About the Orchestra

The Lake Geneva Symphony Orchestra celebrates its twenty-fifth season with renewed vigor and a deep commitment to musical culture and education in its community. Under the fifteen-year leadership of Music Director David Anderson, the orchestra has performed all nine Beethoven symphonies, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, and Disney’s Fantasia live with the animated film. Recent achievements include Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5, and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 6—all in a single season. The LGSO continues to expand the musical world’s awareness of masterpieces by minority and women composers, including Fanny Mendelssohn, Florence Price, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and William Dawson.

Concerts for children and families remain central to the LGSO’s outreach; most performances are free for students through college. For over twenty-five years, the orchestra’s signature School Day Concerts have brought live symphonic music to an estimated 30,000 children in their own schools. The 2025–26 season will expand opportunities for music students to rehearse and perform side-by-side with the orchestra’s musicians, while also providing financial support for private lessons within school music programs. The LGSO’s Fellows Program offers college music students scholarships and the opportunity to rehearse and perform with the orchestra. Extraordinarily talented students from southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois compete for the chance to perform as a soloist with the orchestra through the Young Artist Competition.

Guest artists of national and international stature perform with the LGSO. In its 25th season, the orchestra welcomes back Chicago Symphony Orchestra cellist Brant Taylor and Cleveland Orchestra violinist Stephen Rose. Many guest artists—including Rachel Barton Pine, Frank Almond, and Christopher Martin—not only feature as soloists but also teach local masterclasses and stage live performances and conversations with middle school, high school, and college students in Walworth County. In a distinction rare among community orchestras, the LGSO hosted a conducting workshop in May 2022 led by internationally recognized teacher Donald Schleicher.

None of these accomplishments would be possible without the dedication of the LGSO’s volunteer musicians, the professionalism of its musical and administrative staff, and the enthusiasm and generosity of its audiences, volunteers, and community supporters.