In this inaugural year 2001, The Symphony of the Hills (SoH) Association, Inc., with a governing Board of Directors, was formed and incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt entity to establish and manage a professional orchestra. This now-formal entity blossomed from an orchestra formed at then Schreiner College by Dr. Charlotte Marrow, a member of the Schreiner faculty and accomplished harpist. At that time, orchestra musicians included university faculty and advanced music students from Kerrville and surrounding communities, plus professionals from Austin and San Antonio.

In this inaugural period, the orchestra comprised 44 musicians of whom eight were Schreiner students. They performed two free concerts, with the first on November 21, 2001 at the Dietert Auditorium on the Schreiner University campus. The highlight of this first season was a performance of Schubert’s 8th (“Unfinished”) Symphony played to an audience of about 150. The Board decided to establish a four-concert season, charge admission to the concerts and pay the musicians. Subsequently, plans were finalized for the 2002-3 Season, with income derived from 132 Charter Patrons and sponsorships from 25 Kerrville businesses. Dr. Jay Dunnahoo was hired to be the Conductor and Artistic Director of the Orchestra. Long Zhou, a principal violinist from the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, filled the position of Concertmaster.

Subscriptions for the concert season continued to grow, as did the size of the orchestra, now numbering 78 musicians. In the second (December) concert, Rick Rowley performed Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor. The Mission Statement of the Symphony was adopted and implemented with two free concerts in February for all 3rd and 4th-grade students and their teachers. The program was to become an integral part of each season. Total revenue from almost 400 Patrons was about $95,000, exceeding expenses by $10,000.

This season included the first Rising Stars concert featuring solo performances by exceptional student musicians from the Hill Country area. Performing the challenging Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 with the orchestra, local pianist/organist Dr. Sabrina Adrian thrilled concert attendees. Acclaimed cellist Kenneth Freudigman, the founder of the Camerata chamber group and Principal Cellist of the San Antonio Symphony, performed Saint-Saens’ Cello Concerto No. 1 with the SoH. A new Symphony of the Hills logo and banner, developed by an ad hoc committee working with Schreiner University Graphic Arts students, were adopted by the Board.

Responding to reduced income, the Board eliminated the Sunday concerts, returning to having one Thursday night performance. The nationally-known Daniel Rodriguez, New York’s Singing Policeman, opened the season with a well-received vocal performance accompanied by the Symphony. The orchestra participated in an innovative approach of partnering with the Hill Country Youth Orchestra and Playhouse 2000 in which each organization promoted one concert, with the profits split three ways. Neither attendance nor profits achieved anticipated results. The hugely popular rock and roll band Flash Cadillac performed with the orchestra to an overflowing theater in an attempt to regain some of the cash balance lost in the previous two seasons.

Dr. Eugene Dowdy was employed as Associate Conductor and Dr. Daniel Kobialka as Concertmaster. The Season’s orchestral highlight was Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. Concert programs featured music by French and Russian composers. Now an internationally known violinist, Nancy Zhou thrilled the audience with O’Conner’s “Call of the Mockingbird.” (Since graduating from High School, Nancy has become internationally recognized for her virtuosity and has been performing with many of the top international orchestras.) The Children’s Outreach was expanded, and the Symphony ended the season with a modest cash reserve.

The kick-off for this SoH 16th Season comprised a Patrons’ reception prior to the last (April 2016) concert of the 2015-2016 Season. Patrons were invited to observe a portion of the pre-concert rehearsal during the wine and cheese reception, which was well attended. The Children’s Outreach Program was conducted at the start of the 2016/17 school term (September-October) in order to accommodate a potential conflict with the KISD teachers’ district meeting schedule. The program was once again expanded to meet the demand, with all private and public schools in the area participating, engaging close to 1800 students. The Children’s Concerts once again filled the Cailloux Theater twice with students and teachers. The program reached the maximum participation level possible with available resources.

