© 2025 Cornell University, All Rights Reserved
Show your love for the Orchestras: Give to the 2018 Tour!
Please help us raise money for the Cornell Orchestras' upcoming 2018 tour to Toronto! Our goal of $10,000 will significantly reduce the cost of the trip for our musicians, and makes it so everyone student that wants to participate will be financially able to.
We appreciate any level of generosity towards our tour, and everybody who donates will be recognized on our website and in our concert programs! In our efforts to fundraise, we hope that alumni, family, friends, and supporters of the Cornell Orchestras will understand how much this means to each and every one of us musicians. We are so excited for this opportunity through Cornell Crowdfunding to unite the university community through a common love of music and cross-cultural understanding!
About the Cornell Orchestras
The Cornell Orchestras, led by Professor Chris Younghoon Kim, are comprised of the Cornell Symphony Orchestra and the Cornell Chamber Orchestra. Both orchestras can be found on campus, made up of a mix of undergraduates, graduate students, and even faculty members. In a way, the orchestras represent a wonderful microcosm of the greater Cornell community, through diversity in colleges and majors.
The Cornell Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is comprised of approximately 100 musicians, and is dedicated to performing symphonic repertoire from the baroque through the twentieth century, as well as contemporary works of our time. The CSO presents 4-6 concerts per year including the annual Concerto Concert, at which the winner of the Cornell University Concerto Competition performs with the orchestra. Guest conductors have included Leon Fleisher, Johannes Schlaefli (Zurich Hochschule), and Larry Rachleff (Rice University) among others, and the orchestra has collaborated with many of today's most prominent composers including Steven Stucky, Roberto Sierra, etc. The CSO has been distinguished with six awards in seven years with the ASCAP prizes for Adventurous Programming in the Collegiate Division by the League of American Orchestras, with first prize in the 2011-2012 ASCAP Awards and second prize in 2013-14. The CSO's 2013-2014 performances have been recognized by the American Prize in the following three categories; Finalist in Orchestral Programming - the Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award, Finalist in The American Prize in Orchestral Performance (college/university division) for performance of Barber's Symphony No. 1, Finalist in The American Prize in Conducting (College/University Orchestra Division) for performance of Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony.
The Cornell Chamber Orchestra (CCO) has consistently maintained a high caliber of excellence in chamber orchestral performance. The CCO was named the winner of the 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014 ASCAP awards for Adventurous Programming in the Collegiate Division. The CCO is comprised of approximately 25 string musicians, often collaborating with renowned soloists such as Frank Campos and Miri Yampolsky.
Membership in the CSO and CCO is open to all Cornell students and affiliates at the start of each academic year by audition. Audition repertoire and excerpts are available online in early August of each summer. Auditions take place during orientation week, and must show a mastery of the material and an thorough awareness of the musical context from which the excerpts are taken.
The Orchestras are Toronto-bound!
The Cornell Orchestras are on the road again, and this time we're headed to Toronto! Our tours in the past have been inspiring and unforgettable, and we expect this one to be the same. We anticipate 55 current members of the Orchestras to participate as well as approximately 5 alumni to be joining us as well!
We will be traveling to Toronto to collaborate with Dennis Kim at the Toronto Royal Conservatory of Music. Dennis Kim is a professor of violin at the Conservatory, as well as Concertmaster of the Buffalo Philharmonic and a long time friend of our conductor, Chris Kim. We will be partnering with the Royal Conservatory of Music to play Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony at Koerner Hall on January 21, 2018.
While in Toronto, we are partnering with local school programs for outreach and will connect with the orchestra at the University of Toronto where one of our alumni is pursuing a PhD! Additionally, we will have group sightseeing activities around Toronto and will try to engage with the local culture.
Your contribution will continue a Cornell tradition of beautiful music, cultural understanding, and lifelong enrichment!
The Cornell Orchestras thank you for all your support, and we look forward to bringing you even more wonderful music for the years to come! Thank you!
This will go towards renting larger instruments such as cellos, percussion, tubas, and harps.
This will help cover transportation costs once we are in Toronto!
Cover the cost of transportation for 1 student! Starting here, businesses that contribute can opt to have a small advertisement in our programs and on our website.
Your donation will cover the cost of lodging for 2 students for a week!
You join an exclusive group of our generous donators, and will be thanked with a personalized letter from the tour planning committee! Your name will be featured in our program as a Benefactor of the Cornell Orchestras.
Your honorable donation would cover costs for 4 students for the entire week in Toronto! Your name will be featured in our programs as a Patron of the Cornell Orchestras.
Your generous donation will cover the cost of busing for all musicians. The orchestra appreciates your generosity and your name will be listed in our program as part of the Concertmaster's Circle!
This would reduce each musician's tour cost by $100! Your generosity will be much appreciated by every member of the orchestra for years to come. Your name will be featured in our programs as part of the Maestro's Circle.