The Stanford Symphony Orchestra will proceed in Spring Quarter 2020 as a weekly online course led by Professor Paul Phillips. It will meet each Tuesday from 5:00-6:30pm Pacific Time on Zoom beginning 7 April 2020. The syllabus can be viewed here. All classes will be recorded and available to all participants in order to make it possible for anyone to take the course, even if they have a conflict with the meeting time or live in a time zone that precludes them from participating in the live sessions. Stanford Philharmonia will merge with Stanford Symphony Orchestra this quarter; all students interested in participating in SP or SSO should register for MUSIC 160. Auditions are not required to register for MUSIC 160 in Spring 2020 and all interested students are encouraged to enroll. It will be a one-unit course graded Satisfactory/No Credit in accordance with the Spring 2020 grading policy approved by the Faculty Senate on 26 March. Anyone who prefers to register for the zero-unit option, MUSIC 160Z, should request this in an email sent to orchestra@stanford.edu and will then receive the necessary registration code.

Stanford Symphony Orchestra Online in Spring 2020 will utilize the Keeping Score videos on orchestral repertoire produced by Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony. Keeping Score consists of nine videos about Beethoven, Berlioz, Copland, Ives, Mahler, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and Tchaikovsky, with additional interactive features available on MTT’s Keeping Score website. Other materials will also be used. The syllabus for MUSIC 160 is now in development; more information about SSO Online will be posted prior to the first Zoom class on Tuesday, 7 April 2020. Please note that SSO Online will not take place at the usual SSO rehearsal times on Monday and Thursday evenings, but instead will meet once a week on Tuesdays at 5:00pm as listed above.

SPECIAL GUESTS: Mindy Kaufman, solo piccolo/flute of the New York Philharmonic (April 7); Erin Keefe, concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra, and her husband Osmo Vänskä, music director of the Minnesota Orchestra since 2003 and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra beginning January 2020 (April 14); Vinay Parameswaran, assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra (April 28); Aaron P. Dworkin, founder of The Sphinx Organization, author of The Entrepreneurial Artist: Lessons from Highly Successful Creatives, and Professor of Arts Leadership and Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan (May 19). Other guests TBA

Due to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) and to help protect the health of our communities, all Department of Music concerts are canceled, effective immediately through at least 15 May 2020. Depending on the unfolding situation, this date may change.

The Stanford Symphony Orchestra, Stanford Philharmonia, and Stanford Summer Symphony provide outstanding opportunities for the practice and enjoyment of orchestral music. SSO and SP rehearse and perform throughout the academic year, with SSS taking place each July. Most concerts are performed in Bing Concert Hall. Collaborative performances often take place with the Stanford Chamber Chorale, Stanford Symphony Chorus, University Singers, Stanford Wind Symphony, and Stanford Live. Membership in SSO, SP, and SSS is open by audition to all Stanford students (undergraduate and graduate), medical students, Stanford staff and faculty, and members of the community of all ages, with priority given to Stanford students. Members do not have to major in music; in fact, fewer than 5% of SSO and SP members are music majors, with most orchestra members majoring in STEM fields.