WHICH ONE IS NOT LIKE THE OTHERS?
When you hear or see the word “symphony,” what comes to your mind? If you are like most people, you immediately think of classical music. While a look into the exact meanings of this word is a discussion for another day, what you should know is that, perhaps, because of misperceptions about that word, Gwinnett Symphony may well be one of the “best kept secrets” in Gwinnett County! Read on to find out how and why.
WHO WE ARE
Gwinnett Symphony Musical Arts Consortium (GSMAC), first of all, is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Simply put, we do not make money! Our organization is composed of both professional and amateur musicians, and a large part of our mission is centered around educating and training the next generation of musicians while helping to instill the value of quality music throughout our community. We exist because of volunteers deeply committed to our work and our mission, both through their financial contributions and through their contributions of time and talent. While there are, in fact, other volunteer musical arts non-profits around our area, we are unique among them. You can look but will not find another one in our area, or perhaps anywhere, that matches the scope of what we do in every way. We are, simply put, incomparable!
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| Live accompaniment for Northeast Atlanta Ballet Company productions (about 13 performances) in March and November provided by Gwinnett Symphony Ballet Orchestra (shown in the "Pit" beneath the stage) conducted by Robert Trocina |
OUR MISSION:
Gwinnett Symphony Musical Arts Consortium exists
to cultivate and promote music
with its transformative power to unite and enrich
the lives of youth and adults
in our vastly diverse,
multicultural community.
MUSIC FOR ALL
In keeping with our mission - which expresses our understanding that Gwinnett County, according to a report in 2015, is the most culturally diverse county in the Southeastern United States – our music for each season is planned to impact and unite the lives of this very diverse population. Through the endeavors of Gwinnett Symphony, a most unlikely gathering of people is brought together with a common language called music. To both listeners and musicians alike, music, with its universal appeal, releases its transformative power to enrich their lives.
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| The Symphony Chorus, like our other ensemble groups, is representative of the diversity found in our community |
Because we deeply recognize the intrinsic value that quality music has for improving society in general and for individual lives in particular, it is our desire to do all that we can to make our music accessible to the multitudes of people surrounding us. We want those who desire to attend our concerts to be able to do so by offering ticket prices that are affordable. We want to appeal to a wide audience by offering a wide variety of music for many tastes. We also provide music for special events both for hire or donations. (See Our Music below to learn more about all of our different groups and offerings.) Our hope and vision is that Gwinnett Symphony will one day be a household word in every home of Gwinnett County and beyond and that we will not need to charge admission at all so that everyone in our community has the opportunity to be blessed by the beautiful quality music we create.
ABOUT OUR MUSIC
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| poster for the Valentines Day Jazz Ensemble's concert |
While we, of course, value and perform classical music, to the contrary of a common perception about what a symphony organization is, we, surprisingly, have a very diverse repertoire. In part, this is because we serve a very diverse population. More than that, however, is that we value quality music in all of its forms and fit many genres into each season’s schedule. Most people do not know that besides our many performances each season by our major ensemble groups, we also have available small ensemble groups put together on request to hire for special events or to volunteer for special needs. Among us, we are able to perform a wide variety of music to meet the requests. With the opportunities and variety offered by five different adult orchestra groups, a choral group, our wonderful youth orchestra, and small ensembles for events, every season is packed with a whole lot of fabulous music in a wide array of genres to enrich life in our very diverse community!
Our 2017-2018 Season Guide can be viewed here.
Our 2017-2018 Season Guide can be viewed here.
MUSIC EDUCATION
Music education is at the heart of what we do. Our concert programs include interesting information and perspectives about the music being performed. Our music directors educate and inform from the podium and in notes found inside the concert programs as well as during their ensemble’s rehearsals. Music education is the foundation upon which this organization was established dating back to our inception in 1997 with our youth orchestra, formed in order to provide music education and performance opportunities for youth in our community. MUSIC FOR THE NEXT GENERATION
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Gwinnett Symphony Youth Orchestra
in concert on the "big stage" at Infinite Energy Theater.
