Help us bring great music to life!

Santa Feans expect performances of the highest quality and contribute generously to arts organizations that offer outstanding artistic experiences. The Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra & Chorus seeks the support of all who value outstanding symphonic music and who wish to ensure that this experience is available to the thousands of children, parents, residents, and tourists who are moved by its language and power.

Your generous contribution will ensure the continuation of the Symphony’s tradition of musical excellence and its positive impact on the community.  We are excited about the role the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra & Chorus plays in the cultural life of this community and in New Mexico at large. The Santa Fe Symphony and its Foundation’s future accomplishments depend upon the vision and commitment of those who know and love symphonic music, value the meaning it gives our lives, and recognize the importance of a resident symphony orchestra to a community’s cultural foundation.  Please add your support to this worthy endeavor.  

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Twenty-eight years ago, a group of dedicated musicians and music-lovers, under the leadership of Founder, Gregory Heltman, made a bold decision to establish a professional symphony orchestra in Santa Fe.  Since then, the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra & Chorus has continued to fulfill its mission to inspire, delight, engage, and enrich audiences of all ages and cultures in Santa Fe, Northern New Mexico and beyond, offering orchestral and choral concerts of the highest professional quality as well as education and outreach programs for adults and schoolchildren. Performing a regular subscription series at the 790-seat Lensic Performing Arts Center, the Symphony is recognized as a vital, community-focused musical organization. It is one of two fully professional, full-sized symphony orchestras in the state and is the largest professional symphonic organization in Santa Fe.

The Foundation for the Santa Fe Symphony was established with a generous gift of $200,000 from the late Gladys and Julius Heldman to assure the Symphony’s future. The establishment of an endowment for the Santa Fe Symphony in late 1999 was another milestone. The endowment is a strong testament to the vitality of the organization and provides important financial stability. With recent major gifts, the value of the endowment now stands at over $1.8 million in cash and pledges.

Currently in his thirteenth season as Music Director & Conductor, Steven Smith brings to Santa Fe a combination of excellent musical training and impressive experience, including six seasons as Assistant Conductor at The Cleveland Orchestra. Regularly sold-out concerts are a testament to his rapport with the musicians as well as the excellence of the performances. 

The vision and commitment of our Founder, Gregory Heltman, and the generosity of music-lovers, volunteers, board members, donors, and Symphony musicians have made these programs and activities possible. In addition, the Symphony Board has articulated an exciting vision for the organization. A strategic plan provides organizational structure, clarity, and focus to ensure the Symphony’s progress.  Although ambitious, this plan is necessarily realistic in addressing the musical product, the administrative structure required to support that product, and the fiscal conservatism required in these challenging economic times.

In order to fulfill the artistic and administrative objectives outlined in its strategic plan, the Symphony will need to raise gifts from individuals, corporations, and foundations during each of the next three years. Inspiring larger gifts from current supporters is vital, as well as generating many new gifts from those who appreciate the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra & Chorus and the role it plays in the community. The Symphony’s annual operating budget of nearly $1 million dollars (with no debt) provides the bedrock for the achievement of the organization’s goals.

As a rule, symphony orchestras generate about 35% to 40% of their annual revenues from ticket sales and other earned income, with the balance raised from special events, gifts, grants, and distributions from endowments.  The Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra & Chorus is no exception. In a community that supports hundreds of non-profit organizations, this level of fundraising poses an exciting challenge.

The goal of the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra & Chorus is to be a world-class, regional orchestra and one of the top three musical organizations in the community.  Not surprisingly, this plan calls for continued gift support and new strategies to attract additional individual and business donors. The Symphony’s highest priorities include:


  • Increasing the size of the core group of musicians from 65 to 75 over the next three years
  • Increasing the number of performances
  • Enhancing community engagement and collaborations
  • Increasing the staff from four to five full-time professionals
  • Increasing gifts for operating support by 40% within the next three years
  • Increasing the endowment fund to $3 million within the next three years
Musical Offerings include:

  • A full season of concerts from October through June
  • A repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary music
  • Programs integrating the familiar with the innovative
  • “Carols & Choruses,” an annual free Christmas concert for the community at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis
  • Special concerts at New Mexico Highlands University featuring both the Symphony and NMHU choruS

Educational and community engagement includes:
  • Affordable group rates for high school music students and senior citizens
  • A rapidly expanding program in which Symphony Musicians serve as mentors to developing public school music students
  • Small ensembles in the public schools and retirement facilities
  • An annual free concert for all area 4th graders at the Lensic Performing Arts Center
  • Family-oriented concerts
  • Free pre-concert lectures
  • Musical joint ventures with other Santa Fe civic organizations
  • Our Community Engagement committee, “FanFare,” which works closely with music educators in the school
The Foundation for the Santa Fe Symphony has set a goal of increasing the principal in its investments by 40% over the next three years in addition to existing pledges. This means generating gifts from donors above and beyond their annual support, iincluding outright gifts, planned gifts, and bequests to build for and assure the Symphony’s future.
"I really enjoyed the concert on Sunday.  That was the first time that I’ve gone to a symphony concert.  I never knew it was so interesting.  I loved the way all the different instruments played together to make  such beautiful music.  The part I liked the most was when the violin  soloist played and I love the way she played with a lot of emotion."

—Claudia J. Castilla, student


"Living in Santa Fe is enhanced by the quality of the Santa Fe Symphony."

—Mart Markinson, Theater Owner/Producer


"…the players rightly served up generous chunks of plump sound, carefully phrased. The Symphony sounded quite impressive."

—Craig Smith, Santa Fe New Mexican

"The orchestra sounded positively brilliant in the symphonic showpiece. Clear, clean, vibrant colors emanated from each section."

—D.S. Crafts, Albuquerque Journal

The musicianship of the orchestra is professional and excellent!

—Jonathan & MaryRuth Holthaus, subscribers


"Virtually every day I stop to admire the beautiful clouds, dramatic mountains, and historic building that, together, make our ‘City of Santa Fe’ so different and special. Further, I’m always reminded how lucky we are to have the ‘world class’ Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra & Chorus in our relatively small city."

                              —Rube Lamarque, Santa Fe


"Our gift is a tribute to the Symphony’s artistic accomplishments to date, and its future promise."

—Gladys & Julius Heldman, Endowment Founders, 1998
P.O. Box 9692• Santa Fe, NM 87504 • Tel. (505) 983-3530
    
Copyright © 2012 Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Inc