“In 2017, a collection of residents, musicians, and at least one globetrotting conductor realized that Rock Hill was the largest city in the Carolinas that did not have its own symphony orchestra,” writes Scott Morgan on Thursday (12/5) at radio station WFAE (Charlotte, N.C.). “Rob Thompson, the development associate for the Rock Hill Symphony Orchestra, says that as the city carves a more distinct identity—i.e., as something other than a suburb of Charlotte—the push to expand Rock Hill’s musical culture scene is a major component. Now in its second season, the RHSO has already outgrown its original digs at the Rawlins Road Middle School auditorium [and now performs in] the larger, more acoustically attuned auditorium at South Pointe High School…. Plans are in the works for a concert hall…. The RHSO’s conductor and music director, David Rudge, … is a former assistant conductor for the University of South Carolina Symphony Orchestra … and the South Carolina Philharmonic. [The RHSO] operates a program called ‘Symphony in Schools.’ … There are 10 elementary schools getting the chance to have RHSO musicians come to them with workshops and programs to help music teachers reach a broader, wider, and deeper place in students.”
Posted December 9, 2019
