Macon strikes up new symphony orchestra with pledge to ‘connect to the wider culture’
Four years after the Macon Symphony Orchestra played its swan song amid financial shortcomings, orchestral music is set to return to the city this fall in the form of a new symphony backed by Mercer University and the Peyton Anderson Foundation.
In an announcement Thursday at the Grand Opera House, plans for the newly named Macon-Mercer Symphony Orchestra were unveiled.
“We can’t be a great city if we don’t foster the arts,” said Karen Lambert, president and CEO of the Anderson Foundation, which is helping fund the endeavor with a five-year, $300,000 grant.
The orchestra, conducted by Ward Stare, will include musicians from Mercer’s Robert McDuffie Center for Strings and 13 members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s woodwind, brass and percussion sections who will also serve as mentors.
The fading of the 41-year Macon Symphony left a void for classical-music lovers as well as those who play it here. The new orchestra, organizers said, offers opportunities for local musicians to learn and perform, and it also is something of a “thank you” to pioneering local artists.
“We not only owe it to our students ... but we owe it to the musicians from Macon, the groundbreaking musicians from Macon who put Macon on the map,” said McDuffie, the Center’s founder, a world-renowned violinist.
“We owe it to Otis (Redding) ... we owe it to Gregg and Duane Allman, we owe it to Chuck Leavell, we owe it to Little Richard, we owe it to Mike Mills and Bill Berry who left Macon to form REM. We can’t just be good. We have to be great. And that’s what we’re gonna give this community.”
McDuffie said the orchestra won’t just “check a civic-pride box.”
Yes, he said, the classics will be played, but added, “We are gonna connect to the wider culture in Macon, and you have my word on that.”