New Albany Symphony Orchestra

About Us

The New Albany Symphony Orchestra (NASO) is a community orchestra comprised of over 120 community, student, and professional musicians from all over the Columbus metro area who come together four times a year to present concerts from the professional classical repertoire in the beautiful Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts in the heart of New Albany. NASO was designed by its founders to be a true community orchestra, in which students are mentored by professional musicians, talented community musicians have a stage on which to perform, and professional musicians have an additional outlet for their craft. NASO was founded in 2007 by New Albany resident and violist Heather Garner, and founding conductor Luis Biava.

A strong component of the New Albany Symphony Orchestra’s mission is music education. We are commited to every student musician in the orchestra, and each student musician performs on at least one piece per concert. The orchestra offers free master classes, a sensory-friendly series for our friends in the autism and dementia/Alzheimer’s communities, and a student concerto competition, in which talented young people from all over the state compete to win the opportunity to perform a concerto on stage in front of a live audience. Additionally, the orchestra collaborates with many area arts organizations and schools to keep ticket prices low – even offering free tickets to our underserved partners – to ensure that the art of classical music remains accessible to all.