Sounds of Impact 2023

VISION & 5-YEAR PLAN

The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra is on a mission to inspire, educate, and enrich lives near and far by creating extraordinary music experiences with uncompromising artistic excellence.

Through the generous support of our donors, the ASO has expanded its reach and attracted new audiences to its performances at our home in Maryland Hall, our Sunday concerts at Strathmore, and our Pops in the Parks concerts. We have grown education programs in depth and scope. The impact of the ASO has never been greater in our community and the breadth of our work just in FY23 can best be described below.

25,691 Academy lessons since 2018

concertgoers and listeners

6,550 live performances

68 Academy students with 50% on scholarship

84

41 composers performed; 52%+ are non-Western European

42 students mentored by ASO musicians

350 free performances and 10,000 subsidized tickets

100 Academy students and $275,000 in scholarships since the Academy was founded 5 years ago

Maestro Novo’s bold programming has nurtured the considerable talents of the ASO musicians to reach ever higher levels of artistic excellence. This season the ASO has performed complex and challenging programs at venues that would have seemed wholly out of reach before.

Under the baton of José-Luis Novo, the reputation of the Orchestra has grown and its musicianship places it among the top regional orchestras, enabling the ASO to attract guest artists of the highest caliber including Midori, James Ehnes, Anne Akiko Meyers, Pascal Rogé, and Olga Kern.

Tour to Spain

Accompanied by world-renowned guitarist Pepe Romeo, the ASO undertook its first international tour in July of 2022. Audiences across Spain welcomed the ASO enthusiastically, demanding encores following every concert. Ultimately, what you see and hear from the stage today was shaped by the Tour. It continues to inspire the way the Orchestra interacts and has solidified new and deeper collaboration.

Commissions, Premiers & Recordings

Commissioning and premiering new works are essential to the ASO’s vision to be relevant, innovative, and connected to our community. The 2022-2023 commission to Hawaiian composer Michael-Thomas Foumai features African American solo harpist Charles Overton. The 2023-2024 commission to Korean-born Nicky Sohn is in progress.

Collaborations with Local Arts Organizations

The ASO partners with various local organizations including the Naval Academy, the Annapolis Opera, Maryland Hall, and the Banneker-Douglass Museum.

Artistic Director & Conductor José-Luis Novo’s enduring vision is that the ASO will lead the way in defining and becoming a modern 21st century American orchestra.

CONCIERTO MADRID. PHOTO COURTESY OF J.M. GRIMALDI.

MICHAEL-THOMAS FOUMAI NICKY SOHN

NAVY GLEE CLUB

ANNE AKIKO MEYERS PASCAL ROGÉ

JAMES EHNES OLGA KERN

MIDORI

JOSÉ-LUIS NOVO

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & EDUCATION HIGHLIGHTS ACADEMY HIGHLIGHTS

ARIES YOUTH ORCHESTRA, MAY 2022 CONCERT

Our Adopt-a-School Program supports local schoolteachers and culminates in a side-by-side program conducted by the Symphony.

Founded in 2018, the Annapolis Symphony Academy is one of the ASO’s major efforts to improve equity, diversity, and inclusion in the classical music world, on and off the stage.

Pops Concerts: The hugely popular Labor Day Pops Concert at Quiet Waters Park, which is funded in part by a generous grant from Anne Arundel County, is performed in front of an audience of nearly 5,000 residents. The County recently provided funding for a second outdoor concert at Downs Memorial Park. Likewise, the ASO’s sold-out Holiday Pops concerts attract new audiences.

In Local Hospitals & Healthcenters: The ASO brings music to the community and performs upwards of 24 concerts at hospitals honoring front-line workers, at behavioral health centers bringing music to those afflicted with addiction and mental health issues and at assisted living centers giving joy to those who are no longer able to attend concerts in person.

Education: Over 2,600 students discover the joy of music through school visits and live concerts. One of every four kids is from a Title I school. The ASO subsidizes transportation to Maryland Hall to attend our special concerts where many students experience orchestral music for the first time.

Partnerships: The ASO enjoys long established partnerships with Bates & Brooklyn Middle Schools where ASO musicians provide coaching, mentoring, and support for the schools’ education programs.

The Academy changes lives by providing a high-level musical education to students of diverse cultural and economic backgrounds. The ASO recognizes that the underrepresentation of musicians on stage can only change if more students have access to music education.

• Serving 50% under-represented communities

• Awarding up to 50% of annual tuition in need-based scholarships

• Eliminating tuition for all ensembles

• Launching the Academy’s Winds, Brass and Percussion Department

Our Academy work is based on something more profound, not on the achievement of goals but on the conviction that the work itself is good, true, and right.

THE ACADEMY’S DISCOVERY PROGRAM BRINGS EARLY MUSIC EDUCATION TO CHILDREN AS YOUNG AS 4 YEARS OLD AT THE MARSHALL HOPE LEARNING CENTER, BANNEKERDOUGLASS AND THE SALVATION ARMY.

Growing scholarships to $100,000 in FY24

Growing enrollment to 100 students by FY24

THE ORION YOUTH ORCHESTRA IS A TOP-LEVEL, TUITIONFREE YOUTH ORCHESTRA FOR ADVANCED STUDENTS. UNDER THE DIRECTION OF JOSÉ-LUIS NOVO, ORION PERFORMS TWO MAJOR CONCERTS AS WELL AS SEVERAL COMMUNITY CONCERTS.

The ASO is committed to making music accessible to all. We perform free concerts, give away tickets, and provide need-based scholarships to Academy students.

The Annapolis Symphony Academy is the ASO’s most substantial investment in our future.

thank you

for generously supporting our mission to inspire, educate, and enrich lives near and far by creating extraordinary music experiences with uncompromising artistic excellence.

You are invited to give to a family of funds that create positive impact through the ASO’s Artistic, Education and Innovation Initiatives. Together these funds touch everything that the ASO does for the people of the Greater Annapolis Metropolitan area, allowing the ASO to

1. Make concerts accessible to anyone

2. Expand music education opportunities

3. Create a solid financial foundation for the future

THE EDUCATION FUND

Make an immediate impact in a child’s life. Gifts support kids who cannot afford music lessons at our Annapolis Symphony Academy. At least 50% of students are on scholarship. Donations to this fund pay for Title I schools to participate in music programs, send musicians to schools, and provide instruments to those who cannot afford one.

THE ARTISTIC FUND

You contribute directly to the wellbeing of ASO musicians. From the traditional Masterworks programs to regular radio broadcasts to free concerts outdoors, the Artistic Fund brings more music to more places for more people.

INNOVATION FUND

Help the ASO stay modern and relevant by supporting our Innovation Fund. The Innovation Fund enables improvements such as barcodes on tickets, investments in automation for tracking and efficiency, and needed technology to support social media campaigns.