About the Orchestra
RMCO Facts:
- Smaller sized orchestra: 30 - 50 instrumentalists
- Four full-orchestra classical music concerts each season; One with soloists who are winners of Birmingham Souther College's Whittington Concerto/Aria Competition
- Two small-ensemble concerts each season
- All musicians (conductors, soloists, and instrumentalists) and all staff are volunteers
- Admission to all concerts is free but donations are gratefully appreciated
Venues:
- Birmingham Southern College
- Birmingham Museum of Art
- Birmingham Botanical Gardens
- Local schools, churches, and libraries
- University of Montevallo
- Homewood Library
- 16th Street Baptist Church
- Hoover Library
- Hoover High School
- Blessed Sacrament Church
- 6th Avenue Baptist Church
- Anniston High School
Conductors:
We have no full time music director but work with a rotating pool of conductors)
- Robert Wright, University of Montevallo
- Tom Gibbs, Birmingham Southern College
- Howard Goldstein, Auburn University
- Mark Ridings, Birmingham Concert Choir
- David Itkin, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra
- Leslie Stewart, Old Dominion College, Virginia
- Wes Kenney, Virginia Symphony Orchestra
- Tom Hinds, Montgomery Symphony Orchestra
- Les Fillmer, ASO conductor of State of Alabama Ballet
Soloists:
- Henry Rubin, violinist and teacher in Houston (first conductor of the orchestra)
- Michael Fernandez, principal violist with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra
- Allison Lee, concert pianist and teacher in Birmingham
- Antony Pattin, piano instructor at Montevallo
- Joe Ardovino, instructor of trumpet at Montevallo
- BSC Student winners of the Dorsey Whittington Concerto/Aria Competition
Instrumentalists:
Ranging in age from 16 to near 80)
- Students at BSC, Montevallo, UAB, and the Alabama School of Fine Arts
- Professors of medicine and physics at UAB
- Head of the Emergency Room at Carraway Hospital
- Several research scientists at UAB
- Dentists
- Nurses
- Band directors
- String teachers
- Head of Music Opportunity Program at the Alabama School of Fine Arts