# Brockton Symphony Orchestra

The Brockton Symphony Orchestra (BrSO) is a community orchestra based in Brockton, Massachusetts founded in 1948 as the Brockton Orchestral Society. Described by the Boston Globe as "one of the region's classical jewels", the orchestra performs five or six concerts each year, including its annual Holiday Pops Concert and Chamber Music Concert at local venues in Brockton including the West Middle School Auditorium and the Oliver Ames High School. In the 1970s, the orchestra also produced original operas and ballets. Contemporary works which have been commissioned and premiered by the orchestra include Gardner Read's Vernal Equinox (1955), Beth Denisch's Golden Fanfare (1998), and Thomas Oboe Lee's Sounds of The Islands (2005).
The organization consists of the Chairperson of the Executive Board is Susan Caplan, conductor Emilian Badea, who holds a DMA from Boston University and has been a bassoonist with the orchestra since 1989; and concertmistress Kristina Nilsson, co-founder of Boston's Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra. Clarinetist and conductor Jonathan Cohler served as the orchestra's Musical Director from 1996 to 2006, and James Orent served as Music Director from 2007 until his death in 2021. He has since been succeeded by John Masko as of 2023

## Vasconcellos Youth Competition

The Brockton Symphony Orchestra also hosts the annual Vasconcellos Youth Competition, offering $1500 in prizes every year to instrumentalists under the age of 18. Winners are invited to play a concerto with the Brockton Symphony Orchestra. Past Winners include Miki Nagahara, Winston Huang, Jaclyn Freshman, Kristhyan Benitez, and Meihui An.

## Members

The following is the list of instrumentalists as of the Brockton Symphony Orchestra 2023-2024 season.
| Name | Section | Chair |
| Janny Joo | Violin I | Mark Finklestein Chair |
| Zenas Hsu | Violin I | |
| Donna Culley | Violin I | John D. Martin Chair |
| Tudor Dornescu | Violin I | |
| Joy Garmaise-Yee | Violin I | |
| Viridiana Hernandez Villa | Violin I | |
| Kathleen Jara | Violin I | |
| Diane Hartung | Violin I | |
| Jonathan K.S So | Violin I | |
| Jo Manning-Souza | Violin I | |
| Gigi Turgeon | Violin I | |
| Laura-Marie Tusi | Violin I | |
| Ali You | Violin I | |
| Christine Warren | Violin I | |
| Betsy Hinkle | Violin II | Marcia Lindsay Chair |
| Lily Apolloni | Violin II | |
| Karen Grant | Violin II | |
| Maureen Jardin | Violin II | |
| Joshua Lennox | Violin II | |
| Heather Luhn | Violin II | |
| Nareh Mkrtschjan | Violin II | |
| Allison Patton | Violin II | |
| Carol Rankin | Violin II | |
| Sam Ruest | Violin II | |
| Sara Weir | Violin II | |
| Isaiah Chapman | Violin II | |
| Stephanie Billingham | Viola | |
| Stephanie Burns | Viola | |
| Patricia Chane | Viola | |
| Arjun Mudan | Viola | |
| Carly Rockenhauser | Viola | |
| Roselie Samter | Viola | |
| Cassandra Sulbarán | Viola | |
| Julie Reimann | Viola | |
| Caroline Walter Hine | Cello | |
| Christelle Alcindor | Cello | |
| Tara Chambers | Cello | |
| Angelina Donahue | Cello | |
| James Hardiman | Cello | |
| Howard Katz | Cello | |
| Macaulley Whitlock | Cello | |
| Amitabh Goswami | Bass | |
| Carlos Sulbarán | Bass | |
| Carlos Yepes | Bass | |
| Susan Caplan | Flute/Piccolo | Caplan Family Chair |
| Carolyn Baughman | Flute/Piccolo | |
| Lorrie Hassan | Flute/Piccolo | |
| Mark Finklestein | Oboe/English Horn | Kenneth R. Feinberg Chair |
| Melanie Hayn | Oboe/English Horn | Mark Finklestein Chair |
| Lori Hagborg | Oboe/English Horn | |
| Torben Hansen | Clarinet | Evelyn Chamberlin Chair |
| Jeffrey Lichenstein | Clarinet | |
| Karen Sanborn | Bass Clarinet & Saxophone | |
| Mary Jo Running | Saxophone | |
| Debbie Chen | Bassoon | |
| Robert Gemmell, Jr. | Bassoon | |
| Jessica Young | Horn | Carol F. Bedard Chair |
| Erik Svenson | Horn | |
| Rachel Daly | Horn | |
| Samuel Koeck | Horn | |
| Wayne King | Trumpet | |
| Spencer Aston | Trumpet | |
| Joseph Donohue | Trumpet | |
| John Schuller | Trumpet | |
| Sydney Alfano | Trumpet | |
| Nic Dion | Trombone | |
| Thomas Williams | Trombone | |
| Donald Running | Bass Trombone | |
| Jordan Oliveira | Tuba | |
| Carol Chaffee | Piano | |
| Eve Budnick | Piano | |
| Bryan Round | Percussion | |
| Chris Boyd | Percussion | |
| Angelina Savoie | Harp |