Southland Symphony Orchestra Inc

About the Southland Symphony Orchestra

The Southland Symphony presented its first concert in Ontario on Sunday, December 11, 2011. The orchestra’s founder and director, Dr. Sylvia Lee Mann, who had recently relocated to the area, saw a need and an opportunity to bring symphonic music to the larger Ontario Community, a community which was already embracing arts and culture. Since that first concert, we have presented many, many free, full-orchestra concerts for this community. We have presented internationally renowned musicians from all over the globe, performing music of the greatest composers of history, and music of great composers still living today.

" Our purpose is to enrich our community by engaging audiences and inspiring a love of music through exciting live symphony performances, innovative programming, and educational outreach."  We offer opportunities for the community to experience the very best in music, “right in their own back-yards.”  No long drives to downtown Los Angeles, no expensive parking. Arts and music for our community, in our community.

 The Southland Symphony Orchestra is a volunteer, community orchestra, providing fantastic opportunities for qualified musicians to experience and perform live music of the highest quality. We welcome musicians of all ages and from all walks of life: Students and senior citizens, professionals and amateurs: Hobbyist, Professional, Retired…. All are welcome.   

Are you a musician, and would you like a chance to participate? Musician Auditions: The Southland Symphony holds ongoing auditions for NEW musician members. Interested musicians should contact us immediately for an audition, by calling (909) 235-9776 or emailing: auditions@southlandsymphony.com

The Southland Symphony needs YOUR help - Why do we need YOUR support?

We strive to offer many of these programs free to participants, but that doesn't mean they come at no cost. The Southland Symphony programs require funding from corporations, foundations and government. But the core of our funding comes from individuals like you.

Please GIVE generously today and be a part of making music throughout our community.

Where does the money go? 

FYI, we manage to produce each of our concerts for around $5000. This cost may surprise you, so I want to let you know where the money goes. (By the way - Many orchestras of similar size and activity level have a budget of $15 - 20 thousand per concert). Ours is actually a very “cost-effective” figure. The cost for the whole season for the coming regular season will be around $30,000. So please – donate now, and help us remain viable and cost effective.

Here is a partial list of the types of expenses we face:

Sheet Music: Performance rights (for music from films, etc); Sets of music; Printing music from public domain sources (to print it out for the musicians, so we use paper and toner)

Publicity (posters, flyers, postcards, tickets, PR services, etc)

Program printing (Paper and toner - design work is done in-house and donated)

Website and app hosting (site design is donated)

Musician compensation (we have some professional members, some semi-pros, and some community volunteers)

Guest Artist compensation

Other compensation for our principal players, coaches, graphic design, operations crew, “gas money” for volunteers, rehearsal snacks and drinks/bottled water

Facility use

Equipment (like music stands, printer, recording equipment, music stand lights and batteries, podium, extension cords, music folders....)

Legal costs (corporate filings, etc)

Insurance (liability and umbrella coverage)

Bank costs (monthly service fees, merchant account fees) etc., etc...

(There is much more).

WHY SUPPORT A COMMUNITY ORCHESTRA?

Great reasons to support your community orchestra:

A vibrant arts and culture industry helps local businesses thrive. Arts and culture organizations - businesses in their own right - leverage significant event-related spending by their audiences that pump vital revenue into the area.

It benefits the concert-going public by providing the many local lovers of classical music the opportunity to hear it performed locally, at free concerts or at a reasonable ticket cost for very special events.

A community orchestra is a major artistic resource. It is a gift to the community. It benefits the community in general by forming part of the cultural base that makes the city of Ontario, California and the Inland Empire a good place to live.

It is a source of community pride, in conjunction with other local music performance organizations. See us in action right here: http://southlandsymphony.com/concert_videos_youtube/