Performing more than 100 concerts and events a year, the Long Beach Symphony plays primarily at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center's Terrace Theater, where it premiered in 1978 with a sold-out performance from pianist Van Cliburn. The season comprises a variety of offerings, from classical and POPS! series to family and educational concerts. The diverse repertoire includes works by Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Copland, Beethoven, Brahms and more. The POPS! series sees crossover concerts with music by the likes of Josh Groban, the Rat Pack and George Gershwin. The ensemble has performed with lauded area groups including the Long Beach Camerata Singers, the Jazz Angels and Musical Theater West. A Long Beach Symphony Pops concert is a rousing celebration of classical music in all its crossover forms.

Long Beach Symphony Background

For over 85 years, the Long Beach Symphony has been one of Southern California's greatest regional orchestras. And between its first premiered work in 1939 and the almost two dozen since, the group has sought to support both new and established composers. With music director JoAnn Falletta, who took charge in 1989, the group won the 1998 ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. They would go on to win the Long Beach Heritage Preservation Award in 2012. Conductor Eckart Preu took over the reigns of the group in 2017. Before moving to Long Beach, Preu was the music director for the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and the Portland Symphony Orchestra. He also held posts in numerous other cities, leading groups like the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of Chile, the Wichita Symphony, and the Jerusalem Symphony, performing at esteemed venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York and the Sorbonne in Paris. As part of the Long Beach Symphony's community education initiative, numerous concerts for youth entertain more than 10,000 elementary school children each year.