse backgrounds, including a sculptor, poet, and a dance company, to emphasize storytelling and the power of music in connection with the arts. Beginning with the 2019-2020 season, the chamber orchestra made diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) a central tenet of its orchestral programming. That season’s Masterworks series theme, Amplified: Do More Than Listen, Hear Our Voices, featured works by women and people of color. WCO was the first orchestra in Ohio to premiere Black female composer Florence B. Price’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major with Gabriel Lefkowitz, concertmaster of Louisville Orchestra. During its nine seasons, the chamber orchestra has partnered with Columbus Jazz Arts Group, WOSU Media, and Classical 101. Sponsors include individual donors, Johnstone Fund for New Music, Fahlgren Mortine, and Safelite Auto Glass.
