Marjorie Bram conducts the orchestra in its early days.
By John Tierney
Special to the News-Record
The South Orange Symphony will cap its 75th Anniversary season with a free concert on Sunday, April 27, at 3 p.m., at the South Orange Middle School.
The program will feature “Symphony No. 1” by Florence Price, an African American composer whose powerful work won top prize at the Wanamaker Competition in 1932 and was premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1933.
Price’s remarkable life charts a path from Little Rock, Arkansas, to graduation from the New England Conservatory, college teaching and composing in Atlanta and Little Rock, and moving to Chicago in 1927 to escape Jim Crow. Fifty-six years after her death, a large trove of compositions were discovered in the attic of her former summer home, renewing great interest in her work.
The concert will open with Rossini’s sparkling “Overture to Cinderella,” and conclude with Franz Liszt’s “Les Preludes,” a dramatic “tone poem” that embodies the Romantic spirit and features every section of the 56-member orchestra.
Founded in 1949 by Marjorie Bram, violist and music educator in Maplewood and South Orange, the South Orange Symphony has had just three conductors in its 75-year history.
Bram conducted free concerts each season for 23 years and guided the orchestra’s rapid growth from 40 to 55 musicians. Conductor and trumpet player Robert Helmacy took the podium in 1972, and led the orchestra for more than four decades until 2014. Susan Haig, orchestra and opera conductor and a native of Summit, became the symphony’s conductor in 2015.
The South Orange Symphony often shares the stage with local soloists and groups such as Columbia High School’s Festival Choir and the South Orange Middle School’s Early Morning Chamber Orchestra. A new holiday tradition of “Messiah Sings” features local singers from First Presbyterian and Trinity Church – the Orchestra’s original rehearsal space.
As a lead cultural group, the symphony is featured at the annual Star-Spangled South Orange July 4th celebrations in Meadowlands Park and headlined the 9/11 20th Memorial Concert at the South Orange Public Library. The orchestra is in its fifth decade of residence at the South Orange Middle School.
Audience members on Sunday, April 27, will be invited to browse through program books and archival materials displaying the orchestra’s vibrant role in South Orange life. Brief verbal introductions before each piece will enhance the musical experience, making the concert as enjoyable for first time concert goers as for loyal listeners.
Don’t miss the dramatic “Symphony No. 1” by Florence Price, the humor and sparkle of Rossini, and the triumphant sounds of Franz Liszt as the Orchestra celebrates 75 years.
SOMS’s Stirling Hall is at 70 N. Ridgewood Road, South Orange. Parking is on Ridgewood Road or in the lot behind the Middle School.
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