Michigan Philharmonic
| Michigan Philharmonic | |
|---|---|
| Orchestra | |
| Founded | 1947 |
| Location | Plymouth, Michigan |
| Music director | Nan Harrison Washburn |
| Website |
www |
The Michigan Philharmonic (or “Michigan Phil”) is a professional symphony orchestra in Southeast Michigan. The Michigan Phil brings its events into Michigan communities, including Plymouth, Canton, Birmingham-Bloomfield, the Grosse Pointes, Downtown Detroit, and many others. Nan Harrison Washburn has been its music director and conductor since 1999.
History
The Michigan Philharmonic was established in 1945 as a community orchestra made up of local/community players under the direction of the University of Michigan Symphony conductor Wayne Dunlap. In 1998, the board of directors made the decision to move the orchestra forward by increasing the number of professional players, performing larger and more difficult works, extending the geographic reach of the orchestra, and hiring a full-time music director and conductor. After an extensive national search, the current conductor, Nan Washburn, now in her 16th season, was hired from California. Now, with 19 ASCAP awards for adventuresome programming, Nan Washburn also introduced her new and unique programming ideas as well as her dedication to music education. The orchestra naturally began to attract new and better players, because of the opportunity to play more challenging repertoire, as well as an interest in performing contemporary classical works by living composers. To serve the orchestra’s educational goals, a program was created in 1998 to bring classical music to 3rd and 4th graders. Under the guidance of Nan Washburn, the program was revised and improved in 2001 and given the name CLASSical Music Outreach; in 2003, Ms. Washburn also founded the Michigan Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.
The orchestra has been under the direction of seven conductors throughout its history: Paul Wagner (1945-1950), Wayne Dunlap (1951-1979), Johan van der Merwe (1980-1985), Charles Greenwell (1985-1986), Leon Gregorian (1986-1987), Russell Reed (1987-1999) and Nan Harrison Washburn (1999–present).