Our professional musicians are honored to play alongside the fine artistic offerings in the Golden Isles. Michelle Merrill is our rising star Music Director and Conductor, designing symphony programs of superlative quality. Our ensemble showcases new compositions and interprets the classic favorites. Music is essential and timeless to the human experience.
The Symphony is committed to offering performances of the finest in symphonic music. Your membership in the Crescendo Circle ensures our professional symphony can shine even brighter as the premier musical organization in the community.
The Symphony is a rare gem, drawing professional musicians from major cities across the Southeast and audiences from throughout the Golden Isles. The Symphony’s music director and conductor, Michelle Merrill, has extensive experience conducting symphonies coast to coast.
The Coastal Symphony draws those who love symphonic music into the performance hall and takes the music to smaller audiences with Salons and SoundBites events, Musical Mentors visits to area schools, and conductor-led speaker events.
Participation in the Crescendo Circle includes these benefits:
All Levels:
$2,500 and Above
$5,000 and Above
Please become a member of the Crescendo Circle and join us in Raising the Baton!
The Coastal Symphony of Georgia, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
| Violin II* | Flute | Trumpet |
| Viola | Oboe | Trombone |
| Cello | Clarinet* | Tuba* |
| Bass* | Bassoon | |
| Harp | Horn* | Percussion |
*Currently available for sponsorship
The contribution may be paid in one installment, or in annual installments over three years. Named Chairs contributions are tax deductible within the extent of the law.
For more information: coastalsymphonyofgeorgia@gmail.com |
912-634-2006.
The Coastal Symphony of Georgia serves audiences and communities throughout the Golden Isles and the world through the power of musical performance.
We are deeply grateful to the following businesses, families and individuals who are supporting symphonic arts. We ask that you visit and engage in business with these companies, say hello to those you meet in the intermission hallway, and give a hand for those who support the magical impacts our Symphony will continue to deliver.
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For sponsorship information contact Lauren Kase at coastalsymphonyofgeorgia@gmail.com.
Your support ushers the joy of music to everyone possible through innovative concert and public space performances, events, and music education programs. Play your part by making a gift today.
The Coastal Symphony of Georgia is committed to offering performances of the finest in symphonic music, now and in the future. Become an important partner in the artistic life of our community to ensure this local professional symphony can continue to shine as the premier musical organization in the Golden Isles. We thank you.
Your support will be widely recognized, reaching thousands of potential customers and clients online and in our direct-mailed newsletters, season programs, and with stage recognition and onsite signage at premier levels.
Your support ushers the joy of music to everyone possible through innovative concert and public space performances, events, and music education programs. Play your part by making a gift today.
The Coastal Symphony of Georgia is committed to offering performances of the finest in symphonic music, now and in the future. Become an important partner in the artistic life of our community to ensure this local professional symphony can continue to shine as the premier musical organization in the Golden Isles. We thank you.
Your support will be widely recognized, reaching thousands of potential customers and clients online and in our direct-mailed newsletters, season programs, and with stage recognition and onsite signage at premier levels.
Opening Night begins with a Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman #1 by American composer, Joan Tower. The Fanfare, which she says is a tribute to “women who take risks and are adventurous,” is bold music featuring clashing cymbals, huge percussion strokes, and powerful rhythms.
Aaron Copland’s Billy the Kid Suite follows. Music written for a “cowboy ballet” incorporates cowboy tunes and American Folk songs as it tells the story of infamous outlaw Billy the Kid. The rich music opens with a pastoral setting on the open prairie before moving on to the merry tunes of a busy town, the percussive hurried pace of a gun battle, the celebration of Billy’s capture and finally his demise at the hands of sheriff, Pat Garrett, set to strings, winds, and brass.
Following intermission, we will hear Czech composer Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, popularly known as the New World Symphony. It was composed by Dvorak when he was director of the National Conservatory of Music of America and became greatly influenced by American Spirituals and Native American music. He advised American composers to turn to “Negro melodies” as a foundation of a serious and original school of composition, adding that “they are the folk songs of America.”
The highlight of our fall concert will be a performance by Mezzo Soprano Ashley Dixon, a rising star on the national operatic stage. She will sing Edward Elgar’s Sea Pictures Song Cycle with the orchestra. The music is taken from 19th Century poetry and will showcase her voice which has been described as a “robust instrument,” both “melodious” and “precise.”
The concert will open with Moldau, a symphonic poem written by Bohemian composer Bedrich Smetana, and it will close with Brahms Symphony No. 1 which took 14 years to complete and was hailed by conductor Hans von Bulow as “Beethoven’s Tenth” in 1877.
