Racine Symphony Orchestra

The Racine Symphony performs classical Masterworks, chamber music and pops concerts in a variety of venues. Our professional musicians come from Racine and all of Southeastern Wisconsin through an auditioning process. Our Artistic Director is Pasquale Laurino. We value the importance of educational outreach with a week long Artist-In-Residence program, a Young Artists Competition, a Side-By-Side program, and a Concert for 5th Graders.

Mission Statement: The mission of the Racine Symphony Orchestra is to enrich, educate, and entertain our communities through the power of music. Vision: The vision of the RSO is to provide outstanding music that touches the soul of our community. The Racine Symphony Orchestra is the second oldest symphony orchestra in Wisconsin, established in 1932 by Frederick Schulte. In the early years the orchestra performed four concerts a year. The board, musicians selected music, sold the tickets, advertised the programs, and solicited donations for their work. In 1941 a 19 year old Issac Stern played with the orchestra! During World War II, high school students filled the seats of our musicians who were serving their country. Artistic Directors have been Dudley Powers, Stephen Colburn, Roberta Crawford, David Becker, Alexander Platt, Andrew Massey, Richard Carsey, and today we are pleased to have Pasquale Laurino at the helm. Some of our musicians have been with the orchestra over 25 years, many for 5-10 years. Our annual concert for all the fifth graders in the area began in the early 60s. The auditions to win a spot to perform with the RSO began in the mid 50s (now called the young Artists Competition.) We began the Pops series in 1988, which continues today inside Festival Hall. Over the "80 some" years we have performed over 400 concerts in numerous venues around Racine. This year we are adding a Sunday afternoon concert to the 3 Pops,2 Masterworks, Annual Benefit, Concert for 5th Graders, Artist-In-Residence week, and the occasional special event performances by many of our musicians in other activities. Join us in keeping the music alive!