The Scarsdale Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble that actually did function briefly in the mid-1980s, is back!. The not-for-profit organization is in the process of forming a Scarsdale Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors (If you are interested in becoming a board member, a financial supporter or a volunteer please contact Dr. earl Groner at [email protected] or 914.723.2694).

In a  2010  Scarsdale Inquirer featured article entitled, Symphony Revival, the  follow quote is attributed to Arts Editor, Debra Banerjee: “Dr. Earl Groner relishes the memory of conducting the Scarsdale Symphony in Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” complete with cannons, chimes and bells. That was back in 1985, during the symphony’s one and only concert season held in the auditorium of Scarsdale High School. After two concerts, the funding dried up, but the music educator and conductor of the symphony, ever the optimist, has never given up the idea of reviving a Scarsdale Symphony.” Those two sold out “Family Concerts” is a format that Earl Groner is planning to bring back to Scarsdale.  As a forty-five year career as an active music educator, a past president of the Westchester County School Music Association, a past president of the New York State School Music School Music Association (NYSSMA) and a past president of the Eastern Division of the National Association for Music Association, Earl Groner is  convinced  the “Family Concert” concept is an ideal means whereby students, together with their families,  can be exposed to symphonic music performed at the highest artistic level.

During his thirty five years teaching string instruments and orchestra in the Scarsdale Schools, Dr. Groner recalls his years as conductor of the Scarsdale High School Orchestra during which time, the orchestra along with the band, participated in several exchange concerts with schools both in the United States and Canada.  For several years, the High School Orchestra along with high school  orchestras   from Briarcliff, Hendrick Hudson, Horace Greeley and Rye, performed in the annual “Combined Orchestra Festival”.  In March of 1982, the Scarsdale High School Orchestra along with the High School Concert Choir and Wind Ensemble, were the very first music ensembles to perform in the newly renovated High School Auditorium. Dr. Groner fondly remembers the thousands of students he taught during his career in Scarsdale.