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2021-2022 Season

June 6, 2022: NorCal Public Media to televise 21-22 Santa Rosa Symphony World Premiere concerts

Santa Rosa Symphony, June 6, 2022

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) — Santa Rosa Symphony, in partnership with Northern California Public Media, will televise four of its 2021-2022 Classical Series concerts in July on two NorCal Public channels: Public Broadcasting Service channel KRCB and non-PBS channel KPJK. All four of the concerts in the Santa Rosa Symphony World Premiere Series were conducted by SRS Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong at the Green Music Center's Weill Hall, on the campus of Sonoma State University, before a live audience. 
 
President and CEO Alan Silow said, “We are so thrilled to be, once again, partnering with NorCal Public Media, to share the artistic creativity of our world premieres with the entire Bay Area.”


The series' world premiere concerts performed to date have garnered positive reviews.
 
The Fretless Clarinet: Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra by David Krakauer and Kathleen Tagg
"The autobiographical work, which sums up Krakauer’s embrace of many musical genres over the past 30 years, was performed with gusto . . . [concertmaster Joe] Edelberg tossed off the runs, spiccato arpeggios and double stops with crystal-clear clarity and control. . . ."  Read Diane Peterson's full The Press Democrat review
 
ONE for Orchestra by Gabriella Smith
"Smith, 31, creates her four-movement work with giant sonic arcs, from the softest nuances like deft bow-taps on violin strings to the full-throated cry of the whole ensemble in some of the loudest sounds ever produced here—and then back again, like a rainbow." Read Paul Hertelendy's full Arts in SF review
 
Valley of the Moon for Orchestra by Michael Daugherty
"…'Out of the Fog,' opened with a plangent oboe solo evoking the spreading fog, followed by a French horn motive signifying a gradual lifting. These solos transpired on a lush background featuring two sweeping harps and shimmering strings. A blazing trumpet appeared to mark the entrance of the sun, followed by rolling timpani and bustling strings that dropped out one by one until only the concertmaster was left, a quiescent ending to a slow-moving event. . . . The playing and conducting were stupendous, as they were throughout the concert. In recent years, the Symphony has set a high standard that it keeps exceeding." Read Steve Osborn's full San Francisco Classical Voice review
 
Daugherty shared an electronic of his work ahead of the concert. Listen here.  
 
Full programming for the concerts to be aired:
 
"Klezmer & Krakauer" (July 5 & 10)
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
David Krakauer, clarinet
Kathleen Tagg, piano
 
Traditional / David Krakauer, arranger: Der Heyser Bulgar
David Krakauer / Kathleen Tagg: The Fretless Clarinet: Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra (World Premiere)
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Scheherazade
 
"Beethoven à la Kern" (July 12 & 17)
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Olga Kern, piano
 
RICHARD WAGNER: Lohengrin: Prelude to Act 1, WWV 75               
Gabriella Smith: ONE for Orchestra (First Symphony Project World Premiere)       
Ludwig van Beethoven: Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 73, Emperor
 
"Valley of the Moon" (July 19 & 24)
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Elina Vähälä , violin
 
Johann Strauss II: Overture to Die Fledermaus [The Bat], Opus 367          
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 35        
Claude Debussy: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune [Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun] for                                                                                Orchestra [after Mallarmé], L. 86
Michael Daugherty: Valley of the Moon for Orchestra (World Premiere) 
 
"Visions of Hope" (July 26 & 31)
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Mariachi Champaña Nevin, Jeff Nevin, director
Mónica Ábrego, soprano
Giselle Vallejo, contralto
Perry Chacon, Jr., tenor
Rafael Jorge Negrete, baritone
 
Arturo Márquez: Danzón No. 2 for Orchestra
Enrico Chapela Barba: Los Braceros [The Laborers] Cantata for Mariachi and Orchestra (World                                                                                     Premiere)
Ottorino Respighi: Le fontane di Roma [The Fountains of Rome] for Orchestra
Ottorino Respighi: I pini di Roma [The Pines of Rome] for Orchestra
 
KRCB airs the Santa Rosa Symphony World Premiere Series on Sundays at 8 PM: 
July 10: "Klezmer & Krakauer" (Recorded November 6, 2021)
July 17: "Beethoven à la Kern" (Recorded January 8, 2022)
July 24: "Valley of the Moon" (Recorded May 7, 2022)
July 31: "Visions of Hope" (Recorded June 11, 2022)
 
NorCal Public Media's KRCB broadcasts, over the air, on channel 22.1. Viewers can access it on channel 22 on Comcast Cable (high definition on channel 722), ATT U-verse, DirecTV and Dish. KRCB reaches audiences in Sonoma, Napa, Marin, San Francisco, Alameda, Solano, Contra Costa and the southern tip of Mendocino and Lake counties.
 
KPJK airs the Santa Rosa Symphony World Premiere Series on Tuesdays at 8 PM: 
July 5: "Klezmer & Krakauer" (Recorded November 6, 2021)
July 12: "Beethoven à la Kern" (Recorded January 8, 2022)
July 19: "Valley of the Moon" (Recorded May 7, 2022)
July 26: "Visions of Hope" (Recorded June 11, 2022)
 
KPJK’s over-the-air channel number is 60.1. KPJK is channel 17 (717 for HD) on Comcast, 43 on ATT U-verse and DirecTV, and 60 on Dish. KPJK’s over-the-air coverage is more to the south (parts of Sonoma, Napa and Solano; all of Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties).
 
INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:
President and CEO Alan Silow
Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong
 
Hi-res photos available
 
ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact: 
Ann Hutchinson, Copywriter and Creative Coordinator
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org
(707) 546-7097 x 222

June 1, 2022: Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra concert tour to Spain June 16-27 Bon Voyage concert is June 14 at the Green Music Center

Santa Rosa Symphony, June 1, 2022

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) —Santa Rosa Symphony's most advanced youth ensemble, the Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra (SRSYO) will be on concert tour to Spain June 16-27, 2022. Forty-eight SRSYO orchestra members, eight chaperones, three staff, one soloist and one conductor will fly out of San Francisco International airport on the morning of June 16. The four-concert tour of Northern Spain includes performances in Madrid, Cuenca, Valencia and Barcelona, with time for sight-seeing in each city. (See fundraiser information in Related News at the end of this release.)
 
The four-concert tour venues are as follows:
Madrid: Aula de las Artes hall at the Universidad Carlos II
Cuenca: Joint concert with the Orquestra del Conservatorio de Cuenca in the Conservatorio
Valencia: Auditori Torrent
Barcelona: Conservatori Liceu
 
The orchestra, conducted by Bobby Rogers, will perform their "Bon Voyage" concert, which is the same program they will perform in Spain, at the Green Music Center's Weill Hall on Tuesday, June 14 at 7:00 PM. Flamenco Arts will provide Spanish-themed, pre-concert entertainment in the Weill Hall lobby at 6:30 pm.
 
Harpist Chloe Tula is the featured guest artist for the concert, and on tour. Tula, who is the wife of Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong, will perform Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo. A sight-seeing highlight will be a private visit to the Rodrigo Museum in Madrid, led by Rodrigo’s daughter Cecilia. Other pieces on the concert are Outdoor Overture by Aaron Copland, Symphony No. 8 by Antonín Dvořák’s and Danzón No. 2 by Arturo Márquez.
 
Bobby Rogers is a graduate of Sonoma State University (B.A. in Music Education and Jazz Performance) and Sacramento State University (M.A. in Wind Conducting). He was the Region 3 finalist for California Teacher of the Year in 2009, Claus Noble Educator of Distinction in 2010 and Program of Excellence for top program in Yolo County 2015.
 
Rogers has conducted orchestras such as the American Philharmonic, Camellia Symphony and the Rancho Cordova Civic Light Orchestra. He has also performed and recorded on clarinet, saxophone and flute with various jazz and rock groups, such as Lee Press-On and The Nails, Moonlight Swing Orchestra–a Glenn Miller Tribute Band, Placer Pops Orchestra, Jimmy Luxury, Lucas Arts, Gwen Stefani, Coolio, Third Eye Blind, Smash Mouth, Joe Gilman, Steinway Artist Jim Martinez and Delfayo Marsalis. Rogers currently performs around 100 events each year including his Carnegie Hall debut this past March. Read Rogers' full bio.  
 
Chloe Tula steps into a new role as Principal Harpist of the Omaha Symphony in the 2022-2023 season. In 2020, she completed a three-year fellowship at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida. Her orchestral engagements have included performances with the San Francisco Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Santa Fe Opera and The Knights (New York City), in addition to her positions at the Omaha Symphony and the New World Symphony. She has been concerti soloist for the Houston Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony and the Santa Rosa Symphony. Tula's summer festival appearances include Tanglewood, Aspen Music Festival and School, Festival Napa Valley and Lakes Area Music Festival. A Wisconsin native, Tula received her Bachelor's degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.
 
Related news: The Santa Rosa Symphony will perform the final piece of the Bon Voyage program, Danzón, on June 11, 12 and 13, as part of its Visions of Hope concert. Painted violins (and a few cellos) will be auctioned in the Weill Hall lobby during these performances (one third of the collection per performance). Proceeds of the silent auction support SRSYO's tour to Spain.
 
SPONSORS:
Santa Rosa Youth Orchestra sponsored by
George L. Smith Jr. M.D. and Nancy Doyle M.D. Fund of Community Foundation Sonoma County
Corporate Tour Sponsor: Stanroy Music Center
 
INVERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:
Bobby Rogers, Wendy Cilman
 
AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra concert: Bon Voyage
 
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra
Bobby Rogers, conductor
 
WHEN: Tuesday, June 14, 2022 at 7:00 PM
 
WHERE:  Weill Hall, Green Music Center, Sonoma State University
 
TICKET PRICES:
Pre-concert (purchased by 11:00 am on Monday, June 13, 2022): Adult $15/Youth $5
At the door: Adult  $20/Youth $10
 
TICKETS: (707) 546-8742 (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, opening at 10:30 AM Wednesdays) or any time at srsymphony.org
 
ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized as having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact: 
Ann Hutchinson, Copywriter and Creative Coordinator
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org
(707) 546-7097 x 222

May 5, 2022: Santa Rosa Symphony Family Series returns in 2022-2023 Season

Santa Rosa Symphony, May 5, 2022

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) —Santa Rosa Symphony (SRS) announces its Family Series for the 2022-2023 season, with its tag line, "Create precious family memories." These three, Sunday-afternoon concerts are designed for an all-age audience, as an entry point for those new to live orchestral performances and for young people. This affordable concert series includes a complimentary Instrument Petting Zoo one hour prior to each performance (2 PM), which provides an opportunity for youngsters (and curious adults) to handle and play orchestral instruments. Subscriptions go on sale on May 31, 2022. 
 
