Explore our past seasons below!
History
♫ ♫ ♫
2001
Founding
Charles Ansbacher creates the Landmarks Orchestra. He strongly believed in making the arts a significant part of people’s lives regardless of their socioeconomic status.
2007
Hatch Shell Series Begins
Landmarks begins a nine-week concert series at the DCR’s Hatch Memorial Shell on the Esplanade. Once this happened, our audience grew quickly.
2011
Breaking Down Barriers
Our Breaking Down Barriers accessibility initiative is created. This provided accessibility services such as American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters at each concert, reserved seating areas, text to speech programs, and trained ambassadors to provide assistance.
2011
New Music Director
Christopher Wilkins is named as the new music director after the passing of Charles Ansbacher in 2010.
2013
'I Have a Dream' Commission
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Landmarks presents a concert that included pieces that represent themes in King’s speech. We wanted to provide an ASL translation of the speech but none existed. So, Landmarks commissioned the very first one to be made, with the blessing of the King estate. The translation was performed at the Hatch Shell concert on August 28, 2013. Watch a recording of the translation here.
2020
Landmarks & COVID
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, all of Landmarks programs go virtual. We created a series called “Interludes,” which featured unique stories and beautiful music to bring comfort, solace and joy in a period of great uncertainty. We also produced four digital concerts. Explore them here.
2021
Community Concert Series
In response to community needs, Landmarks creates a concert series that targets four neighborhoods: Roxbury, Mattapan, East Boston, and Chelsea. These concerts take place in familiar local venues, and like all Landmarks concerts, they have a relaxed atmosphere and feature racially and genre-diverse composers and pieces. As of 2024, we’ve performed fourteen concerts at six different community venues. If you’d like Landmarks to come to your community, contact us!
2021
Music & Memory
Landmarks creates our Music and Memory program, which is geared towards older adults with Alzheimer’s and other forms of memory loss. As part of the program, a string quartet travels around to different assisted living facilities and performs familiar classical music. This has been proven to calm older adults with memory loss. As of 2024, Landmarks has performed Music & Memory 63 times at 38 different facilities, reaching over 1,100 older adults. Learn more about the program here.
2023
New Logo
Landmarks unveils its new logo, designed by award-winning Creative Director Alan Pafenbach. With its bright colors and the different musicians depicted, this logo highlights Landmarks’ vibrancy and diversity.