The Springfield Symphony Orchestra is an American
orchestra based in
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...
. It performs at
Symphony Hall, a part of the
Springfield Municipal Group.
The Springfield Symphony (SSO) got its start when the conductor of the amateur
Pioneer Valley Symphony of
Greenfield
Greenfield or Greenfields may refer to:
Engineering and Business
* Greenfield agreement, an employment agreement for a new organisation
* Greenfield investment, the investment in a structure in an area where no previous facilities exist
* Greenf ...
, Alexander Leslie, decided he was ready to lead a professional organization. After gaining the support of the area cultural and business communities, Leslie began to assemble an orchestra based in Springfield, which had no professional orchestra.
The SSO performed its first concert at the
Municipal Auditorium in 1944.
Its first performance was given great reviews and even recorded by the Office of War Information for rebroadcast overseas.
The SSO has throughout its history support musical education programs in the Greater Springfield area.

Today, the SSO is the largest symphony in Massachusetts outside of Boston, and was described by D. Antoinette Handy, a former music director of the
National Endowment for the Arts, as "one of the nation's premiere regional orchestras".
[
* ] It consists of 80 musicians from
New England and
Canada and usually holds as many as 150 performances as either the full orchestra or in ensemble formats. Its concerts are often broadcast over
WFCR, the area
NPR station. The current music director is Kevin Rhodes.
It is the parent organization of two youth orchestras: the Springfield Youth Sinfonia (formally Young Person's Philharmonia) and the Springfield Youth Orchestra (formally Young Person's Symphony). They offer young musicians a chance to play in a full orchestra, an option not offered in many schools.
References
External links
Official website / home page
{{Authority control
Culture of Springfield, Massachusetts
Orchestras based in Massachusetts
Musical groups from Springfield, Massachusetts
Economy of Springfield, Massachusetts
Musical groups established in 1944
1944 establishments in Massachusetts