The highlight of the first concert (theme “Rach and Roll,”) was Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto performed by Dr. Don Crandall, Chairman of Schreiner University’s Music Department. The Pops concert in Jan. 2017 featured Broadway tunes and was well attended. The February concert theme “Invitation to the Dance” offered orchestral dance music from gigue to waltz to pavane, leading to a final tango “La Cumparsita.” The final concert in April concentrated on some of the favorite and familiar music of Mozart, with selections from Symphonies 25 and 41 and favorite opera arias. The season was noted for a historic attendance record.

“The upcoming season will excite our audience,” said Dr. Tim Summerlin, Board President. “We welcome two exceptional guest artists and a talented brass group to our concerts. Meanwhile, you will continue to see the Symphony of the Hills artists engaged in the community, providing music at events offered by other local arts organizations.”

Indeed, the season offered Swan Songs with Wagner, Haydn, Saint Saens, and fittingly Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake; The Spirit of Christmas with Babes in Toyland, Canadian Brass, Vivaldi, and the Many Moods of Christmas; Out of This World POPS with themes from A Space Odyssey, Wicked, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park, Apollo 13, and Holst’s Jupiter from The Planets; and Chopin and Friends, with solo violinist Ryo Yanagitani.

Sadly, with the encroaching cloud of COVID-19, the board took the painful but necessary step of canceling the season finale, Beethoven and Other Olympians, a planned tribute to the Summer Olympic Games.

The highlight of the first concert (theme “Rach and Roll,”) was Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto performed by Dr. Don Crandall, Chairman of Schreiner University’s Music Department. The Pops concert in Jan. 2017 featured Broadway tunes and was well attended. The February concert theme “Invitation to the Dance” offered orchestral dance music from gigue to waltz to pavane, leading to a final tango “La Cumparsita.” The final concert in April concentrated on some of the favorite and familiar music of Mozart, with selections from Symphonies 25 and 41 and favorite opera arias. The season was noted for a historic attendance record.

During this four-concert Season, Long Zhou’s daughter Nancy, a 10-year-old violin prodigy, delivered a brilliant and stunning violin solo performance in the February 2003 concert. The Symphony, now with 55 musicians, moved into the newly remodeled 820-seat Cailloux Theater for the Performing Arts in downtown Kerrville. In the last (May 1) concert of the Season, soloist Dr. Don Crandall played Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue to major acclaim. The concert opened with the Star-Spangled Banner, establishing a tradition that continues today.

In August, the Symphony performed a well-attended musical tribute to VJ Day + 60 together with the Sentimental Journey Orchestra. They put on a three-concert production sponsored by James Avery. The concerts combined big band swing with well-known classical compositions, including the first movement of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. Entitled “Command Performance”, the program was performed twice at the Cailloux Theater and once in Fredericksburg, with all concerts close to being sold-out.

As of the last concert in the spring of 2006, the Symphony Association had more than 600 Patrons, with average total ticket sales for each concert close to theater capacity.

Responding to numerous and frequent suggestions from SoH Patrons, the Board of Directors added a “Pops” concert to its season for the first time, with the Cowboy Singer Don Edwards the featured performer. The concert and a pre-concert Meet & Greet with the performer were very well attended. In the spring concert, Dr. Don Crandall performed Rachmaninoff’s Variations on a Theme of Paganini, an overwhelming favorite with the crowd. Ms. Masel Quinn, a major contributor to the Symphony from the beginning, was honored and presented with a portrait of the orchestra.

The Orchestra performed Bach’s Toccata & Fugue in D Minor, and with Kevin McCormick on guitar, played several pieces for guitar and orchestra. Acknowledging the students’ enthusiasm generated by musician interaction with the audience at each of the two Children’s Concerts, an SoH Board Member, Ms. Miles Horton, launched the Children’s Outreach program. The Outreach, a program that has been continued each year, is conducted in area schools for 4 to 5 weeks prior to the Children’s Concerts. The program comprises lesson plans provided to all teachers in the affected 3rd and 4th-grade classes, together with in-school presentations of music and musicianship by several orchestra musicians. A widely-popular Painted Violin fund-raising program contributed to the Symphony’s financial results. Another facet to marketing the Symphony was initiated. It included engaging part-time a public relations professional and a free pre-concert “wine and cheese” reception in the Cailloux theater lobby before each concert. A definite increase in concert attendance was noted.

