Tag: Community

Macomb Symphony Celebrates 50th Anniversary

Posted on April 14, 2025 by - News Briefs

In Saturday’s (4/12) C&G News (Michigan), Dean Vaglia writes, “For the Macomb Symphony Orchestra, a professional classical orchestra that performs at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts as well as at other locales throughout the county, 2025 marks its golden year. According to Thomas Cook, orchestra director from the MSO’s founding in 1974-2021, the orchestra formed as an outgrowth of the Macomb Community College music program … though it did not take long for the orchestra to become its own nonprofit organization…. The Macomb Symphony Orchestra used the Macomb Center’s presence to establish itself as, in Cook’s words, the ‘voice of classical music in Macomb County.’ The move allowed the orchestra to expand to up to as many as 70 musicians per concert and even begin paying all of its musicians … Cook stepped down from directing the orchestra in 2021 with Andrew Neer taking on the role…. ‘I’m a little bit more involved in (the business and marketing side) than maybe your average music director would be,’ Neer said…. ‘My biggest hope for the organization is that we could continue to grow and continue to develop in a way that would be lasting and have an impact on the community for the good.’ ”

Janet Reihle Named President and Executive Director of Mississippi Symphony

Posted on April 14, 2025 by - Who's In

In Sunday’s (4/13) Magnolia Tribune (Jackson, Mississippi), Marilyn Tinnin writes, “Janet Reihle, the new president and executive director of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, assumed her position on April 1. If the first week is a predictor of the future, great things are in store for the symphony’s eighty-first season, which begins in August…. A native of Sebastopol in Scott County, where her grandfather pastored a small Presbyterian church, she was a little girl when he enlisted Janet and her sister as pianists…. [Later], ‘I was immediately drawn to the music industry field largely because I was very involved in the local band scene,’ Janet says…. She learned the ins and outs of everything from reel-to-reel recording, strategic ways to promote musicians, and the business side of creating a plan…. [In Jackson], her leadership roles include positions at the Metro YMCAs of Mississippi and as Executive Director of the Chamber of Flowood’s Visitor’s Center…. She is something like a friendly church greeter who loves the organization she has been called to represent and delivers the message to all … Each year, 75,000 Mississippians attend a live performance…. One of her stated goals is to expand programming and increase community engagement, and that vision encompasses engagement from the Gulf Coast to the Tennessee line.”