# Local Ensembles



## BuddhaBandit

I'm a proud native of Philly(-delphia), so I'm lucky to have the Philadelphia Orchestra as a "house band", as it were. But I recently went to a small recital with a local (northwest Philly) choral group who sung Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with a local orchestra- and it was really good. I was particularly surprised to see a small neighborhood group perform a work of that scale- which made me curious about local groups in other parts of the world.

So, what local groups are in your area (excluding "city orchestras", like the Philly Orc, the Minneapolis Orc, etc) and what kind of repertoire do they perform? Are there good neighborhood opera companies in your area? I'd like to hear about some other local scenes.


----------



## Chi_townPhilly

Well... even though I'm a 40-something (for a while longer, anyway), I've been in the Philadelphia area for less than a decade. Therefore, if you're Philly-born/raised, you've been around these parts longer than I have! Consequently, you may be more aware of these groups than I am. Still, in my time here, I've noted- 
*Curtis Institute Orchestra*- I saw that Eschenbach put out a recording with them, on Ondine.
*Symphony in C* (fka Haddonfield [NJ] Symphony Orchestra). A certain statuesque lady once played low-brass in that band, and wound up marrying a certain message-board dilettante.
*some* wouldn't forgive me if I failed to mention Philly-based *Orchestra 2000*, an ensemble with the mission of featuring contemporary works.

Casting the net a little wider, the *New Jersey Symphony Orchestra* sometimes plays at the War Memorial in Trenton... and the *Delaware Symphony Orchestra* is based in Wilmington.

On the college scene, I noticed that *Rowan University* (Glassboro, NJ) put on _Carmen_ this year... and *Opera New Jersey* is playing at the venerable McCarter Theatre on the campus of Princeton University.


----------



## Chi_townPhilly

*A dated recollection of the Chicago scene*

It's been a long while since I had a handle on the Chicago local scene... but here are some of my memories (don't know which ones still apply):

Musicians of the Lyric Opera orchestra used to play under the name _Illinois Philharmonic_. I remember they had concerts in the University Park (Governors State University) area.
Of course, the _Grant Park Orchestra_ performed outdoor concerts at the band-shell.
A while back, the _Lake Forest Symphony Orchestra_ and Gutierrez put out a recording of Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto that was esteemed right up there with the 'big boys.'
A little further from the LOOP, I mentioned earlier that the (no-longer-active) _Vermeer Quartet_ had a stint as "Faculty-Artists-in-Residence" at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb (about 1½ hours drive from downtown Chicago).


----------



## BuddhaBandit

I've heard many of the groups Chi mentioned... but I think the *Philadelphia Bach Festival* deserves a mention (even though it is technically an event, not a group). And I might mention the *Philadelphia Chinese Opera Society*, for the sake of multicultural-ness. There are a couple European opera companies that opera-te out of Mount Airy, but I forget their names. And, in New Jersey, we also have the *Sinfonietta Nova*.

I'm sure more will come later.


----------