Orchestral highlights included Howard Hanson’s Symphony No. 2–The Romantic, Tchaikovsky’s Overture to Romeo and Juliet, and Respighi’s Pines of Rome. There was a full house for Concert V, “Bach and His Disciples.” The Children’s Outreach increased in content and participation for the fourth consecutive year. Additional Foundation Grants and Business Sponsorships contributed to the Symphony’s financial position. At the conclusion of Concert V, Dr. Dunnahoo retired and was recognized by Symphony President Tim Summerlin for his manifold contributions since the birth of the orchestra in 2001. Dr. Summerlin announced that Dr. Dowdy would assume the position of Conductor and Artistic Director, as Dr. Dunnahoo would become Conductor Emeritus.

The Season kick-off on April 27, 2017, built on the experience gained the prior year, with season-ticket packages for patrons completely prepared for pickup alphabetically at tables set up in the Cailloux lobby. A wine and cheese reception followed and patrons were again invited to an early rehearsal in the theater.

Responding to an invitation from the Kerrville Folk Festival, the orchestra performed on June 11 to an audience of more than 1000; it was well received, demonstrating to a wider audience the artistry of our Symphony of the Hills.

The Children’s Outreach Program (renamed Children’s Adventures in Music) kicked off in 3rd and 4th-grade classrooms September 15, 2017, under the direction of Deidra Harmer. The classroom presentations by orchestra musicians were supplemented by lesson plans and instructional material for the teachers, according to Texas standards. These classroom sessions culminated with two free Children’s Concerts on October 12 again achieving the SoH mission of “providing enriching symphonic music… and expanding music appreciation throughout the community.”

For the Season, Dr. Eugene Dowdy promised “a mix of music,” and the Symphony delivered. The first concert celebrated frontiers of all types with “Wild Wild West,” featuring violinist (and daughter of Concertmaster Dr. Daniel Kobialka) Alina Kobialka on Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D Major. The holiday’s “Gloria” by John Rutter was celestial with the addition of the Grand Chorus. In January, the orchestra presented “The Magic of Disney,” complete with surprise guest conductor Mickey Mouse.

In February, guest soloist Naoko Takao mesmerized the audience with Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. “Strike Up the Band–The Symphony on Parade” wrapped up the season with rousing march music that included Tivy High School band students making their first appearances on the big stage. One of the favorite pieces of the evening was “Trumpeter’s Lullaby,” a trumpet solo by George Eychner.

While the exuberance for the Symphony’s 20th Season was muted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Symphony Board decided to offer a four-concert season. In fact, Symphony of the Hills was one of the few if not only orchestras in the United States that went ahead and offered public concerts during this period. The board accomplished this by implementing thoughtful mitigation procedures, including offering two half-capacity concerts per evening instead of one, encouraging masking and distancing, eliminating the reception, and installing air filtration and barriers for the reduced-size orchestra.

As a result, the community enjoyed music programs that highlighted Ode To Joy, with works by Beethoven, Prokofiev, and a Charlie Brown Christmas; an American Songbook pops concert, with themes from West Side Story and The Pink Panther, and Joe Stuessy arrangements of Johnny Mathis Medley and an American Anthology; and the Majesty of Brahms, plus Vivaldi, Beethoven, and Rimsky-Korsakov. The planned premier of River of Stars was moved to the following fall season opener.

Due to a COVID spike the previous February, the Homecoming concert featuring Symphony alum Nancy Zhou was moved to August, when a larger audience was able to appreciate the artistry of the internationally-known violinist.