A Cocktail Reception with the musicians follows the performance
Thursday, December 14 at 6:00 pm
VITALITY LIVING FREDERICA
3615 Frederica Road, St. Simons Island
$45 per person – Limited Seating
Platinum Patron $5,000
Reserved table for ten
Spotlight seating by stage
Recognition on Invitation and Program
Gold Patron $3,000
Reserved table for eight
Premier seating by stage
Recognition on Invitation and Program
Silver Patron $1,500
Reserved table for four
Elite seating
Recognition on Invitation and Program
Patron $1,000
Elite seating for two
Recognition on Invitation and Program
Partner $750
Preferred seating for two
Recognition on Invitation and Program
Benefactor $500
Seating for two
Recognition on Invitation and Program
Individual Seats $190
The concert opens with Beethoven’s moving Coriolan Overture written for Heinrich Joseph von Collin’s tragedy, Coriolan. An old CSG friend, Christopher Bassett, returns to perform Concerto for Bass Trombone by 19th Century German composer Ernst Sachese. And an exquisite symphony from little known French Composer, Louise Farrenc closes the program.
Farrenc was a well-respected 19th Century composer, virtuoso pianist, and teacher whose music reflected a striking blend of Romanticism and Classicism. Her pieces were forgotten for awhile but are being rediscovered in the repertoire. Farrenc’s First Symphony shows an individual voice of considerable originality along with influences of Beethoven and Schuman.
The season finale opens with a lively and elegant, and well-crafted example of a classical symphony in 18th Century composer Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint George’s Symphony No. 1 in G major. Maurice Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin follows. Written in the early 20th Century, the tombeau (or memorial) has been described as light-hearted, sometimes reflective, but never somber.
The evening closes with Tchaikovsky’s graceful, poised Serenade for Strings in C major which he called “heartfelt.” The Serenade has many familiar passages which we may have heard at the ballet, the movies, or on television, and is considered one of the late Romantic era’s definitive compositions.
Welcome to the Coastal Symphony of Georgia’s 2024-25 Season! I hope you will join us as we begin this year’s journey of imagination, discovery, beauty and exploration into multiple diverse and inclusive experiences that make our orchestra the pinnacle of the arts scene in the Golden Isles.
During this 42nd season, music lovers will be delighted to hear masterworks from Bach, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Debussy. WE will also discover some lesser-known masterpieces in Webern’s luscious Langsamer Satz, and Charles Griffes’ The White Peacock, along with new works by Jessie Montgomery, Brian Raphael Nabors, and Alma Deutscher. Our own Principal Oboe, Daniel Rios, will be featured in a work for oboe d’amore and orchestra, and world-renowned violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky take the stage with his magnificent Stradivarius violin.
In addition, we will continue our outreach into the schools and community, so be on the lookout for events outside the concert hall. On behalf of our entire Coastal Symphony of Georgia family, I want to invite you to join us in experiencing the power of music together. We can’t wait to see you there!
Music Director & Conductor
The 41st Anniversary Season of The Coastal Symphony of Georgia begins October 9, 2023 and continues until April 29, 2023. During the past 40 years we have grown from a volunteer community orchestra to the fully professional premier musical organization in the Golden Isles. We are grateful to those who have gone before, and we are so excited about providing excellence in symphonic music in the years ahead.
We could not have accomplished any of this without the support and enthusiasm of our patrons, donors, advertisers, sponsors, and volunteer “working” boards of directors. Heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you.
Our 41st Season promises to inspire, enchant and engage us as Music Director and Conductor, Michelle Merrell, will take us on another journey of musical discovery. Three concerts will be held at Brunswick High School and one at Wesley United Methodist Church at Frederica on St. Simons Island.
Don’t forget to order your tickets for a season you won’t want to miss. Keep visiting our website and watch for our newsletters. We promise to keep you informed.
If you have questions, feel free to contact the Symphony voicemail at 912-634-2006 and a representative will return your call – or email coastalsymphonyofgeorgia@gmail.com
Kern Baker,
President, Board of Directors
Michelle Merrill enters her 7th season as Music Director of The Coastal Symphony of Georgia. She describes this as living her dream and feels blessed to help spread the power of music in the Golden Isles. Merrill continues to design symphony programs of superlative quality for our audiences. She often plans pieces composed by women and composers of color and enjoys planning music from both the old masters and new works alike.
Merrill is a recipient of the 2016 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award, and the prestigious 2013 Ansbacher Conducting Fellowship, awarded by members of Vienna Philharmonic and American Austrian Foundation, which enabled her to be in residence at the world-renowned Salzburg Festival. As a passionate and dynamic artist, she is the Symphony’s ambassador with community speaking engagements and also assists in development of SoundBites events and in-school Musical Mentors program.
