ABOUT US

OUR MISSION

Peoples’ Symphony Concerts mission is to serve the citizens of the New York area who are on a limited budget by presenting classical music performances of the highest caliber at affordable ticket prices.

HOW

We offer three in-person and online series of six concerts for as little as $56 (less than $10 per concert)!

HISTORY

The Peoples’ Symphony Concerts series was founded in 1900 by the conductor Franz Arens, with the purpose of bringing the best music to students and workers for minimum prices.  That winter, more than 7,000 people jammed into the old hall at Cooper Union to hear Mr. Arens, the son of an immigrant farmer, conduct his series of five Peoples' Symphony Concerts.  Subscriptions for the five concerts ranged from $.25 to $1.25 and single tickets went for as little as $0.10 each.  A conducting student in Europe who had been too poor to attend many concerts in his youth, Arens returned to New York determined to find a way to bring music to students, teachers, workers, and others unable to pay modern ticket prices.  Since those early years, hundreds of thousands of Peoples' Symphony Concerts audience members have heard the world's foremost concert artists and ensembles at the lowest admission prices of any major series in the country.

Artist History

View our Artist History, a partial listing of artists by season.

View our 100th Season Anniversary Celebration Gala Program at Carnegie Hall from May 5th, 2000. Artists from the Gala at Carnegie Hall included: the Tokyo String Quartet; the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio; Juilliard String Quartet; Richard Stoltzman, clarinet & Peter Stoltzman, piano; Ethos Percussion Group; Musicians from Marlboro; and the Guarneri String Quartet.

View the 19-20 Season Brochure
View the 18-19 Season Brochure
View the 17-18 Season Brochure

PRESS

Click here to read our great feature in The New York Times (October 2019).
Click here to read The New York Times article on the occasion of our 100th anniversary.
Click here to read an article about Frank Salomon, Peoples' Symphony Concerts manager.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Susan Porter, Chairperson
Richard R. Howe, President
Frederick Wertheim, Secretary & Treasurer
Richard A. Raffetto
Jose Andrade
April Gow
Lyndsay C. Howard
Stephen V. Murphy

STAFF

Frank Salomon, Manager
Emma L. Boshi, Associate Manager
David Himmelheber, Program Advisor
 

Steinway & sons is the official piano
for Peoples' Symphony Concerts

Original website design by Jon Moss