Meet Pam Hahn, Executive Director
Originally appeared on voyagephoenix.com
The Chandler Symphony Orchestra’s roots began with a small orchestra that Maestro Jack Herriman conducted at Mesa Community College. In 1991, when their rehearsal location was no longer available, the majority of the orchestra players joined together to form the beginnings of what they would name the San Marcos Symphony in 1993. In 2006, this orchestra as re-named the Chandler Symphony Orchestra, due in part to the efforts and support of Chandler’s City Council and former mayor Boyd Dunn.
Has it been a smooth road?
There were some struggles in the early days with funding and assembling enough players to fill a standard orchestra roster. But the CSO has grown and thrived as the years have passed, becoming a fully funded, 80-piece orchestra with a loyal community following.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Chandler Symphony Orchestra story. Tell us more about the business.
The Chandler Symphony is an all-volunteer community orchestra. We offer our September through May concerts free of charge to the general public. Beginning with a pops concert in September, we perform five Classics concerts at Chandler Center for the Arts, three Chamber Music Series concerts at the Chandler Community Center and an annual Holiday fundraising concert at Sun Lakes United Methodist Church.
Because we don’t sell tickets, we rely on donations and grants for our operating expenses. The City of Chandler has been a faithful financial and promotional supporter and we’re very fortunate to perform on the Chandler Center for the Arts Main Stage. We have also provided an orchestra to accompany the Southwest Youth Ballet’s annual Nutcracker Ballet performances for the past 10 years.
This season has been our 25th Anniversary Season and we’ve celebrated throughout the season with special music, including two commissioned works composed by two of our orchestra musicians and a performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony for which we were joined by the combined choirs from Chandler-Gilbert Community College. In February, we hosted a Silver Anniversary Gala Dinner Dance that was a true party to celebrate the first 25 years of CSO’s success.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Most of the classical music organizations – music, dance, opera – have seen gradual declines in attendance and support in the past decade. We are constantly exploring ways of bringing new audiences to our performances by offering new music or music performed in different ways, incorporating technology into concerts and engaging through social media.
Public schools are scaling back in providing music education so it’s up to the providers of music to educate and attract younger generations to the benefits of hearing and understanding music. At the same time, we have to remain relevant to the older generation that is our current mainstay and appreciator. It’s a fine balance of tradition and innovation.