About the PSO
The Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1997 to provide an ensemble for amateur musicians to play together and perform for the community. Over the years it has turned its focus outward to the Greater Seacoast community to provide a series of Main Stage concerts at the Historic Music Hall and enrichment concerts for schools, Stringendo – a youth program for students, and the “Up close and personal” chamber music series.
The orchestra is comprised of over 65 local professionals, educators, highly accomplished amateurs, and advanced students. We present three Main Stage concerts each season, two Holiday Pops concerts, and a New Year’s Eve concert. Two school-day concerts for local students, in partnership with The Music Hall, are a local favorite for Elementary School children.
In 2011 John Page became music director, opening the doors to a new level of involvement in the greater Seacoast community.
PSO Highlights include:
- June 2025: The PSO Principal Winds were accepted on to the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts Arts Education Artist Roster.
January 2025: The orchestra received a generous donation of $300,000 from former PSO President Clinton F. Miller III, MD and his wife Laurel Ann Miller to create the Performing Guest Artists Fund. - November 2023: Co-commission with The Music Hall of At This Point by Greg Brown with lyrics by Todd Hearon in commemoration of Portsmouth, NH’s 400th Anniversary. The commission was designated as a PNH400 Legacy Project.
- April 2022: Performed Wild Symphony with Dan Brown at The Music Hall
- January 2021: “Joyful and Bright into the New Year with the PSO” aired on NHPBS.
- April 2019: Became the resident orchestra of The Music Hall.
- March 2017: Performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony collaborating with Amare Cantare, Portsmouth Pro Musica, St. John’s Choir, and Portsmouth High School.
- May 2016: Began school day concerts at The Music Hall.
- October 2014: The orchestra’s live performance of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique was released by Navona Records and is available on iTunes.
- August 2013: Accompanied Grammy award-winning clarinetist Richard Stoltzman in the premiere of a work by Lukas Foss at the PARMA Music Festival.
- November 2012: Performance at Carnegie Hall with Jane Seymour.
Acknowledgments
The Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra welcomes and values support from the Greater Seacoast business and professional community. We are proud to count many wonderful organizations and businesses among our partners with visionary leadership, commitment to artistic excellence, and an interest in fostering community collaborations.
We wish to acknowledge the following organizations with whom we are proud partners. We are grateful for the support we have received from:
- Riverwoods Retirement Community, Exeter
- Portsmouth Music and Arts Center, Portsmouth
- The Music Hall, Portsmouth
- Portsmouth School District
- Rye Junior High School
- Seacoast Media Group
- Parma Recordings
- Prescott Park Arts Festival
- Great Bay Academy of Dance
- ArtSpeak
- Strawbery Banke
- Portsmouth Athenaeum
- St. John’s Church
- Dance Hall, Kittery
- Portsmouth Chamber Collaborative
The Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra is a 501(c)3 tax exempt not-for-profit organization. All contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowable by law.