President and CEO Alan Silow said, "The Family Series is such an important part of our commitment to make classical music accessible. The Family Series is often the spark that leads young people to appreciate classical music, and even learn to perform it. We're very thrilled with the programming we're able to offer in the 2022-2023 season and look forward to being that spark again."
 
Symphony Spooktacular, October 23, 2022
Bobby Rogers, conductor
Narrator TBA
 
Young audiences are introduced to the instrument families and learn about how orchestral musicians and the conductor work together, while the orchestra plays familiar music from Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean and more.
 
SRS Youth Orchestra conductor Bobby Rogers has, throughout his career, been very active with pit orchestras and community orchestras. He has twice conducted at Carnegie Hall. Rogers has also performed and recorded on clarinet, saxophone and flute with various jazz and rock groups, such as Lee Press-On and The Nails, Moonlight Swing Orchestra–a Glenn Miller Tribute Band, Placer Pops Orchestra, Jimmy Luxury, Lucas Arts, Gwen Stefani, Coolio, Third Eye Blind, Smash Mouth, Joe Gilman, Steinway Artist Jim Martinez and Delfayo Marsalis. Read full bio here.
 
Beethoven Lives Upstairs, January 15, 2023
Bobby Rogers, conductor
Classical Kids Live!
 
Classical Kids Live! joins the orchestra to teach and entertain as the orchestra performs works by Beethoven.
 
Classical Kids Live! – a Classical Kids Music Education program – has collaborated with hundreds of distinguished orchestras through its Theatrical Symphony Concert Series, presenting over a thousand performances for student and family audiences. Over two million children and adults throughout North America and abroad have enjoyed these concerts, which are designed to bring to life the extraordinary lives and the musical masterpieces of the great classical composers.
 
Becoming Mozart, April 16, 2023
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Elizabeth Prior, artistic partner
Jeff Coté, actor
 
While the orchestra performs his quintessential works, the audience learns about Mozart's journey to becoming a classical music icon.
 
Francesco Lecce-Chong is Music Director and conductor for the Santa Rosa Symphony and the Eugene Symphony in Oregon. Lecce-Chong has appeared with orchestras around the world including the San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, National Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Colorado Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic and collaborated with top soloists including Renée Fleming and Itzhak Perlman. 
 
The San Francisco Chronicle called his conducting “first rate” praising the “vitality and brilliance of the music-making he drew from members of the San Francisco Symphony.” Read full bio.
 
SPONSORS:
The 2022-2023 Santa Rosa Symphony Family Series is sponsored by
The Alan and Susan Seidenfeld Charitable Trust, and Victor and Karen Trione
 
Hi-res photos upon request
 
AT A GLANCE:
 
WHAT: Three-concert Santa Rosa Symphony Family Series
 
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony
Bobby Rogers, conductor (October and January)
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor; Elizabeth Prior, artistic partner (April)
 
WHEN:
Sunday, October 23, 2022 at 3:00 PM (Complimentary Instrument Petting Zoo 2:00 PM)
Sunday, January 15, 2023 at 3:00 PM (Complimentary Instrument Petting Zoo 2:00 PM)
Sunday, April 16, 2023 at 3:00 PM (Complimentary Instrument Petting Zoo 2:00 PM)
 
WHERE:  Weill Hall, Green Music Center, Sonoma State University
 
SUBSCRIPTION PRICES:
3-concert subscription package: $54/adult; $27/child
Family packs start at $144 (minimum of 4 subscriptions, 2 of which are for children)
[Single tickets (on sale August 1): $20 / adult; $10 / youth (12 and under)]
 
TICKETS: srsymphony.org or (707) 546-8742 (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, opening at 10:30 AM Wednesdays)
 
All patrons, regardless of age must have a ticket. COVID-19 protocols could change before October. Patrons are encouraged to consult the website for current information.
 
ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized as having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact: 
Ann Hutchinson
Copywriter & Creative Coordinator
(707) 546-7097 x222
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

May 4, 2022: Santa Rosa Symphony performs world premiere of a cantata for mariachi and orchestra

Santa Rosa Symphony, May 4, 2022

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) —In a first—perhaps anywhere, by any orchestra—traditional mariachi and classical music combine in a cantata for mariachi and orchestra. Los Braceros Cantata, commissioned by the Santa Rosa Symphony and composed by Enrico Chapela Barba, tells a story of romance and family loyalty amidst the 1942-1964 agreement between the United States and Mexico for agricultural worker migration. Mariachi Champaña Nevin and four vocalists, including renowned Mexican actor and singer Rafael Jorge Negrete, join the Santa Rosa Symphony orchestra for this world premiere, conducted by Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong.
 
Lecce-Chong says, "Visions of Hope will truly be one of the most spectacular performances of our season—musically, visually, and emotionally. I am so excited for the long-awaited world premiere of a large work for four singers, mariachi ensemble, and orchestra. It brings together a beautiful and poignant story against the backdrop of the Braceros program, which is such an important part of the history of Santa Rosa. Respighi's Fountains and Pines of Rome are stunning showpieces for orchestra and these vibrant musical portraits of Italy's beloved city will close the program in awe-inspiring fashion."
 
