Western Piedmont Symphony

Since 1964, the Western Piedmont Symphony (WPS) has provided cultural enrichment for the North Carolina area. WPS believes that you are neither too young nor too old to listen to and enjoy fine music. Every year the Western Piedmont Symphony concert season consists of: 4-5 Masterworks concerts4 Chamber Classics concerts2 Youth Symphony concertsa variety of outdoor concertsOne of the most important traditions of the Western Piedmont Symphony is the presentation of concerts to all public school students in the Greater Hickory Metro Area’s six school districts. The chamber orchestra or resident quartet will play for over 30,000 students in elementary and middle school grades. Every year, our conductor develops a curriculum that’s available to music education teachers. During the course of the year, many pre-schoolers are introduced to classical music and music education through Rug Concerts. Our seniors are treated to Silver Serenades at local assisted-living, retirement, and nursing facilities. An age-specific concert is performed by our resident quartet. WPS has been fortunate to have a resident string quartet in place. Fry Street Quartet was the first resident quartet, followed by the Degas Quartet, La Catrina Quartet and the Kontras Quartet. Every four years, WPS conducts a "Battle of the Bows" audition process to choose our next quartet-in-residence.