New Member Information
Overview
We pride ourselves in creating a fun ensemble of musicians that are accessible to everyone, whether you are a skilled professional musician or a hobbyist musician, we have a spot for you! Since 2012 we have grown to over 60 musicians in our orchestra, performing complete symphonic works, concerti with special guest soloists, and video game / movie sound track concerts. Over 350 musicians in the New Orleans area have performed with us over the years. After much demand for allowing singers to perform with the orchestra, the Voices of New Orleans Choir was born in 2015. The choir is now at over 40 pieces, and perform stand alone choir concerts as well as full masterwork concerts with the full orchestra; for a total of over 100 musicians performing at our larger concerts. We are passionate about helping people learn and grow as musicians, while also having fun making music with friends. We invite you to come to a rehearsal and see if one of our ensembles would be a good fit for you!
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Mission
The mission of the Symphony of New Orleans is to provide meaningful educational and professional opportunities to the collegiate and post-collegiate community in New Orleans through musical excellence while revitalizing symphonic music’s role in the community.
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History
The Symphony Of New Orleans (then the New Orleans Volunteer Orchestra) began in 2012 at Loyola University of New Orleans by young and aspiring musicians and conductors. Since its inception, SONO quickly evolved into the city’s largest community orchestra; with over 60 members from all over the Greater New Orleans and Gulf Coast region. The Voices of New Orleans Choir began in 2015, as an opportunity for vocalists to get a chance to sing with a full Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra and choir perform large concerts together throughout the year to large audiences around the city. Our choir is one of the only full choirs in the city that regularly performs with a full orchestra.
Rehearsals
The Voices of New Orleans Choir rehearses every Monday from 7pm – 9pm
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The Symphony Of New Orleans rehearses every Tuesday from 7pm – 9pm
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Location of rehearsals is the First Unitarian Universality Church, 5212 S. Claiborne Ave, New Orleans LA 70115. This church is on the corner of S Claiborne and Jefferson Ave in uptown New Orleans. For rehearsal, enter through the S Claiborne (main door) entrance.
Attendance Policy
Since both of our ensembles are held to a high standard, attendance at rehearsals are very important. Please remember that your fellow musicians rely on you to be present at rehearsals. However, we understand that life happens, and things come up. If a rehearsal needs to be missed, please let us know via text or email at least 24 hours in advances (more if possible) so we know that you will not be presents for rehearsal that night. All players are permitted one absence each concert cycle. More absences may be permitted on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the Music Director.
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Concerts
One of the major goals for the Symphony Of New Orleans and Voices of New Orleans Choir is to put on memorable, enjoyable, and fun concerts for audiences of all ages in the Greater New Orleans area. We typically perform for 200 - 350 audience members per concert and have six concerts per year, at least two of which are orchestra & choir combined (for a total of 100 performing musicians!) These concerts are extremely fun and marketed and advertised heavily on several outlets such as NOLA.com, The Gambit, The Advocate, WWL-TV, WGNO-TV, and several more local outlets. We also have a Facebook following of ~3,000 members and a readership of 2,000 local New Orleanians on our email blogs. Tickets to all concerts are $10 for general seating, and $8 for students. Kids 12 and under are always free. All members of SONO & VONO receive one free comp ticket to every concert.
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News and Media
The Symphony Of New Orleans and Voices of New Orleans Choir has been seen on almost every news and media outlet since our inception in 2012. We have been invited to interview or perform on WGNO – TV, WWL – TV, New With a Twist, Good Morning New Orleans, NOA-TV, FOX 8 – TV, and more. Interview and articles from our ensembles have been published on many local newspapers and magazines such as The Gambit, The Advocate, Times Picayune, and Nickelodeon Studios. We are proud the SONO and VONO are continually praised for the great work that we do in the New Orleans Community!
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Membership Fee
To ensure the future success of our ensembles and keep them running at a high level, a small membership fee is due from all members. These fees cover the costs of rehearsal space rental, concert venue rental, marketing and advertising, printing sheet music, purchasing percussion instruments and music stands, website fees, choir binders, parties events for musicians, and more. SONO and VONO is a 100% volunteer organization, so no member fees ever pay salary; in fact, directors are also responsible to pay this fee.
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The membership fee is $10 per month, or $60 per semester. You can sign up to pay monthly by clicking here. This can be cancelled anytime. You can also choose to donate more than $10 per month if you wish. This fee is considered a donation to SONO & VONO and is tax deductible since we are a 501(c)3 Non Profit.
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If you are financially unable to pay your membership fee, we recommend finding a family member or friend who can pay on your behalf. If you still cannot pay, we will attempt to find a sponsor for you. We want everyone who wants to play with us to be able to play with us, regardless of finances.
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Sheet Music
We use a very intuitive and easy Google Drive system for our sheet music. All of the sheet music for our upcoming season can be found and printed online. Sheet music will also be present at rehearsal for you to use, but you can’t take it home. To print a copy to practice at home, please use the following steps:
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Step 1: Visit our website at www.SymphonyOfNewOrleans.com
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Step 2: Under the “MEMBERS” tab, click “Sheet Music”
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Step 3: Choose your ensemble
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Step 4: Find your instrument folder (orchestra)
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There you will find all of the parts that can be printed. PLEASE NOTE: We ask that you practice your music at home on a regular basis, so you are ready for rehearsals with our directors. Specific parts are assigned by the Music Director after auditions or by the principal in the section. For Open Rehearsals, feel free to prepare whichever part you are most comfortable with, though consider reaching out to the principal or Music Director to let them know your choice in case it would create balance issues.
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If you do not have access to a printer, please email us and we will help you get a hold of a copy of the music.
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