Three interesting facts about Visions of Hope:
1) This program was originally scheduled for May 2020

2) Printed lyrics for the cantata will be available, with English translation, at the venue

3) Enrico Chapela Barba's works, commissioned by leading orchestras and festivals around the world, have been broadcast and performed in more than 40 countries 

Born in Mexico City in 1974, Enrico Chapela Barba studied guitar performance and composition at CIEM academy in Mexico. He obtained a Master's Degree at the University of Paris Saint-Denis in 2008, and is writing his PhD thesis at the National University in Mexico (UNAM). Since 2002, he has won recognition at several international competitions, such as The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowships, National System of Art Creators (FONCA-Mexico), the International Rostrum of Composers (UNESCO), International Alexander Zemlinsky Composition Competition and The Barlow Endowment for Music Composition Prize, amongst others.
Chapela Barba teaches composition at NICO and CIEM academies, and his music is exclusively published by Boosey & Hawkes.

Mariachi Champaña Nevin, led by Jeff Nevin, Ph.D., is widely regarded as one of the leading proponents of “classical mariachi music” in the world. Comprising virtuoso mariachi and classical musicians, this unique ensemble fully embraces the ideals of traditional Mexican and European Classical music. Led by composer and trumpeter Jeff Nevin, they have delighted diverse audiences across the U.S., Mexico, and as far away as Russia, South Korea and Turkmenistan for more than two decades. 
 
Jeff Nevin has created a large canon of original music scored for mariachi and symphony orchestra, including a Mexican Christmas celebration (“La fiesta de la nochebuena”), as well as numerous orchestral adaptations of traditional mariachi songs.  Together with Mariachi Champaña Nevin, or as trumpet soloist/conductor, Jeff Nevin has performed his music with dozens of symphony orchestras including the San Diego Symphony, Colorado, Aguascalientes, Grant Park, Jalisco and many others. And Mariachi Champaña Nevin has performed with many of Mexico’s finest singers, including Placido Domingo, Aida Cuevas, Vikki Carr, Jorge Lopez-Yañez, Mónica Ábrego, José Luis Duval, Rafael Jorge Negrete, Florencia Tinoco and José Medina.
 
Mariachi Champaña Nevin recently released its fifth album, “Nuestra Navidad,” a groundbreaking two-CD set featuring beloved Mexican and American Christmas carols along with classical favorites including Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite and Pachelbel’s Canon. And their “Día de Muertos” celebration has received wide acclaim, becoming a much-anticipated tradition in San Diego.
 
Rafael Jorge Negrete, an opera and concert singer at the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City, has performed in the most auspicious venues throughout Mexico as well as venues in Latin America and Europe. He has also been broadcast on TV and radio. In the U.S., he is the leading artist at Charlotte Latin American Festival in North Carolina, as well as performing in concerts in Tucson, Chicago, San Diego, San Bernadino and Tijuana with Mariachi Champaña Nevin. In addition, he has sung operetta including roles in The Merry Widow, Zehn Maedchen und kein Mann, The Fantasticks and Beauty and the Beast. Also an accomplished actor, he has appeared in numerous movies, soap operas and documentaries. Negrete studied, as a grant recipient, at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts Mozarteum in Salzburg. He received an Honor Diploma at the National Singer Competition Carlo Morelli and has taken master classes in Italy with Francesca Scaini, Maria Luisa Tamez and James Demster. He speaks (and sings) in five languages: Spanish, English, Italian, French and German.
 
Additional guest artists, who regularly perform with Mariachi Champaña Nevín, include soprano Mónica Ábrego, contralto Giselle Vallejo and guitarist and lead vocalist Perry Chacón Jr.
 
Program at a glance:
"Visions of Hope"
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Mariachi Champaña Nevin, Jeff Nevin, director
Mónica Ábrego, soprano
Giselle Vallejo, contralto
Perry Chacón, Jr., tenor
Rafael Jorge Negrete, baritone
 
ARTURO MÁRQUEZ: Danzon No. 2
ENRICO CHAPELA BARBA: Los Braceros [The Laborers]: Cantata for Mariachi and Orchestra (World Premiere) OTTORINO RESPIGHI: Le fontane di Roma [The Fountains of Rome], Symphonic Poem for Orchestra              
OTTORINO RESPIGHI: I pini di Roma [The Pines of Rome], Symphonic Poem for Orchestra
 
ENHANCEMENTS:
Program notes are available on the concert event page.
Printed lyrics for the cantata will be available, with English translation, at the venue
Pre-concert talks are given one hour prior to each performance, with Lecce-Chong, guest artists and/or world premiere composers.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS FOR VISIONS OF HOPE
Masks are recommended, but not required 
Current information may be found on the Symphony's COVID-19 update page.
 
