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In the Fall of 1964, Westchester Adult School offered a “String Workshop” class with instructor George Berres, a busy local professional violinist. On March 1, 1965, the class gave its first concert, as the Westchester String Symphony, with 24 string players conducted by Berres. Five years later we had become the Marina del Rey Westchester Symphony, a full symphony orchestra, and in 1976 Frank Fetta became our second Music Director-Conductor.
2000 was a big year for us. LA County Department of Beaches & Harbors started its Marina del Rey Summer Concerts, in Burton Chace Park, and invited us to become the resident symphony orchestra. At the same time, the Culver City City Council approached us to propose that we move to Culver City as part of the City’s big plans to become a hub for the new Creative Economy. We seized both opportunities!
Since 2000, except for the two pandemic years, we have presented a winter season, typically 4 symphony orchestra concerts, in Culver City. Our concerts are mostly at the Robert Frost Auditorium, but occasionally at the Kirk Douglas Theatre and other venues. Admission to our Culver City concerts is currently free for all. Our summer season of between 2 and 4 concerts in Burton Chace Park in Marina del Rey, is also free.
Maestro Fetta passed away in 2021, after leading the Orchestra for 45 years. Following a search for his successor, we were delighted to welcome Clyde Mitchell as our new Music Director-Conductor for the Culver City season. Maestro Mitchell led the Orchestra in a very successful 2023-24 season, with four symphonic concerts in the Robert Frost Auditorium in Culver City, and we are planning an exciting 2024-25 season that will celebrate the 60th anniversaries of our founding and our first concerts.
Steven Allen Fox, our new Music Director-Conductor for the Marina del Rey summer season, brings an extensive background in film music. His first concert with the Orchestra, in 2023, featured scores from popular videogames, and in 2024 we presented Disney’s Silly Symphonies live to film, and a concert of epic choral film soundtracks.
The Orchestra roster is now a mix of mostly professional musicians alongside skilled amateurs and students, with typically between 45 and 65 musicians performing in each concert. We present varied programs of symphonic music and concertos from the 18th Century through to contemporary works. Our November 2023 concert was part of the state-wide California Festival and included three recent works by local composers including the world premiere of Circle Overture by Craig Safan, a work we commissioned for the occasion. During 2023-24 we performed familiar repertoire by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, and Copland alongside lesser-known works including works by women composers.
We support aspiring young musicians through our Parness Concerto Competition. In 2022-23 we presented two winners from our 2019 Competition as soloists in performances of concertos by Glazunov and Prokofiev. We also presented Culver City High School alumnus, Alex Park, a prior Parness awardee, in a performance of Elmer Bernstein’s rarely heard guitar concerto.
The Orchestra is funded by grants from Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, Culver City Performing Arts Grant Program, and other grantors, and by individual and corporate donations and annual memberships through the SoCal Symphony Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.
2000 was a big year for us. LA County Department of Beaches & Harbors started its Marina del Rey Summer Concerts, in Burton Chace Park, and invited us to become the resident symphony orchestra. At the same time, the Culver City City Council approached us to propose that we move to Culver City as part of the City’s big plans to become a hub for the new Creative Economy. We seized both opportunities!
Since 2000, except for the two pandemic years, we have presented a winter season, typically 4 symphony orchestra concerts, in Culver City. Our concerts are mostly at the Robert Frost Auditorium, but occasionally at the Kirk Douglas Theatre and other venues. Admission to our Culver City concerts is currently free for all. Our summer season of between 2 and 4 concerts in Burton Chace Park in Marina del Rey, is also free.
Maestro Fetta passed away in 2021, after leading the Orchestra for 45 years. Following a search for his successor, we were delighted to welcome Clyde Mitchell as our new Music Director-Conductor for the Culver City season. Maestro Mitchell led the Orchestra in a very successful 2023-24 season, with four symphonic concerts in the Robert Frost Auditorium in Culver City, and we are planning an exciting 2024-25 season that will celebrate the 60th anniversaries of our founding and our first concerts.
Steven Allen Fox, our new Music Director-Conductor for the Marina del Rey summer season, brings an extensive background in film music. His first concert with the Orchestra, in 2023, featured scores from popular videogames, and in 2024 we presented Disney’s Silly Symphonies live to film, and a concert of epic choral film soundtracks.
The Orchestra roster is now a mix of mostly professional musicians alongside skilled amateurs and students, with typically between 45 and 65 musicians performing in each concert. We present varied programs of symphonic music and concertos from the 18th Century through to contemporary works. Our November 2023 concert was part of the state-wide California Festival and included three recent works by local composers including the world premiere of Circle Overture by Craig Safan, a work we commissioned for the occasion. During 2023-24 we performed familiar repertoire by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, and Copland alongside lesser-known works including works by women composers.
We support aspiring young musicians through our Parness Concerto Competition. In 2022-23 we presented two winners from our 2019 Competition as soloists in performances of concertos by Glazunov and Prokofiev. We also presented Culver City High School alumnus, Alex Park, a prior Parness awardee, in a performance of Elmer Bernstein’s rarely heard guitar concerto.
The Orchestra is funded by grants from Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, Culver City Performing Arts Grant Program, and other grantors, and by individual and corporate donations and annual memberships through the SoCal Symphony Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.