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Swarthmore College Orchestra

Swarthmore College Orchestra

The Swarthmore College Orchestra, directed by Andrew Hauze '04, rehearses once a week for three hours in Lang Concert Hall and performs a full concert at the end of each semester.  Made up of more than sixty musicians, most SCO members are Swarthmore students, supplemented by members of the faculty, staff, community, and local professionals.


The Orchestra is dedicated to bringing great orchestral music to the Swarthmore campus. We perform a wide range of music spanning over three centuries up to the present day. (Please read our full repertoire vision statement here. You can also find a full list of our repertoire since 2006 here [pdf].)  

The Orchestra holds a student concerto competition each year: the winner of the competition performs a concerto movement with the orchestra at the spring concert.  We regularly welcome internationally renowned guest soloists and sometimes take field trips to hear the Philadelphia Orchestra.

 
 

Orchestra Concert Program Notes, April 2023

You can find full program notes for our April 22, 2023 orchestra concert here. 

Swarthmore College Orchestra, Spring 2017

Swarthmore College Orchestra at their Spring 2017 Concert. Prelude to "The Afternoon of a Faun" by Claude Debussy.

Swarthmore College Orchestra plays Rimsky-Korsakov

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Excerpts from the third movement of Scheherazade from the Spring 2015 SCO concert, conducted by Andrew Hauze '04.

Swarthmore College Orchestra, November 12, 2017

Swarthmore College Orchestra at their fall 2017 concert. Excerpt from Ethel Smyth's Overture to "The Wreckers."

David Kim soloist with orchestra

David Kim, the concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, performed the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Swarthmore College Orchestra in November, 2017. Mr. Kim is one of our 2017-2018 Featured Artists.

Sounds of Cinema: Cinderella

The closing scene of Cinderella (1922, directed by Lotte Reiniger), performed on April 1, 2017. The score was written for this performance by Swarthmore Professor Thomas Whitman and featured members of the Swarthmore College Orchestra and Orchestra 2001, conducted by Andrew Hauze.