SPONSORS:
2021-2022 Season sponsored by the Anderman Family Foundation
Supporting Concert Sponsor - County of Sonoma & Creative Sonoma, and Los Cien
Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by Norma Person, in memory of Evert Person
Mariachi Champaña Nevin underwritten by Pacific Gas and Electric, and Nancy and Robert Novak
Discovery Open Rehearsals sponsored by The Stare Foundation and David Stare of Dry Creek Vineyard
Pre-concert talks sponsored by Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy
Composer Enrico Chapela Barba underwritten by Pam and Tim Chanter
Los Braceros world premiere underwritten by The Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation
                and the National Endowment for the Arts
Media sponsor: The Press Democrat
 
Hi-res photos available upon request
 
AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony concert "Visions of Hope"
 
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Mariachi Champaña Nevin, Jeff Nevin, director
Mónica Ábrego, soprano
Giselle Vallejo, contralto
Perry Chacón, Jr., tenor
Rafael Jorge Negrete, baritone
 
WHEN:
Saturday, June 11, 2022 at 7:30 PM (Doors at 6:00 PM, Pre-concert talk 6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
(Discovery Open Rehearsal, Saturday, June 11, at 2:00 PM – no talk)
Sunday, June 12, 2022 at 3:00 PM (Doors at 1:30 PM, Pre-concert talk 2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
Monday, June 13, 2022 at 7:30 PM (Doors at 6:00 PM, Pre-concert talk 6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
 
WHERE:  Weill Hall, Green Music Center, Sonoma State University
 
TICKET PRICES:
$24-$97 for Classical Series performances. One FREE youth ticket per paid adult (not available online).
$18 / adult; $10 / youth (7-17 years of age) for Discovery Open Rehearsal
 
TICKETS: srsymphony.org or (707) 546-8742 (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, opening at 10:30 AM Wednesdays)
 
ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized as having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact: 
Ann Hutchinson
Copywriter & Creative Coordinator
(707) 546-7097 x 222
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

April 1, 2022: Santa Rosa Symphony Family Concert Series Continues on May 1

Santa Rosa Symphony, April 1, 2022

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) —Santa Rosa Symphony (SRS) presents "Classical Rocks!" at 3:00 PM on Sunday, May 1, 2022, at the Green Music Center. This family concert, conducted by Bobby Rogers, includes tunes like the Light Cavalry and William Tell overtures, that young audience members may recognize from their pop culture uses. The all-age program also features Hungarian and Slavanic dances. Matthew Worth will join the orchestra, singing baritone for Georges Bizet's Toreador Song from Carmen and an aria from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.                                  

This affordable concert ($20/adult and $10/child) also includes a complimentary Instrument Petting Zoo, which provides an opportunity for youngsters (and curious adults) to handle and play orchestral instruments at 2:00 PM.
 
Bobby Rogers, who is the SRS Youth Orchestra conductor, studied conducting with Craig Kirchhoff of the University of Minnesota, John Whitwell of Michigan State University, H. Robert Reynolds of University of Michigan and USC Thornton School of Music, Mallory Thompson of Northwestern University, Jack Stamp of Indiana State and Dr. Robert Halseth of Sacramento State University. 
 
Throughout his career, Rogers has been very active with pit orchestras and community orchestras including American Philharmonic, Camellia Symphony and the Rancho Cordova Civic Light Orchestra. He has twice had the wonderful opportunity to conduct at Carnegie Hall. Rogers has also performed and recorded on clarinet, saxophone and flute with various jazz and rock groups, such as Lee Press-On and The Nails, Moonlight Swing Orchestra–a Glenn Miller Tribute Band, Placer Pops Orchestra, Jimmy Luxury, Lucas Arts, Gwen Stefani, Coolio, Third Eye Blind, Smash Mouth, Joe Gilman, Steinway Artist Jim Martinez and Delfayo Marsalis. Read full bio here.
 
Matthew Worth, a Grammy Award-winning baritone, is Professor of Voice at San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Performing highlights from recent seasons include the title role in the world premiere of JFK with Fort Worth Opera, the title role in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Boston Lyric Opera, the narrator in the world premiere and recording of Richard Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua, the world premiere of The Manchurian Candidate with Minnesota Opera, and Moby Dick at Washington National Opera. He has performed principal roles at Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opéra de Montréal, Tanglewood Festival, Cincinnati Opera, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, under luminary conductors James Levine, Lorin Maazel, and Sir Andrew Davis. Worth has degrees from the University of Richmond, Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School.
 
Program for Classical Rocks!
Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 8 (excerpt)
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Serenade in C major for String Orchestra (excerpt)
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4  (excerpt)
Paul Dukas: Fanfare pour précéder La Péri (excerpt)        
Franz von Suppé: Light Cavalry Overture     
Georges Bizet: Toreador Song: “Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre” (from Carmen)     
Giuseppe Verdi: Overture to Nabucco         
Johannes Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 5 (Martin Schmeling, arr.) 
Antonín Dvořák: Slavonic Dance No. 8        
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: “Non piu andrai” from Le nozze di Figaro [The Marriage of Figaro]
Gioachino Rossini: Overture to Guillaume Tell [William Tell] (excerpt)   
 
The series Family Concert Series continues on Sunday, June 5, at 3:00 PM with "Gershwin's Magic Key" (rescheduled from January), conducted by Bobby Rogers and featuring Classical Kids Live!
 
COVID PROTOCOL REQUIREMENTS FOR SYMPHONY FAMILY CONCERTS

Masks are encouraged, but not required, per April 1, 2022 state guidelines.
 
Requirements for patrons 18 years of age and older:
Photo ID
AND
Proof of vaccination OR Negative COVID PCR test (taken within 72 hours prior to performance) 

Patrons are encouraged to consult the website for current information.
 
SPONSORS:
The 2021-2022 Santa Rosa Symphony Family Series is sponsored by The Alan and Susan Seidenfeld Charitable Trust, and Victor and Karen Trione.
 
Hi-res photos available of Rogers and Worth upon request.
 
AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony family concert "Classical Rocks!"
 
