History of the Bremerton Symphony Concert Chorale

The Bremerton Symphony Orchestra was founded in October of 1942. The orchestra and an unnamed community chorus presented Handel's Messiah under the direction of Walter C. Welke in December, 1947. In 1948 a choral group called "The Olympians" again performed Handel's masterpiece with the Symphony and yet again in 1949, but this time without the orchestra.

Through the mid 1950's, The Olympians continued to function under the auspices of Olympic College, presenting major works but without orchestra. In about 1955, The Olympians disbanded and a new group called the "Puget Soundsters" was formed with the goal of performing lighter music, including pops.

Between 1955 and 1966, quite a number of choral "masterworks" were performed, some with orchestra and some without. These took place in a variety of venues (mostly churches), with a variety of sponsors (including the Peninsula Music Club and Olympic College) and under a variety of names (Community Chorus, Community Chorale, Verdi Chorus, and Olympic College Community Chorus).

In 1966, Raleigh McVicker, organist and musicologist, became involved in the musical scene of our community and led his first Messiah here, albeit without orchestra. From that period until the arrival of Maestro Joseph Levine as Music Director of the orchestra in 1983, there continued to be a variety of performances and conductors of orchestral and choral events. Upon Joe Levine's arrival, however, the chorus became known as the Bremerton Symphony Chorale and many collaborations were presented, often twice during each concert season. Typically Raleigh would be at the helm of the choral preparation and sometimes of the performance itself. However, it was also typical that the Chorale was reconstituted for each performance event, rather than remaining a regular and stable ensemble of the same personnel through-out the year.