Fargo-Moorhead Orchestral

Causes: Arts & Culture, Symphony Orchestras

Mission: To promote musicianship and further orchestral and chamber music in the community in addition to sponsoring and financing orchestral and chamber music concerts.

Programs: The mission of the fargo-moorhead symphony is "to serve the community by enriching, educating and engaging people of all ages through inspired performances of orchestral and chamber music. " to that end, fmso presents an array of concerts and educational activities throughout the year. We introduce children and young people to orchestral music, reach out to new audiences, and play a leadership role in the cultural life of our community. Accomplishments in these program areas in 2016-17 included:*concert offerings- masterworks series - five pairs of saturday/sunday full orchestral concerts, which feature traditional and contemporary repertoire with a variety of local, regional, national and international guest artists- chamber music series - three performances, which feature small ensembles of fmso musicians performing chamber music of all periods from baroque to contemporary and pop- young people's concerts - three concerts during the school day to which elementary school children (all 4th graders from fargo, moorhead and west fargo public schools, plus children from parochial schools and regional school districts within 75 miles) are bussed to see the symphony perform a program of music which is selected to introduce children to the various instruments of the orchestra and symphonic music- symphony rocks @ bluestem - an outdoor pops concert and fundraising event in collaboration with the 12-piece post-traumatic funk syndrome band which annually attracts nearly 2,000 listeners*educational programs:- young artist solo competition - the fargo-moorhead symphony and minnesota public radio team up each year to present a solo competition for all high school instrumentalists in north dakota, and those in minnesota and south dakota within 75 miles of fargo-moorhead. Judges are professional musician/educators drawn from within a 200-mile radius of fargo. The final round of performances by the competitors is open to the public and cash prizes are awarded to the three place finishers. In addition, the first place winner receives the grand prize (at the discretion of the fmso executive director) of a performance as soloist with the fargo-moorhead symphony orchestra on its march masterworks concert. - educational programs - various mentorship experiences are part of the fargo-moorhead symphony's encouragement of young musicians. By teaching sectional rehearsals and through individual ensemble coaching, the members of fmso are a resource to young musicians throughout our area. Each spring, fmso offers "symphony scholar" awards of a pair of season tickets to high school juniors nominated by their teacher for this award. Band and orchestra teachers from fargo south, fargo north, fargo davies, west fargo high, west fargo sheyenne, moorhead high, oak grove and shanley participate in this program. Free concert vouchers are provided to middle school and high school teachers throughout the region for them to print off and distribute to their students. *community service and outreach- senior citizen programs - our outreach to senior citizens includes discounted concert season tickets as well as pre-concert talks presented by the music director and guest soloists. - vet/tix, metro arts pass - the symphony participates in these and other programs to provide complimentary concert tickets to underserved people in our community - vettix, which is a national program which provides event tickets to military veterans and their families, and metro arts pass which is a local program through the arts partnership and public libraries which gives people free access to various arts activities and events through one pass which may be checked out for two weeks at a time. - urban overture program - fmso intentionally pursues and cultivates young audience members - people in their 20s and 30s. The seven-year-old urban overture program for people in this age group offers special events featuring the conductor and guest artists with a free wine tasting and hors d'oeuvres, discounted concert tickets, and invitations to contribute and volunteer. This program has grown dramatically in the past two years. - performances - pop-up performances place our musicians out in the community in places including sanford heart center and the summer/fall red river market, among others.