Mission & History

MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the Charlotte Symphony is to perform great symphonic music. We aspire to serve our whole community through music that educates, entertains and enriches the human spirit.

INSTITUTIONAL VISION
The vision of the Charlotte Symphony is to be recognized as a “best in class” orchestra, reflecting and leading a dynamic and growing region.

HISTORY OF THE CHARLOTTE SYMPHONY
Founded in 1932, the Charlotte Symphony is the largest and most active professional performing arts organization in the central Carolinas, giving nearly 100 performances each season and reaching an annual attendance of 200,000 listeners. Now in its 80th season, the orchestra employs 62 musicians on full-time contracts and is led by the acclaimed conductor Christopher Warren-Green, who began his tenure with the CSO in the fall of 2010. Mr. Warren-Green’s nearly four decades of artistic accomplishments most recently included serving as music conductor for April’s royal wedding of Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton, an event viewed by more than two billion people worldwide.

Dedicated to mentoring the region’s best young musicians, the Symphony sponsors two Youth Orchestras serving more than 160 children from 4th through 12th grades. Additional educational concerts and teaching programs bring music to hundreds of local school children, including the expanding after-school instruction program at Winterfield Elementary School, which serves as a model for a broader initiative which could ultimately serve schools throughout the community. More than half of the orchestra’s musicians are also educators throughout region.

Each year, small ensembles of Charlotte Symphony musicians perform “Healing Hands” outreach services in hospitals, retirement centers, and nursing homes, bringing the power and joy of live music to those who would otherwise not hear it.
The Oratorio Singers of Charlotte, founded in 1952, is the acclaimed volunteer chorus of the Charlotte Symphony and includes the 140-voice main chorus and the 50-voice Chamber Singers. Oratorio Director Scott Allen Jarrett and the choruses perform with the orchestra several times each season, including the annual “Messiah” in December.

The Charlotte Symphony mobilizes more than 750 volunteers each year through the Symphony, the Oratorio Singers, The Symphony Guild of Charlotte, Inc., the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestras Parents’ Association, and through CSO Pulse, the newly formed, young affiliates group of the Charlotte Symphony.

The not-for-profit Symphony organization is governed by a 47-member volunteer Board of Directors and operates on an $8 million annual budget providing artistic excellence, community service, music education, and a wide variety of performances. It is supported by ticket sales, performance fees, generous individuals, The Symphony Guild of Charlotte, Inc., corporate sponsors, foundation grants, and by a basic operating grants from the North Carolina Arts Council the Arts & Science Council-Charlotte/Mecklenburg.