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For the past six years, the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra has been between homes.
The Covid-19 pandemic drove audiences indoors, prompting musicians to hold virtual concerts from their homes before slowly venturing out into smaller, outdoor shows. Then in late 2023, the historic Zeiterion closed for a major restoration and the orchestra moved to the New Bedford High School auditorium.
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◉ Follow us @newbedfordlight on social media with the hashtag #zeiterionreopens for live coverage of the Jan. 17 grand re-opening.
More than two years later, the 111-year-old orchestra will return home to The Zeiterion with two opening performances on Jan. 17. Although the homecoming concerts mark the orchestra’s refixed place in the community, they do not mean the end of the organization’s efforts to meet New Bedford residents where they are.
“A lot of people have this image of classical music as maybe being elitist or snobby,” NBSO president and CEO David Prentiss said in an interview with The Light. “And I don’t blame people for having that because some orchestras are like that, but everybody should know that our orchestra is not like that.”
The NBSO is one of the oldest nonprofits in the United States, having started in 1915 with the belief that classical music can enrich people’s lives. A lifelong music “appreciator,” Prentiss joined the NBSO board in 1996 before taking over as CEO and president in 2008. Since then, he has worked to build pathways for the community to access classical music, often tapping into larger cultural currents.
For example, The Zeiterion’s opening concert will feature performances by spoken word artist Hendrick Hernandez-Resto and operatic vocalist and New Bedford native Philip Lima. The orchestra’s track list will include Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide” Overture as well as Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club.”
But even before audience members set foot in the newly restored historic theater, Prentiss has been working to draw New Bedford residents towards the arts. The orchestra hosts six education programs in New Bedford’s public schools and in surrounding towns aimed at exposing elementary school students to classical music. This year, the orchestra’s “Learning in Concert” program will partner with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute to help sixth graders learn both music education and oceanography at the same time.
Through the program, students will use musical concepts to learn about the ocean’s currents, gyres, and waves, culminating in a performance by the symphony orchestra in March. The entire sixth grade class — and their parents — will be invited to the concert.
“With every education program we do, we need to extend it and add a component that involves the family,” Prentiss said. “Because now we’re not just building a relationship with the children, but we’re building a relationship with the family.”
Although performing out of the high school auditorium in some ways helped with that goal, Prentiss said he was especially excited for audiences to experience the new theater and all of the amenities the updated space can provide. On top of a restored theater space, the new Zeiterion building will include community multipurpose rooms that will also house more of the orchestra’s educational programming. A certain portion of lower-priced concert tickets will also be set aside each show, Prentiss said, to accommodate all income levels.
These changes will hopefully help New Bedford residents feel more connected to their local orchestra, Prentiss said — particularly now that attractions like the Boston Symphony Orchestra are only a train ride away.
“I’ve had people tell us they used to go to Boston, then they tried us, and now they go to us,” Prentiss said. “I just feel like it’s a really special experience to hear a high quality, professional orchestra play in your own city, in your own community.”
In many ways, Prentiss sees the obstacles the orchestra faced during the pandemic and renovation as lessons on how to think outside of the box and better engage residents who may not normally go to the symphony. The year after the pandemic saw the best attendance in the organization’s history, Prentiss said.
He believes much of that success came from listening to the New Bedford community, rather than sitting and waiting to be heard.
“Even though in one way the pandemic was a challenge because we had to adapt, I feel as though we seized the moment to become as meaningful and relevant to the community as we could be,” Prentiss said. “The question we kept asking was, ‘What does the community need from us right now?’”
Email Brooke Kushwaha at bkushwaha@newbedfordlight.org.
More stories by Brooke Kushwaha
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