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From the Board Chair/President and CEO
Dear Islanders and Visitors, I am excited to write this letter because it means we are moments away from reconnecting in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church to have our minds and souls synchronized by the purest of notes radiating from the Concertmaster’s bow. What a long, strange year it has been but we are all sitting here together, in part, because the arts eased our anxieties and helped us stay engaged with our world through the COVID-19 pandemic. This year is especially exciting as we celebrate the 40th Anniversary Season of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra (HHSO) and John Morris Russell’s 10th Anniversary Season as its Music Director. The unity, joy and inspiration that the HHSO has brought to our community over the last 40 years is almost immeasurable. We are blessed to live in such a naturally beautiful place filled with beautiful music. This season, the HHSO will thrill us by presenting a blend of classical and pops concerts, bringing Symphony Under the Stars back to Honey Horn, and presenting the renowned Hilton Head International Piano Competition. Year after year, the symphony makes us proud.
Thank you for supporting this great organization, particularly during this milestone year. I personally look forward to seeing each of you at these concerts and many of the other incredible arts and cultural events on our Island.
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My Best,
Mayor John McCann
JOHN MCCANN
MAYOR HILTON HEAD ISLAND
“The unity, joy and inspiration that the HHSO has brought to our community over the last 40 years is almost immeasurable.”
The Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra thanks the Town of Hilton Head for its support of the arts in the Lowcountry. We are especially grateful for the support the orchestra receives through Accommodations Tax and thank the members of the committee for their appreciation of what our orchestra brings to the community.
HHSO’S 40TH SEASON
The HHSO affirms that all races are equal. We intentionally and systematically support HHSO policies and practices in our organization that promote opportunities for full advancement of African-Americans and other marginalized groups that have been denied equal access and opportunity. Our local situation provides a good historical example of the possibility for transformative change. That example is Mitchelville, one of our Lowcountry’s treasures. It was a bold and brave experiment of 1861, before the Emancipation Proclamation, in which formerly enslaved people were granted land and provisions to build homes and to establish a working town that was self-governing. The HHSO recognizes that self-governance and mastery depend on equal opportunity. So, we seize the current adverse racial situation as our opportunity to become a positive change agent that will actively pursue diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in all of our policies, programs, staff, committees, and Board. The HHSO recognizes that racial inequity is systemic throughout our society. The HHSO therefore will examine its operations to address any racial inequality in our organization. We will work to eradicate any such adverse influence and to ensure that racial equality is integral to our mission and to implementation of our administrative and programming activities. We commit to all processes that will help us achieve our racial equity goal. We are committed to a racially inclusive approach in all that we do because we respect and value diverse racial heritages and know that hearing diverse voices will enrich what we have to offer. Programs and Musicians: We shall schedule more performances of orchestral music by composers of color. We will be conscientious in recruitment, hiring, and advancement of musicians of color for all standard programs and competitions. Staff: We will be deliberate in our effort to attract racially diverse staff in our recruitment and hiring activities and commit to providing equitable advancement opportunities for them. Board of Directors: The HHSO Board pledges to seek increased representation of racially diverse directors and actively encourage opportunity for their Board leadership.
We respect diverse life experiences and work to ensure that all voices are heard and valued, and commit to creating a more comprehensive action plan that addresses diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging for all marginalized groups. Adopted August 12, 2020
WELCOME TO THE HHSO’S 40TH SEASON!
Forty years ago, a group of local music lovers created an ensemble that evolved to become the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. We doubt many of those founders would have envisioned a $2.4 million organization in 2021, or that they would have considered that eighteen months of live performances would be cancelled by a microscopic virus. (Indeed, very few of us would have contemplated such a situation just three years ago!) But here we are, heading into the fall of 2021 with lingering uncertainties. Traditionally, the HHSO artistic planning team would have conceived a full season of great programs, announced them to the world in March or April prior to the season, and moved on fully expecting everything to take place as planned.
Despite our ever-changing environment, the HHSO has moved forward in planning the season that our patrons have come to expect—and it is a very exciting season full of great music, amazing soloists, and new works to learn, share, and enjoy. We think there is much to Celebrate: the concurrent 40th Anniversary of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra and the 10th Anniversary of John Morris Russell’s tenure as Music Director—what a great partnership! We have only been able to plan ambitiously for 2021-2022 because you, our donors and patrons, have been so generous with your support throughout the past two years. Thank you so very much! We sincerely want you to enjoy the coming year of concerts, celebrating the return of live-in-person communal performances. Music has been a refuge for many of us during the past days and months of isolation and uncertainty, and music will be one of the joys that usher us back to a sense of normalcy. Welcome and celebrate with us!
Michael Harter Chair, Board of Directors Alan Jordan President and CEO
The real winners of the RBC Heritage are the thousands of people the tournament helps each year through The Heritage Classic Foundation. Since it was founded in 1987, the Foundation has distributed to a wide variety of charitable organizations. As one of the recipients of the Foundation’s charity, the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra offers a heartfelt “Thank You”!
The Symphony wishes to thank the South Carolina Arts Commission for their continued financial aid. The Symphony supports the mission of the Arts Commission in their effort “to build a thriving arts environment for the benefit of all South Carolinians”. For over 40 years the agency has worked to make it possible for every citizen in the state to enjoy and benefit from the arts.
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