Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra

Philharmonia Baroque presents a highly regarded six-concert season at venues in Berkeley, San Francisco, Walnut Creek, and Stanford for more than 13,000 audience members. With an enviable subscription renewal rate of 85 percent for its concerts, the organization also has a weekly radio broadcast series on KDFC and provides free in-school education programs and student matinee performances. The orchestra, which tours both domestically and internationally, has thirty-four highly praised commercial recordings and will produce six more during the next three years. A renewal grant would enable the organization to continue to strengthen its financial position while implementing strategies to build new and younger audiences for classical music.

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra presents an eight-concert season at venues in Berkeley, San Francisco, Walnut Creek, and Atherton for 14,000 audience members. The Orchestra recently launched a new Chamber Music Series with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (also a Hewlett Foundation grantee), and its first weekly radio broadcast series on KDFC. Philharmonia Baroque tours domestically and internationally, and has produced twenty-five highly praised commercial recordings. Plans for 2011 include the release of an additional three CDs and the launch of its own record label. With a new focus on educational outreach, Philharmonia Baroque has developed a Family Concert Series and provides classroom and school assembly music engagement programs.

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra is an orchestra and chorus that performs music using instruments and vocal techniques from the Baroque period. The organization also performs and commissions modern and contemporary music and opera. Each year, the orchestra reaches 35,000 people through a season of 35 concerts, educational presentations, and lectures. In addition, the organization offers free student ensemble coaching sessions and performances to public schools in Berkeley, San Leandro, and Oakland, reaching more than 1,600 school-age children and youth. This grant to Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra supports the Performing Arts Program’s Continuity and Engagement strategy through the Traditional Works component.