Westchester Philharmonic

Mainstage concerts: the Westchester Philharmonic's mainstage concert season takes place at its home in the purchase performing arts center and attracts diverse audiences from throughout Westchester county as well as the neighboring communities of rockland, bergen, fairfield, and putnam counties, and new york city. With its rich history of supporting artists of diverse backgrounds, introducing new works and new artists together with traditional classical repertoire and renowned artists, "the phil" has developed a reputation for artistic risk-taking that its audience has come to embrace. We work with local agencies and other organizations to provide free or low-cost tickets for music lovers who might not otherwise have a chance to enjoy live music. Free open rehearsals are held on the morning of each concert, and pre-concert discussions with the artists, free for ticket-holders, illuminates the music and educates audiences. Due to the pandemic and the forced closure of our venue, performance activities were severely curtailed.

Community concerts: the Westchester Philharmonic presents a five-concert chamber series at the historic and acoustically superb grace church in white plains, in collaboration with downtown music at grace. This longstanding partnership has steadily grown over the years, from two concerts per year to the current five. These free concerts (downtown music accepts voluntary donations at the door) welcome music-lovers on wednesdays at noon for a one hour musical "oasis" during the busy day. Westchester Philharmonic musicians are featured in small ensembles of duos, trios, quartets, and quintets, performing all manner of classical gems as well as contemporary and jazz genres. In addition to delighting audiences, the musicians are particularly welcoming of these opportunities to "stretch and perform in a chamber music setting. Due to the pandemic and the forced closure of our venue, performance activities were severely curtailed.

Educational programs: the Westchester Philharmonic's award-winning educational program for children brings Philharmonic teaching artists into classrooms, grades 2 through 5, throughout the year, and culminates in the children coming to the performing arts center for a full orchestra concert in a real concert hall. 1,300 children (and teacher/chaperones) fill the hall each year for a program that augments the teaching artist modules in the classrooms, demonstrating the instruments of the orchestra, concepts of melody and harmony, tempo and rhythm, and compositional form, all made digestible and exciting for young ears and minds. Schools that are able to afford it pay a modest per-student fee, while any school which requests it is offered free classroom visits and free attendance at the children's concert, underwritten by the phil's donors. Due to the pandemic and the forced closure of our venue, performance activities were severely curtailed. Due to the pandemic and the forced closure of our venue, performance activities were severely curtailed.

Other miscellaneous program service events