ICSOM Member Orchestras by Year of Entry

Sixty-four orchestras have been members of ICSOM at some time. There are currently 51 member orchestras.

The following orchestras, active in the formation of ICSOM and represented at meetings which preceded the formal adoption of bylaws establishing membership in 1963, were accorded charter member status in the bylaws. They are arranged in order of first meeting attended; within that classification they are listed alphabetically.

The following orchestras became members in the years indicated. Before current policy was instituted, an orchestra could be granted membership in mid-season and was not required to send a representative to the annual conference at the time it joined. Hence some orchestras listed were not represented even long after becoming members, while some orchestras sent observers to conferences before becoming members.

(1) The Seattle Symphony became ineligible to remain a member of ICSOM during the 1988-1989 season, when it decertified its local and a majority of Seattle Symphony members ceased to be members of the AFM. back

(2) The Honolulu Symphony became the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra in 1994. The name was restored to Honolulu in 1996. back

(3) The San Antonio Symphony sent an observer to the September 1963 meeting at which bylaws were drafted and, having been present at a formative meeting, is listed in earlier bylaws as a charter member. However, San Antonio did not formally join ICSOM until 1968. back

(4) At the 1995 ICSOM conference, the Kansas City Symphony was ensured membership once it negotiated a union recognition clause into its contract. This happened in May 1998, and membership was immediate at that time. back

The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia was provisionally granted membership in 1968, and the orchestra's name appears in the Senza Sordino listing of orchestras that season. However, the orchestra doesn't appear again in the minutes, presumably because the orchestra membership did not subsequently confirm intent to join.

The Chautauqua Symphony was accepted as a member at the beginning of the 1979 conference, but the action was reconsidered a few days later. Although perhaps technically a member for that brief period, the Chautauqua Symphony has never been listed as a member and is not considered one in this compilation.

Several orchestras retained membership in ICSOM during difficult periods of transition as members attempted to keep their orchestras extant: The Oklahoma Symphony, which folded following a long strike in 1988; The Oakland East Bay Symphony, an incarnation of the Oakland Symphony following that orchestra’s bankruptcy in 1986; the Denver Symphony, whose musicians formed the cooperative Colorado Symphony in the face of bankruptcy proceedings in 1989; and the Louisiana Symphony, which succeeded the New Orleans Symphony and was briefly an affiliate member of ICSOM.

Alabama (Birmingham), Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Charlotte, Chicago, Chicago Lyric Opera, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Colorado (Denver), Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Florida Orchestra, Florida Philharmonic, Florida Symphony, Fort Worth, Grant Park, Hartford, Honolulu (Hawaii), Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City Philharmonic, Kansas City Symphony, Kennedy Center, Los Angeles, Louisville, Metropolitan Opera, Milwaukee, Minnesota (Minneapolis), Montreal, Nashville, National, New Haven, New Jersey, New Orleans, New York City Ballet, New York City Opera, New York Philharmonic, North Carolina, Oakland, Oklahoma, Oregon, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Puerto Rico, Rochester, Saint Louis, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco Ballet, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, Seattle, Syracuse, Toledo, Toronto, Utah, Vancouver, Virginia, Winnipeg.