The Baylor Symphony Orchestra is an ensemble of artistic excellence, where musicians will find an environment of camaraderie, motivation, and inspiration through a variety of repertoire from all periods, and where they can grow professionally and artistically.
The late Daniel Sternberg, former Dean of the School of Music, initiated the Baylor Symphony in 1944 with Governor Pat Neff, President of Baylor University, in preparation for the commemoration of the Centenary Anniversary of the University planned for the following year. In 1984, Stephen Heyde became the Mary Franks Thompson Professor of Orchestral Activities and Conductor-in-Residence for the Baylor Symphony Orchestra until his retirement in 2022.
The Baylor Symphony has performed eight times at the Texas Music Educators Clinic/Convention, appeared by invitation at the prestigious Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina and at national conventions of the American String Teachers Association and the College Orchestra Directors Association. In December of 2003, the Baylor Symphony was featured with other School of Music ensembles in a PBS Special, “Christmas at Baylor,” that was aired nationally in over 350 markets with an estimated audience in excess of six million.
The Baylor Symphony was privileged to accompany the last public performance of violinist Joseph Gingold and has also worked with many other distinguished conductors, performers and composers including Robert Shaw, William Kraft, Jacob Druckman, Lorin Hollander, Marvin Lamb, Steven Stucky, Corey Cerovsek, Giancarlo Guerrero, Roberto Diaz, Peter Schickele (PDQ Bach), Colin Jacobson, and Theo Olof (former concertmaster of the Concertgebouw Orchestra), among others. The Baylor Symphony has taken international tours of Costa Rica and Belgium and has won the American Prize for Orchestra Performance for an unprecedented 4-years in a row.
Starting the Fall of 2022, Miguel Harth-Bedoya became the Mary Franks Thompson Director of Orchestral Studies and Music Director of the Baylor Symphony Orchestra, and performed recently at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth. With violinist Richard Lin as soloist.
