The Allentown Symphony Association has received a $500,000-grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for programming of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra.

Sen. Pat Browne (R-16th) made the announcement Nov. 28 to Symphony Association board members and staff in Miller Symphony Hall, Allentown, long-time home of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, and one of only two historic theaters still in operation in Allentown. The other historic theater in Allentown is Civic Theatre of Allentown’s Nineteenth Street Theatre.

Browne has secured multiple grants for the Symphony Association during his many years in the Pennsylvania General Assembly in recent years as Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman.

“We are grateful to Senator Browne and the Commonwealth for their major support of our work and beautiful theater,” said Al Jacobsen, Allentown Symphony Association Executive Director.

“These funds are part of a recurring public commitment of state operational resources amounting to over $2.5 million, which have played an integral role in the sustainability of this extraordinary assets for the future benefit of our region,” said Browne.

The Allentown Symphony Orchestra has been performing at Miller Symphony Hall, originally known as the Lyric Theater, since its founding in 1951.

Led since 1995 by Music Director Diane Wittry, the Allentown Symphony presents a 10-program series of performances each year featuring a variety of music, including classical, Broadway, film cores, rock ‘n roll, and jazz.

Additionally, the organization hosts a number of education programs, including annual youth and family concerts for elementary-age children, and El Sistema Lehigh Valley in partnership with the Allentown School District.

The Allentown Symphony in 2014 and 2017 received the national American Prize for “orchestral excellence.”

The Hall began its life in the 1890s as a three-story central marketplace. The building was converted to a theater in 1899 by renowned architect J.B. McElfatrick and renamed the Lyric Theatre.

It is one of one dozen of McElfatrick’s prized Beaux-Arts theaters that has survived.

In 1959, with the help of Call-Chronicle Newspaper owners Sam and Donald Miller, the Lyric was purchased by the Symphony Association as a permanent home for its symphony orchestra and re-christened Allentown Symphony Hall.

The Hall was re-named Miller Symphony Hall in 2012 in honor of the family who saved it and who continue to support it today. The Hall has helped catalyze the redevelopment of Allentown’s city center.