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony
Bobby Rogers, conductor
Matthew Worth, baritone
 
WHEN:
Sunday, May 1, 2022 at 3:00 PM (Complimentary Instrument Petting Zoo 2:00 PM)
 
WHERE:  Weill Hall, Green Music Center, Sonoma State University
 
TICKET PRICES:
$20 / adult; $10 / youth (12 and under). All patrons, regardless of age must have a ticket.
 
TICKETS: srsymphony.org or (707) 546-8742 (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, opening at 10:30 AM Wednesdays)
 
ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized as having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact: 
Ann Hutchinson
Copywriter & Creative Coordinator
(707) 546-7097 x 222
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

April 1, 2022: Santa Rosa Symphony premieres Valley of the Moon by Grammy-winning composer Michael Daugherty

Santa Rosa Symphony, April 1, 2022

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) —The Santa Rosa Symphony orchestra, conducted by Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong, will premiere Valley of the Moon by Grammy Award-winning composer Michael Daugherty on May 7, 8 and 9 at the Green Music Center's Weill Hall. Complimenting this new work, which highlights the beauty of our local biodiversity and its fragility, are Korngold's lush, romantic Violin Concerto, featuring Elina Vähälä, J. Strauss II's Overture to Die Fledermaus [The Bat] and Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of the Faun [after Mallarme].
 
Lecce-Chong said, "It is an honor to present a new major orchestral work by Michael Daugherty, one of the most popular and prolific American composers today. Drawing its inspiration from the biodiversity of Sonoma County, Valley of the Moon brings together the Santa Rosa Symphony's commitment to expanding the orchestral canon and celebrating the community that supports us. We also welcome another world-renowned musician, Elina Vähälä, on this program for the soaring lyricism and playful virtuosity of Korngold's Violin Concerto."
 
Of his composition, commissioned by the Santa Rosa Symphony, Daugherty writes, "When visiting Santa Rosa in 2021, I spent several days driving the backroads of Sonoma County to experience the majestic redwood forests, the glorious coast of the Pacific Ocean, the Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen and the coastal village of Bodega Bay where Alfred Hitchcock filmed The Birds (1963).  
"In movements one and three [Out of the Fog, Air on the Redwoods], I create a lush and complex symphonic soundscape, exploring how music can enhance our appreciation of the natural world. . . . In movements two and four [Shadow of the Birds, Call of the Wild], I create foreboding music warning us of the growing fragility of an endangered ecosystem." 
 
Michael Daugherty's orchestral music, recorded by Naxos, has received six Grammy Awards, including Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2011 for Deus ex Machina for Piano and Orchestra and in 2017 for Tales of Hemingway for Cello and Orchestra. Recent commissions include new orchestral works for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Omaha Symphony, the Santa Rosa Symphony and a concerto for violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. The League of American Orchestras ranks Daugherty as one of the 10 most performed living American composers.
 
Born in 1954 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Michael Daugherty is the oldest of five brothers, all professional musicians. They grew up in a musical household, with a father who played the drums in dance bands and a mother who sang in musical theater productions. As a young man, Daugherty studied composition with many of the preeminent composers of the 20th century, including Jacob Druckman, Earle Brown, Bernard Rands and Roger Reynolds at Yale University (1980-1982), Betsy Jolas at the Paris Conservatory and Pierre Boulez at IRCAM in Paris (1979-1980) and György Ligeti in Hamburg (1982-1984). From 1980-1982, Daugherty was also an assistant to jazz arranger Gil Evans in New York. He is currently Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
 
Elina Vähälä made her orchestral debut with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra at the age of twelve and was later chosen by Osmo Vänskä as the orchestra’s "Young Master Soloist." Born in the United States and raised in Finland, Vähälä appears regularly with all of the key Finnish orchestras, as well as being a guest of countless high-profile orchestras across the globe, such as Houston Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Dortmund Philharmoniker, Istanbul State Symphony, Malmo Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and RTVE Spanish Radio Orchestra. She has toured throughout the UK, Finland, Germany, China, Korea and South America. She partners with conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Carlos Kalmar, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Okko Kamu, Jakub Hrůša, Thierry Fischer, Sakari Oramo, Leif Segerstam, Josep Caballé-Domenech, Alexander Liebreich and Michał Nesterowicz.
 
In 2009, Vähälä launched the Violin Academy; funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the academy is a masterclass-based educational project for highly talented young Finnish violinists. Previously a professor at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe, Germany, she has been a professor at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna since September 2019. Vähälä performs with a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin made in 1780.
 
Program at a glance:
JOHANN STRAUSS II: Overture to Die Fledermaus [The Bat]              
erich wolfgang korngold: Violin Concerto (featuring Elina Vähälä) 
claude debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun [after Mallarmé]
michael daugherty: Valley of the Moon (World Premiere)
 
ENHANCEMENTS:
Program notes are available on the concert event page.
One hour prior to each performance, Lecce-Chong provides a 30-minute pre-concert talk, accompanied by guest artists and/or world premiere composers.

COVID PROTOCOLS FOR CLASSICAL SERIES CONCERTS AT THE GREEN MUSIC CENTER
Masks are encouraged, but not required, per April 1, 2022 state guidelines.
 
