Central Ohio Symphony

The Central Ohio Symphony has proudly served the Delaware and central Ohio communities for more than thirty-seven years. During that time, it has grown from a volunteer community group to a professional ensemble. With its artistic growth, particularly under the baton of Maestro Jaime Morales-Matos, the orchestra has become an unofficial cultural ambassador for the city and the county of Delaware.

The Symphony’s home is the acoustically remarkable Gray Chapel on the Ohio Wesleyan University campus in Delaware. The orchestra has also performed at the Palace Theatre in Marion, the Josephinum College in Worthington, Put-In-Bay, and other central Ohio venues. The Central Ohio Symphony has the distinction of being the only small budget symphony in Ohio whose tour performances are supported by the Ohio Arts Council.

As the orchestra’s reputation has grown, so have its audiences, with more than 650 season subscribers this year. More than 8,000  attend the free outdoor July 4th concert held in Phillips Glen in downtown Delaware. In 2009, the Symphony presented Space Week in Delaware with a variety of educational and community activities culminating in two sold out performances of Holst’s The Planets and John Williams’ Star Wars Suite.

In 2009-2010, the Symphony was selected as one of only fifty orchestras nationwide to participate in the “Ford Made in America” project, to premier a composition by Pulitzer Prize composer Joseph Schwantner. The Symphony hosted a five-day residency with the composer, reaching the community from fifth grade students to adults and bringing the Symphony national recognition in the orchestra field. The Symphony has been awarded three prestigious “PNC Arts Alive” grants, a MetLife Foundation grant and in 2015, its first National Endowment for the Arts grant.

In 2017, the Symphony is launching two new programs, the Dreams Project for court involved teen girls and Link Up! for elementary education, both at the invitation of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute.

Recognized as being at the forefront of innovative trends in community engagement by orchestras nationwide, in 2013,  2014, and again in 2015, the Symphony was  awarded a Getty Community Investments grant from the League of American Orchestras for a ground-breaking program on therapeutic drumming in the Delaware County Juvenile Treatment Court. This is one of only 22 grants awarded nationwide and the only one in the criminal justice field. This program has gone on to create great impact in the community now serving schools, aging, health care and many special populations For this program the Symphony received the highest award from the 2014 Ohio Department of Youth Services for innovation. The Symphony was awarded the Quality of Life award from the Delaware Area Chamber of Commerce in 2015.

The Central Ohio Symphony, with its talented professional musicians and active  Board of Trustees, is dedicated to continuing this success and to “Engage the Community through Music™.”

(courtesy the Central Ohio Symphony)

More information about the Central Ohio Symphony can be found at https://www.centralohiosymphony.org/.