With 30 years of musical performances and outreach under its belt, the Williamsburg Symphonia is looking forward to the future.
The local professional orchestra wrapped up its 30th year with two Masterworks concerts May 5 and 6, but there is no summer vacation for Executive Director Carolyn Keurajian. After completing her first full season with the Symphonia, Keurajian has big plans to bring the ensemble into year 31.
The Fairbanks, Alaska, native came aboard as the Symphonia was undergoing a major shift in its governance in an effort to bring more voices into the regular decision-making for the group. Rather than an executive committee tasked with leadership, the Symphonia has up to eight committees to manage various functions and a set of checks and balances for evaluating projects and budgets.
The system will ultimately ease Keurajian’s burden, but the transition required more effort than she was expecting. She will be breathing a little easier with the start of the next season.
“Now I feel like I know all the pieces and parts and it’s just so much easier when you’ve done it a few times,” Keurajian said.
She was pleasantly surprised to find the caliber of the Symphonia’s music exceeded her expectations. In addition to their players going on to play other top-notch orchestras throughout the country, she said they have been able to bring stellar guest performers — like Grammy-winner Audrey Luna — to Williamsburg for their Masterworks concerts over the course of the year.
“And the good news is these artists are leaving our orchestra and telling people about their wonderful experiences here. … These are people who have vast experiences who are saying that we really have something special here,” Keurajian said. Some guests are also asking to return and play with the ensemble again.
As it gains national attention, her goal for next year is to bring the Symphonia to the attention of an audience just around the corner. Keurajian called the group the best-kept secret in Williamsburg, one she hopes to share with as much of the community — from young ones dipping their feet in classical music for the first time to seasoned connoisseurs — as possible.
“I’m always thinking of ways that we can introduce more people to classical music. I think there’s such a stigma attached to it and there doesn’t need to be,” she said.
In addition to a slate of classical works, Keurajian is working with Musical Director Janna Hymes to expand the pops series to reach a broader audience.
Hymes just celebrated her 10th year with the Symphonia, and the pair of leaders share many goals and ideas in pushing the ensemble forward.
Together they are also looking to increase the Symphonia’s presence around town, with small groups of players appearing at venues outside of their major concerts. A conducting master class is in the works, as is an initiative to increase the educational outreach done by members in local schools.
Keurajian found her passion for music in the educational programs that surrounded her growing up, learning with musicians from the Boston Pops and jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughn.
“All of that changed my life,” she said. “I want to do that for this community.”
The Symphonia did more than 60 master class sessions this past year, free to the schools they visited, but Keurajian sees even more on the horizon.
Next year will bring the return of a side-by-side concert with the Williamsburg Youth Orchestra, the first of which happened two years ago. With the chance for children to rehearse, get individual feedback and play alongside professionals, Keurajian wants the endeavor to become a biennial tradition.
All of those efforts will be aided by the Williamsburg Symphonia League, the support organization for the ensemble under the Williamsburg Music Association umbrella, which also covers the WYO.
At the last concert of the season, the League presented a check to Keurajian for $90,000, which will go a long way into bringing her vision to reality.
About two-thirds of the funds come from the Symphonia’s annual gala in March, where donations were collected for specific needs within the organization. The gala also honored Kendall Kerby and Kent Harrell, two community members who started a special guest artist fund to ensure the Symphonia will always be able to afford high-quality musicians to join them.
While the fund is designed to be spread out in perpetuity, it has already eased Keurjian’s mind in booking the next season, with a lineup of guests that includes Paul Neubauer, who served as principal violist of New York Philharmonic at the age of 21.
“To know that I absolutely have enough money to sign those contracts up front is such a great feeling,” she said.
Keurajian is not ready to stop at guest artists, though. She would love to see the Symphonia do the traveling, to major festivals or around the world, or reach across the nation with recordings on public radio.
The group is on the precipice, gearing up to launch into a bigger musical realm, and she hopes the excitement in contagious throughout the community.
To learn more, and see the schedule for the 2014-2015 season, visit the Symphonia’s website.
