On December 18, 2009 Dominick Galati, a partially retired musician booking agent, booked a group of musicians at the United Methodist Church of Sun City Center, FL. There was a full array of brass, woodwinds and tympani. Jeff Jordan, the artistic director was directing a Christmas cantata at the United Methodist Church. While watching Jeff at a church rehearsal and listening to the group rehearse, Dom thought the group sounded like a small orchestra.  He decided to pose a question to Jeff.   

“How would you like to be one of the conductors of the symphony that I have been thinking of starting?”.

 “I don’t know” Jeff stated. “Call me tomorrow and we can talk about it.”

 The next day the pair spent three hours together discussing the formation of the new South Shore Symphony Orchestra (S.S.S.O.). They then set out on building a group of fifty to sixty musicians.  Over the next two weeks Dom called all his contacts and advertised on Craigslist to secure a viable group of musicians. 

The first rehearsal of the S.S.S.O. came on February 3, 2010 at the United Methodist Church. Significant time and effort had been put in to recruiting but the meeting only yielded twenty-two musicians. Not exactly the result that Dom or Jeff had expected. The two energetically laid out the mission statement of the symphony and shared the classical music that would be played.The musicians were very enthusiastic about the idea, but saw less than half an orchestra.

 Dom kept on recruiting and the group grew to twenty-eight the next week and then to thirty-five the following week. On the fifth week they made a plea to the musicians to help them recruit more talented members for the remainder of the orchestra openings.

Through the sixth and seventh weeks of practice, Dom and Jeff held their breath waiting to see the musician turnout. Each week a few more musicians began to arrive. Finally the ninth week forty musicians arrived for rehearsal. Not a full compliment but enough to hear the orchestra’s potential. A light appeared at the end of the recruiting tunnel.

 The volunteer orchestra continued to practice every Wednesday evening and their numbers continued to grow to the required amount. One of the hurdles had been conquered. Next was the need to practice until the group was good enough for a public performance. A name was chosen, The South Shore Symphony Orchestra and the first three concert dates were set. The first concert was set for May 21, 2010. The three concerts were to be free to the public, with a good will offering dish to be passed around half way through the performance. This money was to be divided between the orchestra musicians for all their hard work.

 When May 21^st came, it was another one of those tense days where Dom and Jeff would see if they could make it over another hurdle, an audience. Doors opened at the United Methodist Church at 5:00 pm, for the 7:00 pm concert. People began to trickle in at 5:45 pm. By six o’clock there was a steady stream of patrons coming through the door ready for the performance. All totaled, that night, almost 500 people came out to listen to the inaugural performance of The South Shore Symphony Orchestra. Success!!! That night the South Shore Symphony Orchestra was born. The south shore residents had welcomed the symphony with open arms and asked them to stay. After the concert a line of people filed up to Mr. Galati and Mr. Jordan, to thank them for bringing this orchestra and classical music to the communities of the South Shore and especially Sun City Center. 

 With the first performance behind them, Dom and Jeff are working on the next phase of the orchestra’s evolution. The group is filing for non-profit status, an essential step for its financial survival. In addition, the organization will provide scholarships, to students that will be studying music at local colleges and universities. The organization is hopeful they will be able to start awarding scholarships in 2011.

The South Shore Symphony Orchestra is proud to bring quality classical music to the south shore residents and would like to thank all our patrons for their continued support.  Our musicians promise to deliver their best music at every concert, to entertain you.  The S.S.S.O. looks forward to growing alongside the south shore community for years to come.