Age 7* through adult:
Photo ID is required (waived for minors accompanied by parent)
And one of the following:
Proof of vaccination 
OR
Negative COVID-19 PCR tes
t (taken within 48 hours prior to performance) 

Currently, no one will be admitted without photo ID and either proof of vaccine or negative COVID-19 PCR test.
Up-to-date information may be found on the Symphony's COVID-19 update page.
 
*Classical Series concerts are not appropriate for youth below the age of 7.
 
SPONSORS:
Elina Vähälä underwritten by Linda and David Hanes
Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by David and Corinne Byrd
Michael Daugherty underwritten by Nancy and Robert Novak
Discovery Open Rehearsal Series sponsored by The Stare Foundation
and David Stare of Dry Creek Vineyard
Pre-concert talks sponsored by Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy
Media sponsors: The Press Democrat
 
Hi-res photos available on DropBox of Lecce-Chong and musicians
 
AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony concert "Valley of the Moon"
 
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Elina Vähälä, violin
 
WHEN:
Saturday, May 7, 2022 at 7:30 PM (Doors at 6:00 PM, Pre-concert talk 6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
(Discovery Open Rehearsal, Saturday, May 7, at 2:00 PM – no talk)
Sunday, May 8, 2022 at 3:00 PM (Doors at 1:30 PM, Pre-concert talk 2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
Monday, May 9, 2022 at 7:30 PM (Doors at 6:00 PM, Pre-concert talk 6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
 
WHERE:  Weill Hall, Green Music Center, Sonoma State University
 
TICKET PRICES:
$24-$97 for Classical Series performances
$18 / adult; $10 / youth (7-17 years of age) for Discovery Open Rehearsal
 
TICKETS: srsymphony.org or (707) 546-8742 (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, opening at 10:30 AM Wednesdays)
 
ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized as having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact: 
Ann Hutchinson
Copywriter & Creative Coordinator
(707) 546-7097 x 222
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

March 14, 2022: Santa Rosa Symphony's 22-23 Season features critically acclaimed guest artist debuts, a world premiere and an appearance by Conductor Laureate Bruno Ferrandis

Santa Rosa Symphony, March 14, 2022

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) — The Santa Rosa Symphony (SRS), in its 11th season as Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, announces its 95th season, featuring familiar masterworks, such as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which evoke the beauty of nature and the indomitable human spirit, alongside hand-picked contemporary works. In addition, Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong, in his sixth year with the Symphony, continues two four-year projects and names Principal Violist Elizabeth Prior this season's Artistic Partner. The orchestra, with returning guest pianists Christina and Michelle Naughton, will perform the world premiere of a concerto for two pianos by 2020-2021 Artistic Partner Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Subscriptions go on sale Monday, March 14, 2022, at 9:00 AM.
 
Lecce-Chong says, “The 2022-23 season continues the Santa Rosa Symphony's dedication to the pursuit of artistic excellence and innovation. My colleagues and I look forward to sharing some of the most expansive and poignant works from the repertoire all season long - whether it be Beethoven's beloved Ode to Joy Symphony or the first Santa Rosa performance of Strauss' monumental Alpine Symphony. We also continue our commitment to living American composers with major works by Wynton Marsalis, a world premiere by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, and Composer-in-Residence Angélica Negrón. Each program will be a celebration of the human experience with music that strengthens our community.”
 
SRS President and CEO Alan Silow says, "We are extremely excited about the coming season, with its strong, compelling programming, the continuation of Francesco's two four-year projects, the return of Conductor Laureate Bruno Ferrandis in February, a new work by last year's Artistic Partner, Ellen Zwilich, and a new partnership with our own Principal Violist Elizabeth Prior. I look forward, with hope, to an uninterrupted, unaltered season. This won't be a return to normal, but rather a new beginning that's better than ever."
 
Season OVERVIEW for 95th performance season (October – May)
Programming for the 2022-2023 season begins on Saturday, October 1, 2022, with the finale of the seven-concert classical series in early May (dates and descriptions below). All performances are at the Green Music Center’s Weill Hall on the Sonoma State University campus in Rohnert Park, California. 
 
TWO FOUR-YEAR PROJECTS
Lecce-Chong continues two four-year projects. Rachmaninoff & the Hollywood Sound, in its second season, explores Rachmaninoff's larger orchestral works alongside influential Hollywood composers of the past and present, illustrating their shared lush, lyrical and highly praised "Hollywood" sound. This season, it will pair Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony with music from Gone with the Wind (Max Steiner) and The Nun's Story (Franz Waxman). The First Symphony Project, in its third season, features up-and-coming American composer Angélica Negrón in residence for one of her shorter works in the fall and returning with the California premiere of her first Symphony in March.
 
ARTISTIC PARTNER
Santa Rosa Symphony Principal Violist Elizabeth Prior has been named as the 2022-2023 Season Artistic Partner. As such, Prior, in addition to performing in the December concert for Ralph Vaughan Williams' Flos Campi [Flower of the Field]: Suite for Viola, Orchestra and Chorus, will develop a Santa Rosa Symphony Family Concert, serve as a visible ambassador for the orchestra, and to the Symphony's patrons and donors. Prior has been principal violist with the Symphony for 11 years. She is also a member of the New Century Chamber Orchestra, a season substitute with the San Francisco Ballet and associate principal violist with the Marin Symphony. She also performs regularly with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony. A native of South Africa, she was a prizewinner in the International String Competition in Pretoria and gave her debut at Carnegie Hall with the Russian Chamber Orchestra.
 
