Welcome to the 
Ithaca Community Orchestra

Josef Strauss (1827-1870) was an Austrian composer who received training as an engineer and worked for the city of Vienna. The "Feuerfest!" (German for 'fireproof') polka was a commission by the Wertheim company, which produced safes that were marketed as fireproof.

Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900), an English composer, wrote 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W.S. Gilbert. "The Pirates of Penzance" is a comic opera in two acts, featuring the character Frederic who is apprenticed to a band of pirates.

Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978) was a Soviet Armenian composer and conductor. "Masquerade" was written as incidental music for a production of a play with the same name. Khachaturian adapted it as a five-movement suite for orchestra in 1944.

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) is considered Finland's greatest composer. He wrote the Karelia Suite (named after the region of Karelia) in 1893 for the Viipuri Students' Association to aid in the education of the people of Viipuri Province.

Aaron Copland (1900-1990) was an American composer whose changing harmonies were typical of what many consider the sound of American music. "Down a Country Lane" was originally a piano piece commissioned by Life Magazine in 1962.