The Nittany Valley Symphony holds occasional auditions for professional or amateur musicians who are new to the area. Its core group of roughly 55 to 60 members stays fairly static, though. “In general, once people kind of enter in, they tend to stay with us for a long time,” says director and conductor Timothy Farrand.

The symphony, which includes three original members from its founding year, 1967, performs five to six times each year in and around the Centre region and typically holds six weekly rehearsals leading up to each one. The group has been working to reestablish outreach programs that were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the Nittany Valley Symphony Outreaching Traveling Education Series (N.O.T.E.S.) program, which sends members of the symphony into local schools to expose students to instruments and live music. There is also a young soloist concerto competition each year, with the winner getting to join the symphony during its annual all-ages performance.

Farrand ’18, ’20 MMus A&A, who was previously a guest conductor for the symphony, became its director in 2023 and has been struck by the closeness of the musicians, who are usually abuzz at the start of rehearsal periods as they catch up on one another’s lives. One of his goals for the coming year is to strengthen the same type of bond between the symphony and the community. “I really want to get involved in more of a tactile way,” says Farrand, who also teaches music theory and score reading courses at Penn State as an adjunct instructor. “Find ways beyond the concerts we do to present educational programs, community programs, and really capitalize on that communal aspect of our orchestra.”