The Augusta Symphony is the primary professional orchestra for Augusta’s River Region and pursues its mission through annual symphonic, Pops, and family concerts that reach approximately 20,000 people each year. Via Community Chords Music Education, Veterans Outreach, and Group Music Therapy programs, the Augusta Symphony further strives to foster broad accessibility to live classical music performance and a lifelong appreciation of the art form among people of all ages, backgrounds, and ... Read More
The Augusta Symphony is the primary professional orchestra for Augusta’s River Region and pursues its mission through annual symphonic, Pops, and family concerts that reach approximately 20,000 people each year. Via Community Chords Music Education, Veterans Outreach, and Group Music Therapy programs, the Augusta Symphony further strives to foster broad accessibility to live classical music performance and a lifelong appreciation of the art form among people of all ages, backgrounds, and means. Community Chords currently serve approximately 27,000 youth and adults in communities within a 75-mile radius from Augusta.
Founded in 1954 under the baton of Music Director Harry M. Jacobs, the Augusta Symphony has evolved from a small group of 15 musicians to an 85-member professional ensemble and leading regional orchestra. The Augusta Symphony has been led by four talented conductors: Harry Jacobs until 1991, Donald Portnoy from 1991-2009, Shizuo Z Kuwahara from 2009-2016, and Maestro Dirk Meyer, who is in his eighth season as Music Director. During its seventy years of growth, the Augusta Symphony’s musicianship has enhanced, the acoustic quality of its performances has improved, and programming and outreach have increased to broaden the Symphony’s role in the community and engage audiences of all ages and levels of music knowledge. None of this progress would have been possible without the support of three dedicated groups of volunteers: the Augusta Symphony Guild, the Augusta Symphony League, and Friends of the Augusta Symphony, along with the support of all of our donors and patrons.
The Miller Theater is the home of all Symphony Series and Pops! performances and features a multitude of varied programming throughout the year. It was built in downtown Augusta in 1940 as an Art Moderne movie theater and vaudeville house and operated until 1984. In 2008, Peter S. Knox IV donated the Miller Theater to the Augusta Symphony to be revitalized as a performance venue and home. The restoration was the result of a 23 million capital campaign, made possible by the generosity of individuals, corporations, foundations, SPLOST funding, and state and federal historic tax incentives, Construction took place in 2016-2017, and the Miller Theater reopened with a grand Opening Night Gala on January 6, 2018.
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