Delmarva Life - Aug 2016 - The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra looks “to enrich life in the Mid-Atlantic region through the power of live classical music.”
The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra looks “to enrich life in the Mid-Atlantic region through the power of live classical music.”
The MSO was incorporated in May 1997 as Delmarva’s first homegrown professional orchcestra and performed its first concert, under the direction of Music Director Donald C. Buxton, at the Ocean City (Maryland) Convention Center on Nov. 21, 1997. All three MSO concerts during the 1997-1998 season were performed at the convention center.
Maestro Buxton conducted the orchestra until June 2005 and under his tutelage the MSO brought to communities across Delmarva live symphonic concerts featuring the works of Bach, and Vivaldi, Beethoven and Mozart, Gershwin and Copeland.
The MSO’s guest conductor for the season finale in April 2005 was Julien Benichou, a native of France, who brought broad experience to the podium as a conductor of orchestral, choral and opera literature. In September 2005, Maestro Benichou assumed the role of MSO music director.
Julien Benichou, music director for the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra. (photo: Katya Chilingiri)
“I grew up in France and I grew up with a family of actors,” Julien says. “Both my mom and dad are now retired, but they were actors and stage directors. One day I was wondering out loud at dinner, ‘I wonder why parents decided for me to become a conductor.’ The German lady said that it’s the only job where you can be an actor and stage director at the same time.”
Between 1997 and 2007, the MSO performed on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and in southern Delaware at several different venues including the Avalon Theater in Easton, Md., Delaware Technical & Community College in Georgetown, Del., Stephen Decatur High School in Berlin, Md., the Rehoboth Beach (Del.) Convention Center, Worcester Preparatory School in Berlin, Md., Emmanuel Episcopal Church, the Prince Theater, and Chesapeake College in Chestertown, Md., Community Church in Ocean Pines, Md. and Asbury United Methodist Church in Salisbury, Md.
Beginning in April 2007, the MSO performed concerts at the Avalon Theater in Easton, Md., Mariner’s Bethel Church in Ocean View, Del., and the Community Church in Ocean Pines, MD. In October 2009, the Church of God in Easton replaced the Avalon Theater. The MSO continues to perform four to five concerts in each of these three venues every season.
Many world-renowned artists have performed with the MSO including Jonathan Carney, violin, Giles Apap, violin, Meng Su, classical guitar, Stefan Jackiw, violin, Dariusz Skoraczewski, cello, Warren Wolf, marimba.
In June 2008, the MSO was invited to perform a Pops concert sponsored by the Carl M. and Joshua M. Freeman Foundation. The following June, the MSO was again invited to be the inaugural concert at the Freeman Stage at Bayside in Selbyville and since then has opened the Freeman Stage’s performance season in June every year. In September 2010, the MSO was invited to perform the closing concert for the Freeman Stage’s performance season and had continued to close the season since that time.