Symphony Forms New Venture With Morristown Orchestra

Highlighting the synergy between the two orchestras, the has orchestrated a long-term musical and administrative collaboration with a Morristown based orchestra.

WSO music director David Wroe said that the new partnership with the New Philharmonic of New Jersey will maintain the WSO’s brand, but help create a new concert series and allow for more collaboration long term.

“The Westfield Symphony Orchestra has for a number of years as part of a shift of our mission has launched a number of initiatives on the idea of peaking synergies and potential collaboration with other arts organizations in New Jersey,” Wroe said.

Wroe noted that the two orchestras have been very similar in missions as freelance orchestras in New Jersey. He noted that the WSO has five to six concerts a year, while the New Philharmonic has three to four concerts a year.

Wroe said the new partnership will allow the two orchestras to have a shared artistic vision, along with combing various administrative aspects to save money. He noted both orchestras have seen a revenue decline tied to cuts in state aid to cultural organizations.

The new partnership will be based around a three-concert festival, billed Musica Morristown.

“Musica Morristown is the new face of the New Philharmonic of New Jersey,” Wroe said. “The New Philharmonic and the Westfield Symphony Orchestra came together to form this festival and three main subscription concerts, which are to replace the traditional subscription concerts that the New Philharmonic has offered in the past.”

Wroe said that the artistic vision of the WSO is being used in the new venture and the two orchestras will be combined into one joint orchestra. He stressed that there will no changes to the WSO’s schedule within Westfield.

He noted that while there will be a combined administrative staff, the two groups retain separate boards of directors and will have separate identities.

Wroe said that the first concert in the Musica Morristown series will occur on Sept. 11 in Dolan Hall on the campus of the College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown. He said the concert will feature patriotic themed music for the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Wroe said the concert will be the same one that the WSO performs on the evening of Sept. 10 at the Presbyterian Church in Westfield as part of the town’s Sept. 11 memorial activities. The Sept. 10 concert will only open to WSO season ticket holders and those who purchased tickets for that concert.