About the South Shore Symphony
The South Shore Symphony
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The South Shore Symphony was first organized in the Five Towns in 1983. In 1991, led by President and Principal Cellist Wayne Lipton, the orchestra moved to Rockville Centre under the baton of Music Director and French hornist Paul Rudolf. In 1993 the distinguished violinist and conductor Ming Feng Hsin was appointed Music Director, beginning a five-year period of great expansion. In 1998 Scott Jackson Wiley became the resident Maestro. Under his leadership the orchestra has grown to include professional musicians and gifted high school players in addition to the dedicated amateurs that make up its core and has become one of the premiere performing ensembles of Long Island. The parent organization of the South Shore Symphony is the Rockville Centre Guild for the Arts, a 501(c3) not-for-profit organization which funds the Orchestra through grants, and fundraising. The South Shore Symphony has enjoyed the constant support Molloy College, which supplies rehearsal space and the Madison Theatre, a first-class performance hall.
The South Shore Symphony collaborates annually with Leggz Ltd. Dance in highly popular holiday productions of Tchaikovsky's beloved Nutcracker Ballet featuring professional dancers and highly skilled amateurs. Another hallmark of the South Shore Symphony is its regular collaboration with the Cathedral of St. Agnes, which in the past has led, among many other events, to performances of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Handel's Messiah, Mahler's Symphony No. 1, 2 and 3 plus Saint Saëns Symphony no. 3 (Organ Symphony). With the newest addition to the Guild, the Long Island Lyric Opera, each year the orchestra plays in a major opera production, which has previously included Tosca, Le Nozze di Figaro, Carmen and this season, Madame Butterfly. And, of course, one of the orchestra's most cherished traditions is the outdoor summer pops concert every year in Rockville Centre's Liberty Park which climaxes in a spectacular display of Grucci fireworks. The South Shore Symphony also plays in various musical productions with the Cap 21 Students at the Madison Theatre of Molloy College in Rockville Centre. Board of DirectorsWayne Lipton, President
Tracy Ackner, Vice President Joan MacNaughton, Vice President Kathy Miller, Orchestra Committee Walter Fremer, Orchestra Committee George Schowerer, Video Consultant Randy Kay, Librarian Catherine Birke, Social Media For more information, email [email protected]
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Critical Acclaim“The less-is-more philosophy stuck with Glaser…He set down the delicately sustained pianissimo of the strings in the Allegro moderato with a light hand and followed with solid, clean phrasing and articulation. The orchestra’s secondary role allowed [Hilary] Hahn to embark on clear, intelligible musical language with grace and eloquence.” – Courtney Smith, NJArts.net (New Jersey Symphony Orchestra) “Adam Glaser led the chamber orchestra…in a sinewy and carefully balanced sound.” – Philadelphia City Paper (Curtis Opera Theater) “From the pit (located behind the stage), conductor Adam Glaser managed the proceedings exceedingly well, especially when one considers that the singers were not facing him throughout the evening.” – Opera Wire (New York City Opera) “The musical values were high, with conductor Adam Glaser and the band giving a polished performance, and the young ensemble giving it their all.” – Seen and Heard International (New York City Opera) “…a magical second outing by the very gifted Glaser … Excursions will cement Glaser’s place on the international jazz map with his panache of deep musical understanding, wide-ranging styles, and skills as a performer.” – The Jazz Word 
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Adam Glaser, Music Director and ConductorAdam Glaser is the Music Director of the professional-caliber Juilliard Pre-College Orchestras and Director of Orchestras and Associate Professor of Music at Hofstra University. In the 2024/25 season, he begins his second year as Music Director and Conductor of Long Island’s renowned South Shore Symphony, and he will serve as Visiting Professor of Conducting
and Interim Director of Orchestras at the Hartt School of Music. Recent engagements include the New Jersey Symphony, where Glaser filled in last-minute for Music Director Xian Zhang in critically-acclaimed subscription concerts featuring violinist Hilary Hahn, Musical America’s 2023 Artist of the Year. Previous posts and engagements include Principal Conductor of the NYU Orchestras and the Usdan Center for the Arts, a nine-concert residency with the Symphonia Boca Raton, performances with the orchestras of Wheeling, Illinois and Victoria (British Columbia), and collaborations with such distinguished artists as Itzhak Perlman, Joyce Yang, Conrad Tao, Maxim Lando, Vijay Gupta, Timo Andres, Monica Yunus and Areta Zhulla. Notable conservatory and youth orchestra engagements include the Interlochen Philharmonic, Purchase Symphony Orchestra, All-Eastern Honors Orchestra and multiple All-State Honors Orchestras. Selected awards include the American-Austrian Foundation’s Karajan Fellowship for Young Conductors which sponsored his residence at the Salzburg Festival and the Vienna Philharmonic’s Attergau Orchestra Institute. Earlier in his career, Glaser was selected as a finalist for assistant conductor positions at the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony. An established composer, Glaser’s works have been performed by over 30 orchestras throughout the U.S. and Canada, including the orchestras of Philadelphia, St. Louis, Baltimore, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Utah, Vancouver, Illinois and Toronto. Commissions include his Passacaglia for string orchestra, Launch for orchestra and chorus, and an arrangement of Hatikvah for string orchestra and children’s chorus. Glaser opera credits include his New York City Opera debut conducting the world premiere of Ted Rosenthal’s Dear Erich, La Tragédie de Carmen (Bizet/Constant) with Curtis Opera Theater, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Gluck’s L’Ivrogne Corrige and Schubert’s Die Verschworenen with Hofstra Opera Theater, and Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne with Ridotto Opera Theater. At the Usdan Center for the Arts, he led several multi-disciplinary performances including a collaboration with the Usdan Center’s ballet company, chorus, vocal soloists and orchestra in selections from Orff’s Carmina Burana. An active jazz pianist, composer and recording artist, Glaser released his debut CD, Wide Awake, with the Adam Glaser Trio in 2019, and followed in 2021 with a solo album, Excursions, featuring 15 original contemporary jazz instrumentals. As a founding member of Phil Orch Jazz, Glaser has performed and toured with this unique group of Philadelphia Orchestra musicians, appearing at such venues as World Cafe Live and the Kimmel Center’s Commonwealth Stage in Philadelphia, the Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center in New York, and the Bravo! Vail Music Festival in Colorado. Equally at home across the pop/contemporary spectrum, he has collaborated with groups ranging from the bluegrass-inspired DePue Brothers Band to worldmusic/fusion group Batik. Following several years as a consultant and marketing manager for Fortune 500 companies, Glaser maintains a keen interest in commercial music, audio branding and the use of music and sound throughout the business world. Profoundly committed to arts education and community engagement, Glaser is the creator and host of The Composer’s Paintbrush, a series in which he leads audiences through an exploration of the creative techniques behind musical masterworks, previously presented by New York’s Morgan Library & Museum. Glaser earned graduate degrees in orchestral conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music and the University of Michigan, an MBA from the Ross School of Business (University of Michigan), a BA from the University of Pennsylvania in English, Afro-American Studies and Music, and a diploma in composition from the Juilliard Pre-College Division. His primary conducting teachers include Otto-Werner Mueller and Kenneth Kiesler, and his master class teachers include Christoph Eschenbach, Helmut Rilling and Gianluigi Gelmetti. For more information, please visit www.adamglaser.com. |