Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra

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The Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra is a community-based orchestra in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

The founder and first

gas rationing, the difficulty of travel on streets that were not yet paved, and round-the-clock operating schedules at Oak Ridge's Manhattan Project production facilities that required them to work at night.[2] Oak Ridge residents have boasted that the new city had a symphony orchestra before it had sidewalks.[3]

The orchestra has been in continuous existence since its formation in 1944. Many of the early members of the orchestra left Oak Ridge at the end of World War II, so professional musicians began to be hired to augment the amateur volunteers. Virtuoso violinist

Oak Ridge High School.[3][4]

Cohn continued to serve as conductor until 1955. Under his leadership, the orchestra concentrated on a traditional

Edward McDowell and Henry Cowell.[1] In 1952 the symphony presented the premiere performance of Overture to a Dedication of a Nuclear Reactor, composed by Arthur Roberts and considered to be "the first serious musical composition inspired by the atomic age."[5][6] The Overture was dedicated to Cohn, who was conductor for the premiere.[5]

In 2008, the orchestra launched a series of concerts called "Isotone," designed to connect music with science. The Isotone concerts feature original compositions written as tributes to famous

Glenn Seaborg and Lise Meitner.[7]

Dan Allcott became the Oak Ridge Symphony conductor beginning with the 2010-2011 season.[3] He succeeded Cornelia Kodkani-Laemmli, who had led the orchestra for several years.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c June Adamson, Waldo Cohn (1910-1999), Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, accessed December 11, 2010
  2. ^ a b Waldo E. Cohn, Creating the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra (1944), In: HUMAN RADIATION STUDIES: REMEMBERING THE EARLY YEARS; Oral History of Biochemist Waldo E. Cohn, Ph.D., Conducted January 18, 1995. United States Department of Energy Office of Human Radiation Experiments, June 1995
  3. ^ a b c Carolyn Krause, New ORSO conductor debuts Saturday Archived March 12, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, The Oak Ridger, October 1, 2010
  4. ^ World-famous water percussionist to perform Jan. 10, The Oak Ridger, December 30, 2008
  5. ^ a b Nick Ravo, Waldo Cohn, 89, a Developer Of Plutonium for the Atom Bomb, The New York Times, September 1, 1999
  6. ^ Music: Atom Overture, Time, March 31, 1952
  7. ^ a b About Isotone Concerts, Oak Ridge Civic Music Association website, accessed December 11, 2010
  8. ^ Percussion News, June 2010, page 17.
  9. ^ Harold Duckett, Cornelia Kodkani-Laemmli reflects on end-of-season departure from Oak Ridge Symphony, Knoxville.com, September 18, 2009

External links

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