An Orchestra in the Act of Becoming
Music rooted in community.
Moving toward the future.
Who We Are
The mission of the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra is to enhance the quality of life for Johns Creek and north Metro Atlanta residents through the presentation of high-quality performances, educational and other outreach programs that reflect the cultural diversity of the community.
The Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra is comprised of professional musicians from all around the greater Atlanta metro area. Its Music Director and founder, J. Wayne Baughman, was a fixture on the Atlanta music scene for over thirty-five years. He aspired to bring together the very best symphonic musicians to serve Johns Creek and neighboring communities. In April of 2007, the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra was officially incorporated as a Georgia non-profit performing arts organization.
JCSO musicians are among the finest instrumentalists in America, with an average of 16 years experience in professional orchestras. Most of the members have graduate degrees or artist diplomas in performing arts from the leading institutions of higher learning in the US, and many have received additional training in Berlin, London, Rome, Salzburg, Vienna and other leading European music centers. The members of the JCSO are committed to providing its audiences with the highest caliber of symphonic music possible.
Founding
Music Director
J. Wayne Baughman
Founder and former Music Director J. Wayne Baughman studied choral and orchestral conducting, earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in music education from the University of Alabama, as well as advanced studies in conducting at the University of Michigan. Upon his arrival in Atlanta in 1974 Maestro Baughman immediately became involved with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Choruses and for twenty-five years was a frequent vocal soloist, chorus member and rehearsal conductor under the guidance of the late Robert Shaw.
Well known for his oratorio performances as bass soloist, he collaborated with Maestro Shaw on numerous performance projects including the Mozart REQUIEM MASS, J.S. Bach’s ST. JOHN PASSION, and Handel’s MESSIAH. In 1990, as bass soloist, Maestro Baughman shared the honor of a Grammy Award for the Telarc recording of BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST (Walton) and CHICHESTER PSALMS (Bernstein) with Robert Shaw and the ASO.
Maestro Baughman has held numerous academic and church music conducting positions in a career spanning more than 50 years. In addition to his work with the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra he served as Vice-President of the Cultural Arts Alliance at Johns Creek and chaired the Legacy Center at Johns Creek Task Force.
Maestro Baughman passed away in November 2023. The Johns Creek Symphony continues building on his vision and wishes to honor his legacy.
History
The Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra, Inc. is a fully professional orchestra founded and incorporated on April 28, 2007. The JCSO is the result of the vision of its founder, Music Director J. Wayne Baughman. Having worked as a music professional in the Johns Creek community since 1988, Maestro Baughman witnessed the dramatic growth of northeast Fulton County and the emergence of Johns Creek as its leading community. As commerce, education, healthcare, recreation and government institutions were created and expanded, he felt a need for a performing arts organization that would ultimately become the cornerstone of culture for Johns Creek and its neighboring communities.
Following several years of dreaming and planning, Baughman, with the help of his wife and a few supporters embarked on a two-year mission to “design” a traditional symphony orchestra whose members would be the most highly qualified symphonic musicians in metropolitan Atlanta and who were not already in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. The repertoire performed would be the standard repertoire of classical, light classical, Broadway and popular music performed by the great orchestras of the world. On December 1, 2006, the same day Johns Creek became a city, Maestro Baughman assembled forty-two (soon-to-be) JCSO musicians for the First Annual St. Benedict Christmas Gala & Holiday Pops Concert. The concert was a resounding success with nearly 1,000 in attendance. This was the final inspiration needed to proceed with incorporation and planning for the first bona fide concert season.
In that Debut Season 2007-2008, four concerts were performed to critical acclaim. The JCSO has been favorably compared to the full-time professional orchestras in its performances of major orchestral works by Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Stravinsky. Its audiences have delivered standing ovations at the close of each concert. During the 2009-2010 Concert Season, the JCSO collaborated for the first time with a major guest choral ensemble, the 50-voice Archdiocesan Festival Choir of Atlanta in a performance of Haydn’s Harmoniemesse. On February 6, 2010, the JCSO hosted its first internationally recognized soloist when pianist, Piotr Folkert, performed the Chopin Concerto No. 1 at the Chopin Tribute concert. In 2020 during the COVID pandemic, the orchestra temporarily moved to virtual concerts without missing a beat, delivering music to a world that had largely gone silent. That year, soon-to-be Grammy award winner and YouTube sensation violinist Charles Yang soloed with JCSO and provided masterclasses to local high-school students.
The JCSO has been growing steadily since, increasing both the number of concerts and number of musicians in the orchestra, and bringing more nationally- and internationally-known soloists to Johns Creek.
In November 2023, Maestro and Founder J. Wayne Baughman succumbed to a brief encounter with pancreatic cancer. Earlier in the year, the JCSO had started a music director search as the 2023-2024 season was to be his last season. Conductor John Morrison graciously stepped in to conduct the season in Maestro Baughman’s honor. Soloist Kevin Zhu performed with the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra on his Stradivarius which he generously demonstrated to a rapt audience afterwards. The season also featured Mark Wood, original string master of the Transiberian Orchestra, Chicago pianist Awadagin Pratt, and a concert of Beethoven’s largest and most powerful work, the ninth symphony. After an extensive search with 106 finalists, the 2024-2025 season featured three up-and-coming Music Director finalist as the orchestra prepared to thrill the next generation of audiences with world-class soloists.
On May 19, 2025, the board of directors announced internationally acclaimed conductor Henry Cheng as the new Music Director of the Johns Creek Symphony. Maestro Cheng’s first full season is the 2025-2026 season, as the symphony moves into a bright new future.
