Overture Magazine: 2017-2018 Season September-October 2017 | Page 6

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B A LT I M O R E S Y M P H O N Y O R C H E S T R A
NEWS OF NOTE
75 TH ANNIVERSARY OF BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATES
I
BSA celebrates decades of service
n October 1942, with the country entangled in war, a
bright spot of optimism emerged in Baltimore’s music
community. Conductor, pianist and newly appointed
Director of the Peabody Institute, Reginald Stewart,
initiated the formation of the Baltimore Symphony
Women’s Committee. The volunteer group was founded on
October 7 in what is now Peabody Conservatory’s Griswold
Hall. Orchestras around the country increasingly found
themselves at a loss for talent, as many men of fighting age were
conscripted into service. But Stewart had a plan for the BSO,
and he began by enlisting the help of the city’s hardworking
and determined women.
Later known as the Women’s Association of the Baltimore
Symphony Orchestra, and presently as the Baltimore Symphony
Associates (following the decision in 1977 to accept men into
the group), the Women’s Committee took charge of ticket sales,
publicity and fundraising efforts in its early days. In 1968, the
Association inaugurated the “Symphony Ball,” which was that year
co-sponsored by Hutzler’s department store and, in 1973, honored
the French Ambassador. To celebrate the opening of the Joseph
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Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in 1982, the group
Baltimore
published a cookbook that included such recipes
Symphony
as “Oysters on the Half Note.”
Associates
at the 1988
Over the years, the Associates have raised
Hayfields
millions of dollars for the BSO through a
Show House
variety of programs like young musicians’
competitions and the popular Symphony Decorators’ Show
House. Show House, which began in the spring of 1977, has
welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors through the
decades. Each year, the Show House design committee auditions
interior designers who transform a selected residence, which is
then open to the public for approximately four weeks. Past BSA
Show Houses have been featured in national magazines like
Better Homes & Gardens and House Beautiful.
Today, the Associates continue to be highly involved in
BSO programs and fundraising, managing activities like open
rehearsals and running the Meyerhoff’s Symphony Store, which is
staffed entirely by BSA members. As the group celebrates its 75 th
anniversary, the BSO reflects on its years of indispensable work and
the vital role the BSA plays in our community.