This year, the Alabama Symphony celebrates its 100th anniversary. As the only full-time professional orchestra in the state, it maintains deep roots in the community, and possesses a colorful history that spans an entire century. The Orchestra, the second oldest in the Southeast, has gone through monumental changes and weathered numerous ups and downs since its inception in 1921, but its dedication to bringing the highest standard of music making to Alabama has never waned. On Friday, April 29, 1921, fifty-two volunteer musicians gathered to perform at the Old Jefferson Theater as a part of the Birmingham Music Festival, and from this humble beginning the orchestra was born. However, it wasn’t until 1933 that the Birmingham Symphony Association was formed and regularly scheduled concerts were planned. The budget for the first season was a mere $7,000, and only four concerts were held.
Over the next decade, the orchestra quickly expanded its season and public presence. The Symphony’s Sunday afternoon performances in Avondale Park were tremendously popular with the public throughout the 1930’s. World War II brought a seven-year hiatus to the Symphony, but in 1948, the Civic Symphony Association regrouped and began performing again in 1949. In 1956, the orchestra changed its name from the Birmingham Symphony Association to the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and became fully professional. Up until this point, it had been a mix of professionals and amateurs. It was also around this time that the Youth Orchestra was founded, along with beginning level ensemble programs for younger students. In 1966, the Symphony became one of only thirty-three professional orchestras to receive a $600,000 grant from the Ford Foundation. The grant required the orchestra to raise a matching amount, and this was quickly accomplished by a group of dedicated volunteers. The same year, the Birmingham Symphony absorbed the Alabama Pops Orchestra.
In order to reflect the enthusiastic support that the Symphony enjoyed across the whole state, the Birmingham Symphony was renamed the Alabama Symphony in 1979. By 1983, the ASO was performing eight regular series, eight Pops and fourteen statewide concerts each season. World-renowned violinist Isaac Stern took part in an annual fundraising concert each season as well. When the 1984-85 season was under threat of being cancelled due to budget short falls, the Birmingham Philanthropic community stepped up and raised over $120,000 to make the season happen as planned. After Paul Polivnick was named music director in 1985, the Alabama Symphony’s season grew from 40 to 46 weeks. The orchestra also established national prominence with commercial recordings and a performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
One of the most tragic phases in the history of the Alabama Symphony began in 1993, when the orchestra declared bankruptcy. While this was a difficult time for everyone in the ASO, plans were quickly made to resurrect the organization.
One of the musicians, Michael McGillivray, approached volunteers Rae Trimmier and Joan Parker with a plan to purchase the orchestra’s tangible assets (which included instruments and the entire music library) and create the Alabama Symphonic Association (ASA). Losing these assets would have been a devastating loss, and would have made restarting the organization an even more daunting task. Birmingham’s most important philanthropist, Mr. Elton B. Stephens, joined the revival efforts and became Chairman of the Board of Directors of the ASA in 1994. Under his leadership, a group of volunteers set out to raise a $10 million endowment and a $5 million Operation Fund. After extensive planning and fundraising on the part of Mr. Stephens, Board President Dr. Charles McCallum and the Board of Directors, a new contract was negotiated and ratified with the Musicians Union. In September of 1997, after four years of silence, the Symphony played its first notes since bankruptcy. Richard Westerfield was appointed music director and served for six years. Chris Confessore joined the orchestra as associate conductor in 2000 and now serves as the ASO’s Principal Pops Conductor.
In 2006, Justin Brown was named Music Director and the ASO’s national prominence continued to grow. 2010 saw the reestablishment of the Alabama Symphony Youth Orchestra. Under Brown’s direction, the orchestra developed a reputation for adventurous and cutting-edge programming, with the Classical Edge series bringing in artists such as Chris Thile and Béla Fleck, and even premiering a piece composed by Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood. In 2011, The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) awarded the ASO with its highest honor: the John S. Edwards Award for Strongest Commitment to New American Music. Later that year, the Alabama Symphony was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York, drawing praise from one critic for the orchestra’s “versatility and adaptability,” and the “quickness and spontaneity” with which the audience jumped to a standing ovation. Current music director Carlos Izcaray was appointed to his position 2015, following a four year long international search, and the orchestra continued to excel and flourish.
The COVID pandemic, unprecedented in its impact and scale, has presented yet another broad challenge for the Alabama Symphony. Although unlike any other challenge faced in the past, the orchestra’s success will continue to rely on the generous patronage of music lovers and philanthropists. The musicians of the Alabama Symphony are as committed as ever to bringing the highest caliber of artistry to the people of Alabama, and it can’t be done without the kind of committed patrons that have kept the orchestra around for the last 100 years. That spirit of passionate support from the community is the reason the orchestra has been successful for the last 100 years, and it will continue to be the reason the orchestra is successful for the next 100.