THE HISTORY OF DCCOS

DCCOS traces its roots back to 2007 with a social media group focused on gatherings of amateur chamber musicians for casual rehearsals, today’s Classical Musicians of Metro DC (CM•MDC). In late 2011, an aspiring conducting graduate student, Rob Goeke, asked whether he might try to form a chamber orchestra from among the membership. Thus, the orchestra’s modest beginnings. Rob left the orchestra in November 2012 and it continued through 2013 as a modest reading community chamber orchestra.

In January 2014, Randall Stewart was selected to lead the DC Concert Orchestra (DCCO) as Music Director, and under his baton, the orchestra has transformed spectacularly into an 80-piece full symphony orchestra, performing at levels in league with the best of metropolitan area non-professional orchestras.

In 2016, DCCOS established a partnership with the New Orchestra of Washington and later secured major funding from the Nadia Sophie Seiler Memorial Fund to reinvigorate its chamber music roots by establishing musician development and performance programs. From this, a new DCCOS program component – the DC Chamber Musicians (DCCM) – was chartered.

Today’s DCCOS counts more than 600 member musicians across its 3 program offerings and, per season, produces multiple orchestra concerts, chamber music master classes and concerts, and outreach performances.