Sweet Music to Long Beach Ears

Just four years ago, the future of the Long Beach Symphony was exceedingly bleak. The orchestra had gone so deeply in debt that it had to cancel an entire season. There was general unhappiness with its part-time conductor and music director. Some questioned whether the orchestra had any future.

But determined community leaders and symphony General Manager Mary Newkirk refused to give up. They embarked on a fund-raising drive that was so successful that the orchestra was able to come back the next year with an abridged season. They dumped the veteran, but part-time music director and held a season-long series of auditions for a successor who would pledge atleast 100 days a year to Long Beach.

The new Long Beach Symphony opened its 55th season to a packed hall last Saturday night, with 90% of the year’s seats sold in advance through subscription. The orchestra played under the baton of an exciting new conductor and music director, JoAnn Falletta, 35, formerly associate conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony and leader of several smaller ensembles.

Already a big draw at the box office, Falletta was also a hit on the podium. Long Beach not only has resurrected its symphony, it has hitched it to one of the brightest stars of symphonic music in America, a dazzling way to conduct a comeback.