[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13972]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PHOENIX SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

 Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to congratulate the 
Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, which will launch the celebration of its 
diamond jubilee for the 2007/2008 season on December 30, 2006.
  The Phoenix Symphony Orchestra is embarking on its 60th year of 
having a profound cultural and educational effect in the State of 
Arizona. Founded in 1947, the Phoenix Symphony proudly serves Phoenix 
and the surrounding metropolitan area, the State of Arizona, and the 
southwestern United States. What began as an occasional group of 
musicians performing a handful of concerts each year--in a city of 
fewer than 100,000 people--today serves more than 300,000 people 
annually, with 275 concerts and presentations throughout the greater 
Phoenix area and beyond.
  Under the artistic leadership of Michael Christie as the Virginia G. 
Piper Music Director and administrative leadership of President 
Maryellen H. Gleason, the orchestra is overseen by the nonprofit 
Phoenix Symphony Association under Board Chairman Gerald W. Murphy.
  The 76-member Phoenix Symphony presents an annual season from 
September through the beginning of June, featuring full-length 
classical and pops concerts at Symphony Hall in downtown Phoenix, in 
Scottsdale, in Prescott, in several Native American communities and 
throughout central Arizona. The symphony performs for more than 50,000 
students and children, representing over 260 different schools, helping 
to introduce music to new generations through a variety of education 
and youth-engagement programs including programs at the Salt River Pima 
Indian Nation, Chicanos por la Causa, and Phoenix Elementary School 
District No. 1.
  Again, I congratulate the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra for its 
remarkable achievements and contributions to Arizona.

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