HISTORY of the SYMPHONY
Founded in 1996, The South Coast Symphony, The Unstuffy Symphony for Orange County, is a resident orchestra for South Orange County. The 70 member Symphony’s mission is to provide South Orange County’s fifteenth diverse communities with a professional, accessible and affordable symphonic musical experience. The Symphony’s eclectic programming is designed to entertain and educate while also attracting a whole new generation of concertgoers. The Symphony performs a wide variety of orchestral literature from the Classics and Opera to Light Classics, Broadway and Pops. Ticket prices range from $8 to $30. The Symphony’s subscription series venue is at Lake Hills Church in Laguna Hills. The South Coast Symphony Alliance and Junior Alliance, our support groups, include over 50 members who are instrumental in providing numerous volunteer and support services to The Symphony.

LAKE HILLS CHURCH: The Symphony’s Venue
LAKE HILLS Church is a beautiful venue, both visually and acoustically, with over 1000 reserved plush seats and lots of leg room. There is excellent viewing from anywhere in the house with 850 seats downstairs and 160 seats in the balcony. The natural acoustics of the hall provide outstanding symphonic sound, coupled with the beauty of the venue and the lighted lake in the background. Located in Lake Forest just off the 5 and 405 Freeways Lake Hills Church is close to all communities in South County. Handicapped seating is available. There is ample free parking on site as well as convenient drop-off for cars and busses.

BARRY SILVERMAN: Conductor
Mr. Silverman received his Bachelor of Music cum laude from USC in 1967 and his Master of Music in 1979. Emphasis was in performance, conducting and music education. Conducting studies including Professors William Schaefer, James Vail and Hans Beer. After graduation he began to work professionally around Southern California and the movie studios in Hollywood. His performance credits over chamber music, opera, ballet, jazz, pop, and a large number of orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic orchestras.

For the past 13 seasons Mr. Silverman has been the Music Director and Conductor of the South Coast Symphony. For twelve seasons he served as Music Director and Conductor of the Saddleback College Symphony Orchestra. In the 1980's he was at Chapman University as Director of Band, Jazz and the Opera Orchestra. Additional conducting assignments have included contemporary concerts at the Tel-Aviv Museum, Musica Viva with the Israel Philharmonic and numerous guest conducting appearances. Mr. Silverman was co-founder and Music Director of Foothill Youth Summer Theater in La Canada & Broadway Superstar Camp at Saddleback College.

Special performance emphasis has been on the presentation of contemporary music. He has appeared for several years at the famed Monday Evening Concerts In Los Angeles and at the Contemporary Music Series at the American Embassy In Israel as percussion soloist. Mr. Silverman has premiered and recorded a number of percussion compositions, and has directed percussion ensembles including the Pacific Percussion Ensemble and CAPE, The Contemporary Artists Percussion Ensemble, for which he was founder and music director. Since 1967 Mr. Silverman has participated as conductor, performer and creator in hundreds of Concerts for Youth for such organizations as Young Audiences of Los Angeles, Performing Tree, and the Orange County Philharmonic Society. Mr. Silverman has lectured at a number of universities here and abroad. From 1991 to 2008, Mr. Silverman served as a music specialist for the Capistrano Unified School District. This is his first year as a member of the conservatory faculty at OCHSA.

Mr. Silverman can be heard on London, EMI, Delos, CBS, WIM, Crystal, and Columbia Records, Tapes & CD's.