Symphony of the Hills celebrates 25 years

The Symphony of the Hills has been entertaining audiences in the Hill Country for nearly 25 years.

It offers a full season of concerts each year at the Kathleen C. Cailloux Theater for the Performing Arts in downtown Kerrville with a repertoire that extends from well known classical music by notable greats like Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert to the more contemporary sounds of Elton John, Andrew Lloyd Weber and film composer John Williams.

“The Texas Hill Country has many facets to its artistic and cultural tastes. We feel that Kerrville and the Hill Country are a ‘Grand Central Station’ for all music, and our programming is leaning into that mix each season with classical, modern, and popular works and artists on display,” said Eugene Dowdy, conductor and artistic director of the Symphony of the Hills.

The professional 75-piece orchestra is made up of musicians from across the Hill Country, including Kerrville locals, and others from San Antonio, Helotes, Comfort, Fredericksburg, Junction, Boerne and Austin.

“It’s not a Kerrville Symphony, it’s a Hill Country Symphony,” said Symphony of the Hills Board Member, Betty Clyburn.

Developed as a nonprofit organization from an orchestra that was formed at Schreiner University, then known as Schreiner College, in 1999 by faculty member Dr. Charlotte Morrow, the Symphony celebrated its inaugural season in 2001 with 44 musicians, eight of them students at the college. They performed two free concerts at the Dietert Auditorium on the Schreiner University campus.

“A group of local music lovers joined together to establish a nonprofit board, and the Symphony of the Hills was born under articles and bylaws created by Ed Wallace,” said Tim Summerlin, former president of Schreiner University and current president of the Symphony of the Hills board.

The board of directors made the decision to develop a four-concert season for the 2002-3 year, charge admission and pay the musicians with income from generous community donors and sponsors.

Jay Dunnahoo was hired to be the conductor and artistic director of the orchestra. Long Zhou, a principal violinist from the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, filled the position of concertmaster.

During the 2002-3 season the Symphony grew to 55 musicians, and performances were moved to the newly remodeled 820-seat Cailloux Theater in downtown Kerrville. The final performance of this season set a tradition of opening each concert with the “Star-Spangled Banner.”

By 2008 the Symphony would go on to develop “Rising Star” concerts featuring solo performances by exceptional student musicians from the Hill Country area, and a “Pops” concert in response to frequent suggestions from patrons to incorporate more contemporary genres.

“Performing more contemporary music draws in people that may not particularly be symphony goers,” said Clyburn.

Following the continued success of concerts tailored toward children over the years, an outreach program was launched during the 2011-12 season. As part of their mission of expanding music appreciation and developing the musical talents of youth, the Symphony of the Hills offers “Children’s Adventures in Music” to area schools.

Every season, approximately 1,700 area students receive in-school presentations. A TEKS-certified lesson plan is distributed to teachers 30 days prior to the children’s concerts that are performed each October, in which music teachers are given the tools to teach students about the pieces to be performed, their composers, the era and country in which the music was written, as well as the emotion and the storytelling behind the pieces. Presenters are members of the orchestra.

In 2015 Eugene Dowdy took the position of conductor and artistic director of Symphony of the Hills following two years as associate conductor and associate concertmaster under Jay Dunnahoo.

“I feel a profound sense of fulfillment and a renewed sense of mission in my own professional musical life. The symphony inspires me and many others to grow as individual musicians and as representatives of music to a wonderfully knowledgeable and appreciative community,” Dowdy said of his time with the Symphony.

Dowdy served for 23 years as director of orchestral studies and instrumental conducting at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and was named Professor Emeritus upon his retirement in 2019. He was the assistant conductor of the Mid-Texas Symphony from 2009-13 under David Mairs, and also guest conducted the “Camerata de Coahuila,” the state orchestra of Coahuila, Mexico.

In 2021, Dowdy was hired by Schreiner first as string recruiter, then as head of the music program, bringing the Symphony’s connection to Schreiner full circle once again.

“I have been pleased to serve on the Symphony board from its beginning. To see the impact that it has had on the community-- the way it has satisfied a desire for orchestral music in the Hill Country, the steady growth of its quality over the last quarter century, the inspiration it has provided to young listeners—has been a source of great satisfaction to me. It illustrates how a good university not only educates its students, but also gives to its community,” said Summerlin.

After surviving the obstacles posed by the COVID-19 pandemic 2020, the Symphony had one of the highest season tickets sales in recent years for the 2023-24 season.

The Symphony of the Hills will present four full concerts for 2024-25 season. Concerts begin at 7 p.m., with a pre-concert wine reception at 6 p.m. for all ticket holders at the Cailloux Theater at 910 Main St. in downtown Kerrville.

“The receptions are unique to a small symphony. It’s gratis, and part of the beauty of going,” said Clyburn.

Individual concert seats can be reserved directly online at www.caillouxperformingarts.com or by calling the Cailloux Theater box office at 830-896-9393.

This article was originally published in the Fall/Winter 2024 Kerrville Visitors Guide.