Jacksonville Symphony

About the Jacksonville Symphony

Our mission is to enrich the human spirit through symphonic music.

As Music Director Courtney Lewis begins his seventh season on the conductor’s podium, the Jacksonville Symphony celebrates the 2021/22 season that promises another year of exemplary symphonic music. Each season, the Symphony reaches over 135,000 individuals through almost 100 performances in Jacoby Symphony Hall and communities throughout Florida. The Jacksonville Symphony is also committed to the creation of original music and has embarked on an ambitious plan to commission five original compositions between the 2021/22 and the 2023/24 seasons.

The Jacksonville Symphony is one of Northeast Florida’s most important cultural institutions. Founded in 1949, the Symphony now enjoys a national reputation, regularly heard on more than 250 public radio stations across the country on Performance Today. Combined with performances aired on Jacksonville’s public radio station WJCT and the organization’s continually growing streaming program, the Symphony reaches over 60,000 individuals through these digital channels. The Symphony’s performance home, Robert E. Jacoby Symphony Hall, is an acoustic gem and offers an intimate and acoustically superior concert experience. Each year thousands enjoy the Symphony’s performances both at Jacoby Symphony Hall in the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts and at venues located throughout the state of Florida.

The Symphony is a crucial leader in the community for music education, serving four county school districts and over 35,000 students. In addition to offering free tickets to children under the age of 18 for selected Florida Blue Classical concerts, and other special youth pricing, there are several programs to foster music education.

Led by Symphony Assistant Conductor Daniel Wiley, the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras (JSYO) serves more than 300 talented musicians from all over Northeast Florida. The six levels of ensembles enable the JSYO to serve the needs of all musicians with individualized, ability-specific instruction. JSYO enriches orchestral instruction by guiding young musicians with quality musical instruction, improving skills, and maintaining the highest standards. In June 2018, the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras embarked on its first national tour as one of only three student orchestras invited to perform in the Los Angeles International Music Festival at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Over the years, the Jacksonville Symphony has hosted some of the most renowned artists of the music world including: Isaac Stern, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Marilyn Horne, Luciano Pavarotti, Itzhak Perlman, Kathleen Battle, Mstislav Rostopovich, Audra McDonald, Joshua Bell, Lang Lang, Alisa Weilerstein, Branford Marsalis , Renée Fleming and Jean-Yves Thibaudet.