Letter From Our Directors

Dear Fellow Musicians, Educators, and lovers of the arts:

Welcome to the New Orleans Volunteer Orchestra! At NOVO, we consider all musicians family and like to get to know everyone personally. Our goal is to break the social stigma of orchestras, and to break unneccesary routines that most symphony orchestras follow. As the directors of NOVO, we live to create the most exciting performances possible for our audience and for our musicians. Everyone is welcome to NOVO, and of course, everyone is welcome to NOVO concerts. We want to bring the symphony into your home, into the homes of every person in New Orleans by offering concerts year round. We ask you to help us spread the word about our amazing organization that has grown so much over the last five years. It has been an incredible journey for us to lead this great orchestra and great new choir - the Voices of New Orleans.

We also aim to break the social view of the conductor. The conductor is usually viewed as a celebrity of the musical world. This is something that we are totally against. We want everyone to know far and wide, that the performers should have the spotlight; they are the ones making the music. Without our amazing musicians and supportive audience the orchestra would not exist. We are truly thankful for every moment we are allowed to stand in front of this amazing ensemble and conduct them. As the ancient Chinese proverb says: "Always be aware of who you are standing in front of."

We ask you to bring symphonic music into your life. Bring symphonic music into your child's life. Come to one of our concerts and see how incredibly thrilling, moving, and real a full orchestra concert can be. Whether we are playing Lord of The Rings, Beethoven's 7th Symphony, Dr Who, Scheherezade, Legend of Zelda, or Mozart, our concerts are guaranteed to excite you. We are looking forward to meeting you!

Chris Bergeron Joseph Cieslak

Music Director, NOVO Co-Director, NOVO