Dear Music Lover,
With great pleasure, I invite you to be part of the Waco Symphony Orchestra’s 50th Anniversary Season! It will indeed be a year of “golden” moments.
Since 1961, the Waco Symphony Orchestra has been bringing the finest international artists to the Waco Hall stage. The stellar performers who regularly performed for arts patrons in the larger cities of New York, London, and Paris also included our fair city on their schedules. During our Anniversary Season, we will be bringing back some of those artists who especially connected with our audiences. You certainly won’t want to miss Joshua Bell, André Watts, or José Feghali! The latter, the Gold Medal Winner of the Seventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, is representative of the special relationship our orchestra has had with that Competition and the 13 medalists who have performed with the Waco Symphony Orchestra.
We will also be reprising the great staples of the orchestral repertoire that our audiences have especially appreciated in the last 50 years!
Not everything will be about the past, though! On Valentine’s Day the internationally acclaimed award-winning trumpet player Chris Botti will be our special guest. The multiple Grammy Award Winner will be the most sought-after ticket in town and a special romantic memory.
The Waco Symphony Orchestra is blessed to have been supported admirably by our community for these many years! Please plan to join us for this yearlong celebration of a half century of great music and memorable artists!
Stephen Heyde
Music Director/Conductor
Stephen M. Heyde is the Mary Franks Thompson Professor of Orchestral
Studies and Conductor-in-Residence at Baylor University and the
Conductor/Music Director of the Waco Symphony Orchestra. Prior to moving to
Texas, Mr. Heyde was a member of the violin faculty at West Virginia
University from 1975-1984.
Mr. Heyde has conducted All State Orchestras and other festival orchestras in 29 states and continues to be in frequent demand in this capacity. He has conducted ballet performances with the Indianapolis, Fort Worth, Tulsa, Austin, and Oakland companies, and a number of collegiate opera productions. Heyde has been invited to guest conduct at many Universities, including recent engagements at Yale University, Ithaca College and the University of Oregon.
Stephen Heyde made his European debut with the Krakow State Philharmonic in March 1998. In October, 2004, he was invited to conduct the orchestra of the prestigious Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary. During his stay in Budapest, he was awarded the prestigious “Memorial Ring of the Liszt Ferenc Music Academy” and also accepted a position on the Curatorium (Board of Supervisors) for the Academy. While in Europe, Mr. Heyde also addressed the International Society for Music Education in Belgium and participated in a Roundtable presentation of the International Kodaly Society.
Under Mr. Heyde’s direction, the Baylor Symphony has performed numerous times at the Texas Music Educators Clinic/Convention. In December of 2003, the Baylor Symphony was featured with other School of Music ensembles in a PBS Special, “Christmas at Baylor” that was aired nationally in over 350 markets with an estimated audience in excess of six million viewers. Under Mr. Heyde’s direction, the Baylor Symphony has also appeared by invitation at the prestigious Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina and at a national convention of the American String Teachers Association. The Baylor Symphony was privileged to accompany the last public performance of revered violinist Joseph Gingold and has also worked with a number of distinguished American performers including Robert Shaw. Mr. Heyde led the Symphony in concerts in San Jose, Heredia and Cartago, Costa Rica in March, 2004.
As a violinist, Mr. Heyde served as concertmaster of the West Virginia Symphonette, concertmaster of the Conductors Guild Orchestra, and associate concertmaster of the New Pittsburgh Chamber Orchestra, among other positions. As a member of the Amart String Quartet and as a recitalist, he has appeared frequently on public radio and television.
A recipient of Outstanding Teacher Awards at West Virginia University and Baylor University, Mr. Heyde is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, Mu Omicron and Texas Orchestra Directors Association, in addition to other professional associations. He is currently National President of the College Orchestra Directors Association.