Symphony in Tune with Its Roots in Haddonfield

Symphony in C marks its 60 birthday this year, strutting into its senior years with youthful swagger and timeless sound.

But the much-praised regional training orchestra for young professional musicians, performing at the Gordon Theater at Rutgers-Camden, had its modest start in Haddonfield.

In 1952, the Haddonfield Symphony brought classical music front and center to the local scene with a group of interested amateurs.

We asked two long-time champions of the symphony, Haddonfield lawyers Robert  R. Kugler and Charles W. Heuisler, to describe the orchestra’s trajectory. Kugler is the chairman of the symphony’s board of directors. Heuisler is the symphony’s long-time attorney. (Full disclosure: your Patch reporter is married to a symphony board member.)

Symphony in C is one of only a handful of training orchestras in the nation. Many of the young musicians are students at such prestigious music schools as Curtis, Juilliard, Temple, Rutgers and Rowan. For the young musicians, Symphony in C is an important stepping stone to a full-time career as a classical musician in an acclaimed orchestra.

The symphony’s music director is Rossen Milanov, who holds a number of conducting posts, including artistic director of the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts. Alan Gilbert, a Haddonfield Symphony music director from the ’90s, is now the music director of the world-famous New York Philharmonic.

Here’s some of an edited emailed chat with Kugler and Heuisler:

Patch: Who were the early musicians?

Heuisler: Most of the early musicians were local residents with an interest in and ability to play classical music. They had regular day jobs, professionals, etc. I assume all had some basic training in music but chose not to make a career in that field.

Patch: Where were the early concerts?

Heuisler: In the early days, all concerts were at Haddonfield Memorial High School and rehearsals were in the band room. In the mid- to late-‘90s, some concerts were performed at other venues, such as the Voorhees Middle School, the Rand Theater at South Jersey Performing Arts Center in Camden and Rowan University.

Patch: How did the symphony benefit the borough, and how did the borough benefit the symphony?

Kugler: Citizens of the borough supported the symphony consistently from the beginning because of the ability of long-standing music director Arthur Cohn to extract the best play possible from the musicians, the adventurous repertoire he selected and the guest artists he attracted. The school district provided the venue, but, truth be told, there was no other support from the borough except through its then mayor and chief cheerleader, Jack Tarditi, who constantly promoted the symphony to anyone who would listen.

Patch: What prompted the shift in focus from an orchestra of amateur musicians to one of young professionals in training, a change that took place from 1987-2000?

Kugler: Although there may have been an inclination of the board and the executive director, Dorothy Rivers, to move away from the community orchestra which Haddonfield Symphony then was, the real motivation to make a change toward a professional training orchestra came from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. The council insisted upon an improvement in the quality of play as a condition of its continued funding. To its credit, the council drove the change.

Patch: What did the symphony lose and gain in going from a group of enthusiastic amateurs to a group of talented professionals?

Kugler: Local talent was denied a vehicle for showcasing their talent, and many of these performers (but not all) were very good performers. So, a tie to community residents was lost in favor of presenting what shortly became a superior performance entity.