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SAN ANTONIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. The Germans of San Antonio had an Instrumental Verein as early as 1852 but did not form a full orchestra until the state Sängerfest of 1874. Orchestral life grew but then declined after World War I, until Max Reiter,qv a young German conductor and refugee from European anti-Semitism, drummed up enough support for a trial orchestra concert in June 1939 at the Sunken Garden. Moved by the success of this concert, the Symphony Society of San Antonio formally incorporated. Reiter staged four concerts in the symphony's first season, engaging soloists such as pianist Alec Templeton and violinist Jascha Heifetz in order to attract large audiences. In addition, he commissioned the exiled Czech composer Jaromir Weinberger to write a Prelude and Fugue on a Southern Folk Tune for the new orchestra. Season ticket sales grew, and by 1943-44 Reiter had placed the orchestra on a fully professional basis. He added a tour through the Rio Grande valley and children's concerts and began to lure the city's Hispanic population with a visit from Mexican composer-conductor Carlos Chávez, who conducted his own music. Spring 1945 witnessed the first Grand Opera Festival. Starting with performances of La Bohème, Reiter established a tradition of regular opera productions that achieved considerable financial and artistic success. On December 13, 1950, at the height of his artistic powers, Reiter died of a heart attack. Within a short time, Victor Alessandroqv had been named his successor. Alessandro, born in Waco, had received his education from the Eastman School of Music and after graduation had gone on to conduct the Oklahoma Symphony, bringing it up to a remarkable level in only three years. As the conductor of the San Antonio Symphony, Alessandro built upon Reiter's foundations a far-reaching and varied program of his own, initiating a series of pops concerts and greatly expanding the role of the associated conductor, principal hornist George Yaeger. In 1961 Alessandro established the Rio Grande Music Festival, a week-long series of operas and concerts each spring. From his earliest years in San Antonio, Alessandro challenged his audiences with contemporary works and championed American music, especially by Texas and local composers. Since the late 1960s the orchestra has given its concerts in pairs, one performed at the Lila Cockrell (now HemisFair) Theater, the other at Trinity University. When Victor Alessandro died on November 27, 1976, much of the orchestra's growth, stability and artistic integrity had been directly attributable to his quarter-century tenure. After a two-year search, François Huybrechts replaced Alessandro as the symphony's music director. After two seasons he was succeeded by Lawrence Leighton Smith, in 1980. Under Smith the orchestra received greater exposure with its city-funded outreach program and increased touring in South Texas and Louisiana. In 1985 Smith resigned, and a search for a new musical director began. Sixten Ehrling served as artistic advisor, and guest conductors led many of the concerts. Financial difficulties forced the cancellation of the 1987-88 season before a new music director could be found. Many of the musicians of the San Antonio Symphony played for the newly formed Orchestra San Antonio until January 1988, when the San Antonio Symphony reinstated its season and assumed the Orchestra San Antonio's remaining commitments. For the 1988-89 season Zdenek Macal served as artistic director and principal conductor. Christopher Wilkins was appointed music director designate in 1990, assuming the post of permanent music director in 1992. In 1994 the Symphony was given the first ASCAP/Morton Gould Award for Creative Programming and was recognized for its community-relevant programming by the American Symphony Orchestra League. In 1993-94 the orchestra included seventy-six musicians and performed more than 125 concerts in a forty-one-week season. The San Antonio Symphony has recorded for Mercury Records. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Theodore Albrecht, "101 Years of Symphonic Music in San Antonio," Southwestern Musician/Texas Music Educator, March, November 1975. Ronald L. Davis, A History of Opera in the American West (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1965). Hope Stoddard, Symphony Conductors of the U.S.A. (New York: Crowell, 1957).
Theodore Albrecht
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