In these early years of the 21st century, the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra is viewed as an authentic performing-arts success story. Led by Enrique Arturo Diemecke, a maestro with international credentials, LBSO is composed of world-class musicians, including many of Hollywood’s top studio players. Each season the orchestra delights audiences from the greater metropolitan area and beyond with its Classics series at the Terrace Theater, “indoor picnic” Symphony POPS! concerts at the Long Beach Arena and Holiday Celebration events at the Terrace. It also serves 50,000-plus local students during the school year through its acclaimed music-education programs.
Today’s highly professional, 83-member orchestra is far different from the “recreational ensemble” of volunteer musicians that organized and first performed in 1935. It remained in the simple and informal mode for three decades. In 1958, the symphony added youth concerts to better serve the community. Then, in 1966, the Symphony’s season expanded from four to 23 concerts with the addition of pops and children’s programs and opera performances. Seven years later the popular summer Starlight Serenades were introduced, instantly attracting crowds of up to 5,000 people.
DECADE OF MATURING. Under the leadership of Maestro Alberto Bolet from 1968 to 1978, LBSO matured from community to professional orchestra status. Season subscriptions grew, and youth concerts and out-of-town appearances were added. The major highlight of this period was the opening of the city’s new concert hall, the Terrace Theater, which gave the orchestra a world-class venue in which to
An exciting era for the Symphony began in 1980 with the arrival of Music Director Murray Sidlin. Maestro Sidlin completely restructured the orchestra, auditioning the entire ensemble and recruiting seasoned, professional musicians from Los Angeles’s rich reservoir of talent. The artistic successes that followed unfortunately were not matched by growth in financial support.
In November 1984, following the opening concert of the 50th anniversary season, the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra was silenced by mounting debts. A task force appointed by the mayor of Long Beach called for reorganization through new leadership, restructuring, repayment of the debt and strict financial controls. Within two years the debt was eliminated.
CONSECUTIVE SOLD-OUT SEASONS. JoAnn Falletta became music director in 1989, and the Symphony immediately experienced the first of three consecutive sold-out Classics seasons. Education and outreach programs also expanded during her tenure. LBSO received its first American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music in 1996. In October 1998 Falletta and the orchestra released the Symphony’s inaugural compact disc, Impressions of the Sea. The repertoire for this CD was chosen to celebrate the June 1998 opening of the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific. In June 2000 Falletta and the orchestra released a second compact disc, Pictures. This CD was done through the “Music and Art for the Millennium” project, which was a
collaboration between the Symphony, the Long Beach Museum of Art and the Long Beach Unified School District.
LBSO’s 60th anniversary season (1994-95) marked another exciting chapter in its history with the appointment of the Symphony’s first principal pops conductor, Michael Krajewski. Upon his arrival the audience voted on a theme song for Maestro Krajewski—the theme from the movie Rocky. During his tenure, thousands attending “Southern California’s Greatest Indoor Musical Picnics” cheered wildly whenever this song signaled the beloved and comedic conductor’s entrance.
INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED MAESTRO. In 2001, LBSO named Enrique Arturo Diemecke to be its new music director. Since then Maestro Diemecke has won the hearts of audience members, LBSO musicians, community and media. The 2004–2005 season saw Maestro Diemecke conduct the world premiere of his work Concierto a Celedonio, composed at the request of the celebrated guitarist Pepe Romero, who was the debut performer. The season closed with the U.S. premiere of a multi-media composition Dos Visiones, a unique collaboration between the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, the Museum of Latin American Art, the Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional de México and the American Composers Forum.
In the 2008-2009 season Maestro Diemecke will conduct all six Classics concerts and the six Boeing Concerts for Young People. He’ll be heavily involved with the “LBSO” brain trust that’s already begun laying plans for the orchestra’s 2009-2010 75th anniversary season.
