2023-2026 Strategic Plan

Since our founding in 2014, the Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh (COP) has performed unique programming in the Greater Pittsburgh community. Our repertoire includes familiar works, rarely performed masterpieces, and contemporary compositions. Our ensemble consists of outstanding musicians from the area, and the organization regularly hosts guest artists with national and international reputations and accomplishments. Over our history, we have grown steadily – reaching ever more audiences with ever expanding musical programming – and we are delighted with a record of success that includes a range of world premieres and local premieres, the celebration of diverse composers from the past and present, and the performance of rarely heard masterpieces. As we look to the next three years, COP looks to build on these achievements, using our past success as a foundation for future aspirations.

Our strategic plan covers the period from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2026, and it has four primary themes:

  • Expanding our reach and raising the visibility of COP locally and nationally

  • Broadening our repertoire opportunities, continuing to represent diverse artists, and raising our artistic excellence

  • Increasing and diversifying our audience served

  • Building the capacity of COP through administrative and governance growth

All four themes drive our goals in each of our action areas of artistic programming, audience engagement, administration, and governance.

Artistic Programming: Our repertoire and ensemble represent continuing strengths of the organization, and our artistic goals continue our tradition of performing works that are unique in the Greater Pittsburgh arts landscape. This plan targets efforts to elevate our national visibility, celebrate diverse artists in music, and provide a space to highlight the enormous talents of Pittsburgh’s performing artists.

Audience Engagement: COP audiences have been growing steadily, and serving more audience members represents a key element to this plan. Over the next three years, COP will offer more performances each year and will perform at more venues in order to reach new and diverse patrons. We will also use the next three years to produce more recordings for broadcast and streaming, so that COP artistry has an ongoing presence between performance and has a national reach for listening audiences.

Administration and Governance: Our mission is to provide outstanding performances of great music, in order to bring joy and fulfillment to audiences. In order to achieve those goals, we will continue to build up the organizational resources necessary for all the goals of this plan. We look forward to building an organization that serves Pittsburgh for decades to come.