History
Celebrating 100 Years and Beyond
The year was 1924. Calvin Coolidge was president of the United States, feature length films were silent, the population of Santa Clara County was only around 100,000, and the group that would become San José Symphonic Choir was born.
Although SJSC has been known by three different names and has made music with five conductors, one constant has been our membership: We are all volunteer singers.
Under the baton of our first music director, LeRoy Brant, SJSC concerts featured oratorios, requiems, and other large works for choir and orchestra. In SJSC’s first known public performance, Brant conducted an assembled group of 200 chorus and orchestra members for a November 1924 program at the State Teachers College (now San José State University). Brant also began the custom of annual performances of Handel’s Messiah, a tradition that continues to this day.
Our current and beloved music director Leroy Kromm took over the helm in 1985, and the choir has flourished under the direction of this highly regarded conductor, soloist, teacher, and accompanist. Under his leadership, the choir regularly attracts more than 100 singers who continue to perform significant works for chorus and orchestra.
The Choir is committed to keeping alive the world’s most cherished choral masterpieces. Throughout our history we have performed such treasures as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, the Verdi Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Brahms’ German Requiem, the Passions by Bach, Haydn’s Creation, and Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. And we also frequently feature works by local composers such as Craig Bohmler, Sondra Clark, and Henry Mollicone, many of whose compositions we have premiered. (View some of our recent performances at this link to free playlists on our website.)
While impossible to mention all our memorable concerts, some SJSC highlights include the 1963 celebration of our 100th concert with a world premiere of a work by Flor Peeters dedicated to Maestro Brant; our 1991 concert with the Washu Citizen Chorus from Okayama, Japan (San José’s sister city); and singing with the incomparable Barbra Streisand in November 2012 at the SAP Center for an audience of 14,000. No less memorable was the feat of continuing rehearsals (via Zoom) and online performances throughout the pandemic!
SJSC has always been a community choir with a big heart and our history is dotted with charitable performances, such as for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, for the Kevin Collins Foundation for Missing Children, and for victims of natural disasters. We are regularly invited to provide choral music at memorial and funeral services, which are often the most personal and poignant performances we give.
For many decades, every two to four years a subset of the choir undertakes a summer tour, and SJSC members have sung in dozens of remarkable venues around the world. Our 2024 tour brought us to Austria and Slovenia (check out these video highlights ), one of several European tours we have taken over the years. We have also performed in New York, Washington DC, Alaska, Israel, and in the California missions.
In 2024–25, the choir marked its 100th season with jubilant concerts, a banquet, and a commemorative anniversary logo reflecting the spirit of the occasion. Though the world has changed in ways unimaginable to our founding members, we believe they would feel right at home performing with today’s San José Symphonic Choir—ordinary people making extraordinary music.
100th Anniversary News Items
