Connecticut's Stamford Symphony Changes Name to Orchestra Lumos

The Stamford Symphony, an orchestra located in Connecticut's Fairfield County, has recently reinvented itself as Orchestra Lumos. The name change came about as a result of the orchestra's growing reach within the community, which now stretches well beyond Stamford itself and out into the rest of the county.

The orchestra, which was founded in 1974, had realized that over half of its audience came from outside Stamford, and more than 75% of its funding also derived from elsewhere. The decision was therefore made to give the orchestra a name that has no ties to a specific location.

The group chose the name "Lumos" because of its Latin connection to the concept of light, an image they hope will represent the orchestra's desire to spread their light across Fairfield County.

As part of this mission, the orchestra will perform in a number of new locations this season: their "Small Space" series will take performances to local churches, libraries, and museums, while the group will also offer twenty free performances at local community events. They will also bring music to multiple schools in the region.

Alongside the community focus, the orchestra continues to host outstanding soloists for local audiences to enjoy.

"We've got more musicians giving our subscription concerts onstage than ever before and [Music Director] Michael [Stern] has invited world-class artists like Alisa Weilerstein, and of course, the amazing Joshua Bell who’s probably the world's greatest violinist right now," said CEO Russell Jones. "They're coming to Stamford and you’d normally have to go to New York to hear these people and they're now coming to Fairfield County."

"Increasingly, people were saying to us, we don't mind coming to Stamford to the Palace Theatre for the big orchestral stuff, but you never come to our schools, you never come to our library or ever come to our place of worship, or come to our shopping mall during the holidays," Jones added. "So we thought, yeah, that's true. And we need to really also reach out to everybody in the community."