Long Beach Symphony

Long Beach Symphony is the regional orchestra of Long Beach, California, presenting a mix of classical and pops concerts each season at the Long Beach Terrace Theater, with some performances at the nearby Long Beach Arena. A first-timer can expect a full symphonic program, ranging from classical concerts built around standard orchestral repertoire to pops programs featuring film scores, popular songs, or crossover guest artists. Eckart Preu leads most of the classical programs this season, while pops concerts and other programs bring in a rotating group of conductors, including local artistic figures from the Long Beach music scene. The orchestra draws its audience from across the greater Long Beach and Los Angeles area and offers an accessible entry point for listeners new to live orchestral music.

Long Beach Symphony traces its beginnings to 1934, when local musicians and civic supporters formed an orchestra for a city that was then rebuilding after the 1933 earthquake. For decades it functioned largely as a community ensemble, drawing on players from the surrounding area and performing in school auditoriums and civic spaces before Long Beach had a purpose built concert hall.

The opening of the Long Beach Terrace Theater in 1978, part of the convention and entertainment complex near the waterfront, gave the orchestra a permanent home with the seating capacity and acoustics of a modern concert hall. The Terrace Theater remains the site of the classical series. Separately, the orchestra developed a popular series in the adjacent Long Beach Arena, where the seating is arranged around tables rather than in rows, an unusual format for an American orchestra and now one of the group's best known features.

Among the conductors who shaped the orchestra, JoAnn Falletta served as music director beginning in the winter of the 1989 season and led it into the 1990s, a period in which the ensemble expanded its subscription offerings and its profile in Southern California. Enrique Arturo Diemecke followed her in the post. Eckart Preu, a German born conductor who has held posts with orchestras in Spokane and Stamford, was appointed music director in 2017 and has led the classical series since.

Today the orchestra plays a roughly ten concert season divided between classical and pops programs, employs professional musicians from across the Los Angeles region, and runs education programs in Long Beach schools.