The Kings Symphony Orchestra celebrates it’s 58th year of bringing music to the valley! Our 2021-2022 season features three exciting concerts in addition to the return of hosting our annual Young Artist Competition. Our Music Director, Jeff Fritz, as well as our symphony musicians are eager to return to the stage for the opportunity to perform, entertain, inspire, and enrich our local music scene. Through the support of our neighbors, friends, and sponsors, we are delighted to present the upcoming season and we hope to see you at our concerts!
Kings Symphony Orchestra Board
President • Bill Blanken
Vice President • Michael Porter
Secretary • Margaret Blanken
Treasurer • Jackie Giacomazzo
Historian • Anne C. Harrah
Music Librarian • Devri Lindstrand
Board Member • Nicole Quinn
Board Member • Cathy Porter
Board Member • Hugh Munro Neely
Board Member • Patricia Bettencourt Scialo
Consultant • Ann Helgerman
Consultant • Joan Little
President Emeritus • Phyllis Gaines
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Music Director
• Jeff Fritz •
Jeff Fritz is a third generation musician who began his studies on the violin with his father at the age of 10. Jeff played in many local and state honor groups in his younger years, and in 2006, after studying with Dr. David Margetts, transferred to Azuza Pacific University as a composition and music theory major. As a…
Violinist – Jeff performs with many of the area’s great orchestras & chamber ensembles, and completed his Masters in Violin Performance at Fresno State.
Teacher – Jeff is an adjunct professor of music at the College of the Sequoias and is additionally blessed to be the Music Program Director at the University Preparatory High School in Visalia.
Director – besides getting to work with many of his favorite people in the KSO, Jeff also directs & oversees the Sequoia Youth Orchestra‘s program. This orchestra gives over 100 of the most advanced students in the county the opportunity to develop their talents and perform skills.
Composer – Jeff is frequently writing and arranging works for local ensembles, as well as film scores for students in the UCLA, USC, and Azusa Pacific film schools. Many of Jeff’s original and arranged works can be found through jwpepper.com and are performed across the United States.
Most importantly, as a father and husband. Jeff and his wife Lisa currently reside in Visalia with their sons Tyler and Henry, and daughters Violet and Megan.
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History of the KSO
The Kings Symphony Orchestra was initiated by Mr. Van Lowe, a Hanford businessman with a love for classical music. One day while he was cleaning one of his businesses, a laundromat, he overheard two ladies speaking with a British accent. He discovered that the ladies were originally from England and that the husband of one of them, Mr. Hutchinson, had been a bandmaster in England. Through contacts in the Kings County Office of Education and the City of Hanford, the orchestra was formed and then incorporated in 1963.
The orchestra has grown in size and includes musicians from Kings, Tulare, Merced and Kern counties. Over the years the orchestra has developed a high level of musicianship due to the skills of the orchestra members and the guest soloists under the guidance of talented conductors such as Dr. Colleen Snyder, Leonard Ingrande, Tom Fritz, & Jeff Fritz.
