Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra

Mission Statement :

"To provide the best possible performances of great music for the widest possible audience, and provide musical education for the young people of Kern County."

About Us :

Bakersfield's first community-wide orchestra of adults and student instrumentalists was organized and conducted by Harold Burt of the Kern Union High School District in the 1920s. The musicians rehearsed once a week as a night school class on the KCUHS campus.

By 1932 they were known as the Bakersfield Symphony, playing two concerts of light classics a year in the Standard School auditorium. The orchestra continued as a volunteer group through the Depression years, but disbanded during World War II.

Largely due to the efforts of a dedicated group of classical music enthusiasts, the Kern Philharmonic Society was formed in 1946 as the sponsor of the Kern Philharmonic Orchestra, Chorus, and Junior Symphony, with fund raising as the Society's primary activity. The reorganized orchestra played the first concert at East Bakersfield High School, and then moved to Harvey Auditorium at Bakersfield High School.

Although Harvey received no structural damage in the 1952 earthquake, patrons were reluctant to attend concerts until Liberace offered to play the season opener and donated his services as well. It was in this facility that Edouard Hurlimann conducted for twenty-three years, succeeded by Albert Bolet for three seasons.

The orchestra moved to the Civic Auditorium for the 1974-75 season with John Farrer as conductor. In 1982 the name Kern Philharmonic was changed to Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra.

Through the years the concert season has expanded to six subscription concerts, as well as a chamber music series, New Directions, a Young People's Concert Series, and educational programs including the Academic Decathlon. The Nutcracker Ballet is performed annually in collaboration with the Civic Dance Center. In addition, three affiliated organizations have become part of the Symphony family with their own concert seasons: Bakersfield Masterworks Chorale, Bakersfield Youth Symphony, and Bakersfield Municipal Band. Symphony Associates, an organization of Symphony volunteers, functions in a fund raising capacity.