Conducted by Dr. Gregory Pritchard |
From that tiny beginning more than twenty years ago, our organization has certainly grown and so has our commitment to providing music education opportunities to the youth of our community. Last season, we began a partnership with Discovery High School, a Gwinnett County Public School in Lawrenceville, which became our new home for rehearsals, and their state-of-the-art theater became the venue for many of our concerts.
In keeping with our values and our mission, we are reaching out to the youth of our community in many ways. Here are just a few of those ways:
• As part of our relationship with DHS, many students are receiving free music lessons
from our members.
• We provide scholarships to students who would not otherwise be able to participate in
our Youth Orchestra program.
• We keep our ticket prices very low, but in addition we also provide several thousand
dollars’ worth of free admission to our concerts to music teachers and their music
students as well as reduced admission for youth in general.
• We encourage music excellence and achievement through our Youth Honors program.
• We also encourage music excellence and achievement through our annual Piano
Concerto Competition.
• Student musicians get to experience that special encouragement in our side-by-side
concerts as they sit next to and learn from an adult mentor-musician.
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| Experiencing a "big stage" concert at Infinite Energy Theater, our Youth Orchestra members perform side-by-side each with an adult mentor/model. |
• The repertoire for our Youth Orchestra is adapted to nurture an appreciation and love
for a broad range of quality music.
• Every year at our Christmas concert, children from the audience have the opportunity
to come on stage and take their turn on the podium conducting the orchestra with the
guidance of Santa.
We want to instill an appreciation and love for music beginning at very early ages that will last for a lifetime!
WHAT IT TAKES
Besides the obvious need for musicians, it also takes a lot of human and financial resources to prepare for and complete a concert season. Now, keeping in mind that we are a non-profit, mostly volunteer organization, the support needed for us to stay in operation has to come from the outside by those who value what we stand for and what we are doing. We are growing and that is a very good thing because that means we are achieving our mission. But that expansion also brings with it a price tag that includes the need for increasing financial and volunteer support. We have outstanding and very talented music directors that we must keep, scholarships that we must fund, wonderful concerts to produce and so much more. All of that takes funding and manpower!
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Maestro Gunther Stegmuller, from Manheim, Germany, conducting the concert
culminating our first International Conductor
Exchange this past June.
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Without the financial support of those who believe in our work and choose to partner with us in our mission, our impact would not and could not continue to expand and very well could even cease to exist – that would be a substantial loss to the community. Every dollar and every supporter makes a difference. Won’t you please consider joining us with your financial support and/or your volunteer help today in making our community a better place through our work of providing the transformative power of music to enrich lives and unite our very diverse population?
How You Can Be a Part
Here are just some of many ways in which you can partner with us in all of this wonderful music, work and mission:
BE IN THE KNOW: To receive our concert announcements, newsletters and other notifications:
- Sign up for Constant Contact (text GWINNETT to 22828)
- Like us on FaceBook
- Send us your email address to add to our distribution list
FILL SEATS: Help us promote our concerts and fill seats starting with yourself and bringing your friends and family. In every filled seat is a person who is being impacted through the transformative power that music brings into their life. In every filled seat is someone who can share the news about their great experience with someone else.
VOLUNTEER: Give of your time and talents as a volunteer. Musicians are always needed, but we need volunteers who are not our performing musicians as well to help during concerts. Send us an email to let us know what you’re interested in doing or check out the Volunteer Needs on our website. Include a friend, it’s more fun with two.
DONATE: We cannot survive on ticket sales alone. It takes a LOT of money to produce a concert season and continue our Youth Orchestra music education program. No gift is too small or too large!
- Sponsor a concert/venue, an ensemble group, youth scholarships or even an entire season!
- Become an “Insider” (more details coming soon) with your recurring monthly donation of any amount.