Symphony Silicon Valley

Symphony Silicon Valley is the professional symphony orchestra of San Jose and the South Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Founded in 2002 following the demise of the San Jose Symphony, the orchestra debuted to rave reviews and standing ovations on November 23, 2002 at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts.Striking a new chord, reborn S.J. symphony takes the stage to much applause, San Jose Mercury News, November 25, 2002 Started initially by Ballet San Jose as a way to keep their core musicians employed and in town after the closure of the San Jose Symphony,San Jose Mercury News, October 5, 2002 http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SJ&s_site=mercurynews&p_multi=SJ&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F67FE04C70B9F53&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM the orchestra was so successful that it was spun off as its own separate nonprofit organization after the first year.Los Angeles Times, July 18, 2003 http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/370915031.html?dids=370915031:370915031&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+18%2C+2003&author=Diane+Haithman&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=QUICK+TAKES%3B+Third+life+for+symphony&pqatl=google
==Background==
San Jose has a long history of symphonic music, beginning in 1877 when the town was nothing more than a small collection of homes in a dusty agricultural valley. The founding of what became the San Jose Symphony two years later made that organization one of the oldest continuously operating orchestras in American and older than all of the “big five” orchestras save New York's.Dr. Thomas Wolf & Nancy Glaze, And The Band Stopped Playing: The Rise and Fall of the San Jose Symphony (Cambridge, MA: Wolf, Keens & Company 2005) http://www.wolfbrown.com/images/books/sanjosesymphony.pdf In October, 2001, the San Jose Symphony closed its doors in a bid to restructure.Associated Press, October 23, 2001 http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P1-47692264.html But when, more than a year later, the organization was unable to recover San Jose Symphony declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy and was desolved.Associated Press, November 15, 2002 http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P1-69583418.html
Symphony Silicon Valley built on the rich musical heritage of the San Jose Symphony by hiring some 75 of the former orchestra's nationally recruited union musicians and regularly employing them to allow them to remain in the area.
==Growth==
What started as a four performance season in 2002 has today grown into 20 classical performances per year. With the addition of the orchestra's Broadway In Concert season of lighter fare in the 2009/2010 season, the company increased the number of days of work for the musicians by 40%.International Musician, September 2009 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5434/is_200909/ai_n39232763/?tag=content;col1 In addition to these two core seasons, the symphony accompanies most Ballet San Jose performances, produces the free outdoor Target Summer Pops festival, and performs special engagements in venues such as Villa Montalvo, Lake Cunningham Park, Discovery Meadow, San Francisco's Masonic Auditorium and Moscone Center and the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay. The symphony frequently acts as the backing orchestra for special events and headline artists such as Video Games Live and Frank Sinatra, Jr. and has performed a number of world premieres.Sing Out! The Folk Song Magazine Winter 2008 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1197/is_4_51/ai_n24219979//
In 2004, the orchestra moved to their new home, the magnificently restored California Theatre.San Jose Mercury News, March 2, 2004 http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SJ&s_site=mercurynews&p_multi=SJ&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=10116963AEA01D72&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM In 2005 when the San Jose State University Community Chorus was displaced from their university home, Symphony Silicon Valley took on the chorus as the Symphony Silicon Valley Chorale.
==Fiscal Responsibility==
Symphony Silicon Valley was founded on the principle of market responsiveness. This principle has kept the orchestra in the black every year of its existence and also seen it bring in a much higher earned income ratio than its competitors.San Jose Business Journal, February 8, 2008 http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2008/02/11/newscolumn1.html?jst=cn_cn_lkGuide Star Charity Check http://www.guidestar.org The organization also believes in paying a fair wage to its musicians, stagehands and staff and employs musicians from the American Federation of Musicians and stagehands and ushers from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes.
==California Theatre==
Originally opened in 1927, the California Theatre was designed by Weeks and Day, noted architects of the nearby Sainte Claire Hotel, Oakland's Fox Theatre, and San Francisco's Mark Hopkins Hotel. After years of neglect, the Vaudeville and movie palace finally closed in 1973. It remained vacant and was almost lost through neglect, though purchased by the San Jose Redevelopment Agency in 1985. In 2001, work began in earnest to restore it to its 1920s glory and adapt it for use as a modern opera house and concert hall. The theatre reopened on September 17, 2004 to great acclaim and the symphony opened their first concert in the hall on October 9, 2004. Today after a $75 Million renovation and expansion, the theater seats 1,119 and has some of the finest acoustics in the Bay Area.Preservation Action Council of San Jose http://www.preservation.org/foxtheatre/fox_project_history.htmlSan Jose Mercury News, October 3, 2004 http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SJ&s_site=mercurynews&p_multi=SJ&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=1058EB2C29F3EE46&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePMSan Jose Redevelopment Agency http://www.sjredevelopment.org/ProjectGallery/CaliforniaTheatreFacts.pdfBob Shomler, Performing Arts Photographer http://www.shomler.com/calsj/info.htmTeam San Jose http://www.sanjose.org/meetings/facilities/ca_theatre.php
==References==
==External links==
* Official Website: symphonysiliconvalley.org
Category:American orchestras