A strong advocate of new music, Merrill recently conducted three Joan Tower works at Round Top Music Festival Institute in celebration of the composer’s 80th birthday, featuring soloists Carol Wincenc on flute and Brett Deubner on viola. She worked with composer Gabriela Lena Frank and soprano Jessica Rivera on Frank’s work La Centinela y la Paloma (The Keeper and the Dove), as a part of numerous community programs related to the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Prior to Ms. Merrill’s leadership in the Golden Isles, she served four years as Associate Conductor of Detroit Symphony Orchestra as the Phillip and Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador. Her conducting engagements have included symphonies and opera houses spanning cities coast to coast and in Toronto, Canada.
Merrill led the world premiere performance of Gabriela Lena Frank’s Walkabout: Concerto for Orchestra in 2017 with Detroit Symphony Orchestra. She made her debut at St. Augustine Music Festival conducting the world-premiere performance of Piotr Szewcyzk’s St. Augustine Suite written in honor of that city’s 450th anniversary. The highly praised 2015 performance was featured on NPR’s “Performance Today”.
Ms. Merrill stepped in on short notice with Meadows Symphony Orchestra for their performance of Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony, which music critic Scott Cantrell of The Dallas Morning News described as “stunning” and later named to his list of Top Ten Classical Performances of 2014.
Born in Dallas, Texas, Michelle Merrill studied conducting with Dr. Paul C. Phillips at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts, where she holds a Master of Music degree in conducting and a Bachelor of Music in performance. She loves cooking, running, hiking, and spending time with her husband, Steve Merrill, principal percussionist with both Coastal Symphony of Georgia and Jacksonville Symphony, and their two sons.
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We began in 1982 as the vision of two public school music teachers who helped establish the Brunswick Community Orchestra. In 1994, we were renamed The Coastal Symphony of Georgia, Inc. (CSG) and professional conductors were hired to direct the community-based orchestra. In time, professional musicians were added to the mix and, in 2013, Maestro Luis Haza took the orchestra entirely professional with a vision to provide the best in musical excellence for the community. That vision and commitment continues today under the baton of Michelle Merrill who joined us as Music Director and Conductor after Haza’s retirement.
Entering her seventh season, Merrill continues to design symphony programs of superlative quality for our audiences. She often plans pieces composed by women and composers of color and enjoys planning music from both the old masters and new works alike.
Musical Mentors allows children to connect with orchestra musicians and visiting professional musicians. We come to classrooms. The students interact with the musicians as they play and explain their instruments, and often the students are invited to play music on specially designed children’s instruments.
If you would like to support our musical mentors program, click here.
Elizabeth Kelly, composer; James Jenkins, tuba; and Barbara Careaga-Mitchell, violin, present a 5-day workshop each fall in-classroom: “Reaching for the Stars: Reinventing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ in Collaboration with Professional Musicians” as students “journey” with the Apollo 11 team.
• See how students at Glyndale Elementary School learned about theme and variation with The Coastal Symphony of Georgia visiting mentors.
We strive to bring high quality musical experiences to public spaces beyond our stages. It’s about re-introducing classical music to people who may not have an opportunity to hear our musicians play or are not aware of public performances. We do this by partnering with community organizations on events in which a small CSG ensemble performs. These events are typically free to the public and are accessible.
Recently, Coastal Symphony musicians joined in the celebration of the 250th Birthday of Historic Downtown Brunswick with a performance of Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky. Offering a CSG birthday gift to the city were Ann Hertler and Ingan Han, violin; Angelo Goderre, viola; and Betsy Federman, cello.
The quartet performed the Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 6 in F minor (1846); it was the last, major piece of music the composer wrote before he died, and was composed in homage to his sister, Fanny, who had died earlier that year.
Conversely, the Tchaikovsky String Quartet No. 1 (1871) was written near the beginning of the composer’s career. It is said that one of the movements brought the author, Leo Tolstoy, to tears when it was performed at a tribute concert in his name.
The Jacoby Brass Quintet was honored to provide the music for a Memorial Day observance in the new Veterans Park in downtown Brunswick, presented by the Veterans Council of the Golden Isles. Symphony musicians who formed the Quintet were Aaron Brask, horn principal; Chris Graham, trombone principal; Tristan Clarke, trumpet principal; Michael Harper, trumpet; and James Jenkins, tuba. The Quintet performed the Armed Forces Medley, a musical salute to every branch of the military. To close the ceremony, Clarke and Harper performed the very moving Echo Taps, with one trumpet echoing the other.
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