EUGENE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION INC

In keeping with its mission of “enriching lives through the power of music,” Eugene Symphony is committed to fostering an appreciation of classical music among people of all ages, backgrounds and means, and to nurturing the next generation of audiences who will support the future of the classical performing arts.

As the only professional orchestra serving Oregon’s Lane, Linn, Douglas, Benton, and Jackson counties, the Eugene Symphony Association (ESA) is a cornerstone of the performing arts in the southern Willamette Valley. ESA’s mission is to enrich lives through the power of music by presenting a diverse range of orchestral repertoire at the highest level of artistic excellence and providing quality music education opportunities for children and adults throughout the region.

Now in its sixth decade, ESA has built a reputation for artistic excellenceperforming with such renowned artists as YoYo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Renée Fleming, and Branford Marsalisand for innovative multidisciplinary and collaborative programming. ESA is also nationally recognized as an incubator for rising conducting talent: Past Music Directors Marin Alsop, Miguel HarthBedoya, and Giancarlo Guerrero have gone on to lead major American orchestras. In April 2017, ESA announced the appointment of Francesco Lecce-Chong as its eighth Music Director. Lecce-Chong has dedicated his tenure to making classical music and the Symphony more broadly accessible and inclusive. Under his leadership, ESA has increased representation of women and persons of color in its concert repertoire, as composers or as guest artists, and has supported the evolution of classical music through regular commissions and world premieres of works by diverse rising American composers. Over the past several seasons, ESA has also sought to engage broader and nontraditional audiences with artistic programming that infuses classical music concerts with various aspects of Eugene’s distinctive culture.

Through its Education and Community Engagement (EdCE) programs, ESA extends vital arts-enrichment opportunities to audiences experiencing social, economic, and/or geographic barriers to concertgoing and other forms of cultural participation. EdCE activities specifically work to engage low-income families and youth; persons of color; students in under-resourced rural communities; veterans; LGBTQ+ youth; and persons marginalized by homelessness, mental illness, and developmental disabilities. ESA also partners with the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance and school-based band and orchestra programs to advance the development of student and pre-professional musicians, and in 2022 entered a partnership with the Eugene-Springfield NAACP to extend scholarships for private music instruction to low-income students of color.