History
The Hendricks Symphonic Society was founded in the spring of 2007 as a result of collaboration between a group of music lovers from Hendricks County and conductor Benjamin Del Vecchio, with the shared vision of making quality music available in the area for a reasonable cost (HSS Mission Statement PDF). The initial call for auditions brought out 250 music lovers, from whom Maestro Del Vecchio selected a 75 member orchestra and an 85 member chorus.
Our first season consisted of seven concerts. A single free introductory concert in October 2007 was followed by three sets of pairs: The Messiah, "Spring into Opera," and Carmina Burana with the choir and orchestra performing together.
We began our second year with a rousing July Fourth concert to accompany the fireworks in Hummel Park in Plainfield. We added a Youth Concerto Competition to encourage local talent, and gave two concerts for the Avon School System as part of our community outreach program. We expanded our subscription series to six pairs of concerts, including two concerts by the choir ("Hymns and Anthems" and "Passion and Resurrection"), two concerts by the orchestra ("Humor and Horror" and "Concerto Competition Winner"), and two combined concerts ("Family Christmas Concert" and Brahms Requiem. The Hendricks Symphonic Society invited the high school choirs from Plainfield and Avon to be our guest choirs at the chorus concerts and the student strings from Avon and Brownsburg to play with the Hendricks Symphonic Orchestra in the fall. We added a chamber music concert to the season, and started three chamber groups that are available for community outreach: a string quartet, a woodwind quintet, and a junior string quartet.
An initial grant by the Hendricks County Community Foundation got our first season off the ground, and the town of Avon later added its financial support. The Society filed incorporation papers with the state of Indiana and in 2008 received 501(c)(3) status from the IRS. Our budget grew from under $25,000 in 2007-08 to over $60,000 at present. In addition to ticket sales and program advertising, corporate and individual sponsors make our existence possible and help us fulfill our mission of bringing quality music to the area.