The Symphonina Foundation is a nonprofit built around the symphonina, a compact multi-movement symphonic form running roughly ten minutes, developed by composer David Fogel to make orchestral music easier to connect with for listeners raised on shorter, streaming-friendly formats. Their newest release, Symphonina Stories: New Horizons, is the foundation’s most ambitious project yet, a double album bringing together eight symphoninas from eight different composers, performed across four orchestras with additional featured artists layered throughout.
Symphonina Stories: New Horizons
What sets New Horizons apart is its sheer scale and range of collaborators. The album draws on performances from the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Budapest Scoring Orchestra, and the foundation’s own International Symphonina Orchestra, giving each of the eight pieces its own distinct orchestral voice rather than a single uniform sound across the record. Fogel, who holds a Ph.D. and has built a career spanning both classical composition and jazz performance, oversees the project alongside a wider team of composers, producers, conductors, and engineers, continuing the foundation’s mission of introducing new symphonic writing to younger audiences worldwide. The album follows The First Five Symphoninas, which earned the foundation a gold medal at the 2026 Global Music Awards, and represents a clear step up in ambition, doubling the previous release’s scope and adding a broader roster of international talent.
Beyond its musical reach, New Horizons also carries real intention behind its format. Each symphonina is built to function as a complete symphonic statement in a fraction of the time a traditional symphony asks of a listener, making the record an accessible entry point for anyone curious about orchestral music but unfamiliar with its more sprawling classical forms. That combination of ambition and accessibility runs through the whole project, treating each ten-minute piece as its own fully realized world rather than a stripped-down substitute for something bigger.
Final Thoughts
Symphonina Stories: New Horizons is a genuinely collaborative undertaking that expands what the symphonina format can do, and it’s an easy album to recommend to anyone looking for a fresh, approachable way into orchestral music. The double album is available now on Spotify and other major streaming platforms, as well as in digital download and physical CD formats through the Symphonina Foundation’s store. Follow David Fogel on Instagram and Facebook.
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