THE SAN BERNARDINO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The San Bernardino Symphony was founded in 1929 by Maestro James K. Guthrie, a nationally recognized conductor and local community leader. Maestro Guthrie served as Manager of the “San Bernardino Philharmonic Orchestra”, as it was called then, before becoming conductor in 1935. Jay Plowe was the first conductor and Willis C. Winslow concert-meister. The program of the first concert of the San Bernardino Phiharmonic held on March 4, 1930 included Beethoven’s “Egmont” Overture, Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony, Liszt’s First Concerto for piano and orchestra, a Bach choral piece and Berlioz’s Hungarian March from “Damnation of Faust”. Clarence Eugeue Johnson was the soloist. In 1935 when Maestro Guthrie began conducting the “Philharmonic Orchestra of San Bernardino Valley”—the orchestra’s new name—, he chose an all Tchaikovsky program with Barton Bachman as soloist for the first concert on February 6, 1935.

At the time he began conducting the Philharmonic Orchestra of San Bernardino Valley, James Guthrie also conducted the Women’s Symphony Orchestra of Los Angeles. Over the years, Maestro Guthrie compiled an extensive rental library that is still used extensively by colleges and other symphonies. In 1994, Maestro Guthrie donated this valuable asset to the San Bernardino Symphony.

Other conductors of the San Symphony during its history are Donald Ambroson, Alberto Bolet, Dr. Ben W. Eby, David Forester Don Jaeger, Gregory Millar, Thomas Nee, Joseph Pearlman, Michel Perriere, Rudolph Picardi, Stewart Robertson and current conductor, Maestro Carlo Ponti, Jr.

For 80 years, the San Bernardino Symphony has been providing timeless, world class symphonic music to audiences of the Inland area. Approximately 80 professional musicians, conducted by internationally renowned Maestro Carlo Ponti, Jr., play in the orchestra, which holds its concerts in the historic California Theatre. The orchestra performs five regular concerts a year. Additionally, the orchestra plays for the Redlands Bowl Summer programs and the Inland Dance Company’s presentation of the Nutcracker Ballet, reaching an audience of 61,000. In past years, the Symphony has performed at the City’s of San Bernardino’s Fourth of July spectacular, Sinfonia Mexicana and other events. Each season the Symphony provides programs and events that will attract families and those unfamiliar with symphonic music.