The Brooklyn Conservatory Community Orchestra (BCCO) is a passionate and diverse group of dedicated amateur and professional musicians who perform the great masterpieces of the orchestral repertoire, from Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky to contemporary works by living composers. Now in its 22nd year, BCCO’s members feel more keenly than ever the profound joys of playing and sharing some of the world’s most beautiful music. The 65-member ensemble is composed of players from all walks of life, from middle-school art teachers to law professors and local baristas. Open by audition to adult orchestral musicians who play at an advanced level, the BCCO presents four to six concerts for the community throughout the year, including a popular family concert at the Brooklyn Museum.
Rehearsals, Registration and Auditions
All rehearsals are on Tuesdays at St John’s Church, from 7:30pm to 9:30pm, unless otherwise noted. Rehearsals begin on Tuesday, September 10th. St John’s is at 139 St John’s Place in Park Slope. For questions about the rehearsal schedule or auditions, contact Dorothy Savitch, Music Director, at dorothy.savitch@gmail.com
BCCO Registration Information (2024-2025):
- Full year starting in September: $405; Half year starting in January/February 2024; April start: $165
- Sliding scale available of $250, $195, $140 or $85. Please pay the amount that fits your budget.
- There is an additional $45 charge to process all registrations.
Auditions
Interested musicians are invited to audition during August and early September and throughout the year by appointment.
Auditioners will be asked to prepare two excerpts: one slow with legato bowing or tonguing, and one fast, more off-the-string or staccato. Can be a Bach partita movement, an etude, a sonata or concerto excerpt. About two minutes of each, preferably from two different time periods. There will be no accompanist.
For further information contact the Music Director, Dorothy Savitch, at dorothy.savitch@gmail.com.
Upcoming Concerts
Saturday December 7, 2024 – Brooklyn Museum, 3pm
On December 7, the Brooklyn Conservatory Community Orchestra returns to the Brooklyn Museum for a winter concert anchored by Tchaikovsky’s towering Symphony No. 5 in E Minor.
The afternoon’s program will also include a performance of Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll” and Vivaldi’s Oboe Concerto in A Minor RV461, featuring the oboist Alison Mari.
Tickets include admission to the Brooklyn Museum.
Saturday March 15, 2025 at 7:30pm (St Saviour High School)
- Ruth Gipps: Chanticleer Overture
- Hindson: House Music, with Alice Jones, flute
- Mendelssohn: Symphony no. 3
Saturday June 7, 2025 at 7:30pm – St Ann and the Holy Trinity
- Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson: Worship: A Concert Overture
- Winners of the Conservatory’s Young Musicians Competition
- Sibelius: Symphony no. 5
Coming Back Soon!
Petra and Wolfie! The BCCO’s wild and wacky family musical is an unforgettable retelling of Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. Discover what happens when Petra, Wolfie, and the Dog Catcher find themselves at the Brooklyn Museum in this musical escapade featuring live comic actors, video, orchestral works by Prokofiev and Modest Mussorgsky, and some of your favorite pop tunes! Stay tuned for announcements about future performances.
More About the Brooklyn Conservatory Community Orchestra
Concert Videos
Click here to see a great promo video of the Brooklyn Conservatory Community Orchestra produced by BRIC Arts Media. This is a few years old now, but still captures the spirit of the orchestra!
- Mozart Piano Concerto no. 21, Alexander Liu, piano
- Rachmaninoff Symphony no. 2 excerpt – virtual performance
- William Grant Still: Symphony #1 “Afro American Symphony
- Fall 2017 Haunted! At the Brooklyn Museum
- “Donde lieta,” from La Boheme. Mariana Aslan, soprano
- Mahler Songs of a Wayfarer, movement i, Daniella Carvalho, soprano
Selected programs from past seasons:
- June 2023
Boulanger: “D’un Matin de Printemps”
Mozart: Piano concerto no. 21, Alexander Liu, piano
Brahms: Symphony no. 1 - June 2022
Gipps: “Seascape” for Double Wind Quintet
Mendelssohn: Hebrides Overture
Brahms: Double concerto for violin and cello, Luis Casal, violin and Isaac Casal, cello - December 2021
Butterworth: The Banks of Green Willow
Chevalier de St. Georges: Sinfonie Concertante, with members of the BKCM Suzuki Advanced String Ensemble
Still: Afro-American Symphony
- March 2017
Vaughan Williams: Norfolk Rhapsody
Mozart: arias from the Magic Flute, Victor Starsky, tenor
Lew: Third Rhapsody: “Song of Wandering Aengus”, Victor Starsky, tenor
Beethoven: Symphony no. 6 - March 2007
Ellington: Three Black Kings
Copland: A Lincoln Portrait (Jeffrey Wright, narrator)
Dvorak: Symphony #9 from the New World
- April 2005
Cowell: Old American Country Set
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (Richard Thompson, piano)
Thompson: Voices
Dvorak: Slavonic Dances 2 & 5