Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra Programs and Promotional Materials

The Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra began in 1979 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and consisted of both professional and amateur musicians. Originally known as the Tuscaloosa Area Community Orchestra (known familiarly as TACO), membership was open to "any interested person, aged fourteen and older, who would commit to attending Thursday night rehearsals." Their first concert was on Sunday, November 11, 1979, with Dr. Michael Gattozzi conducting. For the first few years, TACO performed three or four times annually at the Bama Theatre. Children's concerts were later added as part of the Saturday dress rehearsal.

The Board of Directors realized fairly early on that the benefits of having a wholly professional symphony (as a cultural flagship for the community and would aid economic development efforts) would far outweigh the cost of additional administrative staff and professional musicians. Thus, in 1984, the TACO became TSO - the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra. Musicians had to go through a professional audition process to play in the Symphony, and were in return paid for their services.

In 1988, TSO made its home in the newly opened Moody Music Building on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa. Today the Symphony is made up of faculty members and extraordinary students from the University of Alabama's School of Music, members of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra (Birmingham) and professional musicians located within a two hundred fifty mile radius of Tuscaloosa, as well as Atlanta, Nashville, and Memphis.