2022-2023 Classical Series Programming highlights

Symphonies
Beethoven's 9th
Rachmaninoff's 2nd
Tchaikovsky's 6th, Pathétique
Berlioz' Symphonie fantastique
R. Strauss' Alpine Symphony
Composer-in-Residence Angélica Negrón's first symphony (title TBA; California Premiere)

Piano concertos
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Concerto for Two Pianos (World premiere)
Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23

Violin concertos
Wynton Marsalis' Violin Concerto in D major
Camille Saint-Saëns' Violin Concerto in B minor

Special treats
Jessie Montgomery's Soul Force
Music from The Nun's Story (Franz Waxman) and Gone with the Wind (Max Steiner)
J. Strauss' On the Beautiful Blue Danube
Claude Debussy's La Mer
Modest Mussorgsky's (Rimsky-Korsakov, arr.) A Night on Bald Mountain
George Gershwin's Promenade (Walking the Dog)

Acclaimed guest artists
Pianists Christina and Michelle Naughton (returning), Alexander Toradze (returning) Awadagin Pratt
Violinists Bella Hristova and Jennifer Frautschi  
Conductor Laureate Bruno Ferrandis (February concert)
 
2022-2023 SEASON SPECIAL EVENTS
 
CELEBRATION 2022!  September 30, 2022
The Symphony’s annual fundraising event, Celebration 2022! honors Anne Benedetti, Santa Rosa Symphony and Arts Philanthropic Leader, Friday, September 30, 2022, at 6:00 PM. Celebration 2022! includes an elegant reception and a recital by pianist Awadagin Pratt. A gourmet dinner in the Person Lobby features a paddle raise for the Symphony’s music education programs.
 
Opera in Concert: Mozart’s The Magic Flute  April 15, 2023
Rescheduled from 2021, the Symphony presents the much-anticipated Opera in Concert: Mozart's The Magic Flute on Saturday, April 15, 2023, at 7:30 PM. Francesco conducts this multi-discipline tour de force, partnering with ArtQuest at Santa Rosa High School, which will provide choral singers, narrators, dancers, theatrical backdrops and mini-performances in the lobby.
 
FREE YOUTH TICKETS
To encourage their exposure to classical music and to transform Symphony attendance into a family outing, youths 7-17 years of age may attend the Symphony for free with a paid adult. These two-for-one tickets are not available for purchase online and only applies to Classical Series concerts.  
 
2022-2023 Classical Series Concerts
Saturday and Monday 7:30 PM / Sunday 3:00 PM / Discovery Open Rehearsal Saturday 2:00 PM
 
Fantastique!
October 1, 2 & 3, 2022
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Awadagin Pratt, piano
 
Ludwig van Beethoven: Overture to Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus [The Creatures of Prometheus]
Angélica Negrón: Me he perdido [I've been lost]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23
Hector Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
 
Jazz Greats & Tchaikovsky
November 5, 6 & 7, 2022
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Bella Hristova, violin
 
George Gershwin: Promenade (Walking the Dog)
Wynton Marsalis: Violin Concerto in D major
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, Pathétique
 
Beethoven's Ninth
December 3, 4 & 5, 2022
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Elizabeth Prior, viola and artistic partner
Kelley Nassief, soprano
Abigail Nims, mezzo-soprano
Christopher Pfund, tenor
Michael Dean, bass
SSU Symphonic Chorus, Jenny Bent, director
 
JESSIE MONTGOMERY: Soul Force
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Flos Campi [Flower of the Field]: Suite for Viola, Orchestra and Chorus
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 9
 
RACH & the Hollywood Sound
January 21, 22 & 23, 2023
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
 
FRANZ WAXMAN: Suite from The Nun's Story
MAX STEINER: Symphonic Suite from Gone with the Wind
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 2
 
Bruno Returns!
February 18, 19 & 20, 2023
Conductor Laureate Bruno Ferrandis, conductor
Alexander Toradze, piano
 
LILI BOULANGER: D'un soir triste [Of a Sad Evening]
LILI BOULANGER: D'un matin de printemps [One Spring Morning]
MAURICE RAVEL: Piano Concerto in G major
PHILLIP GLASS: The Canyon
CLAUDE DEBUSSY: La Mer [The Sea]
 
Blue Danube
March 25, 26 & 27, 2023
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Jennifer Frautschi, violin
 
JOHANN STRAUSS II: Künstlerleben [Artist's Life]
Angélica Negrón: First symphony title TBA (First Symphony Project – California Premiere)
JOHANN STRAUSS II: An der schönen blauen Donau [On the Beautiful Blue Danube]
CAMILLE Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto in B minor
 
Two Piano World Premiere
May 6, 7 & 8, 2023
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Christina Naughton, piano
Michelle Naughton, piano
 
MODEST MUSSORGSKY, Rimsky-Korsakov, arr: A Night on Bald Mountain
ELLEN TAAFFE ZWILICH: Concerto for Two Pianos (World Premiere)
RICHARD STRAUSS: Eine Alpensinfonie [Alpine Symphony]
 
Concert Conversations (one hour prior to Classical Series performances)
Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong discusses the music and composers, often with the guest artists, one hour prior to the Classical Concert Series performances in Weill Hall. These informative, pre-concert talks, which are included in the price of the ticket, are general seating. Concert Conversations are held before Saturday and Monday night performances at 6:30 PM and prior to Sunday afternoon performances at 2:00 PM.
 
Short bios for guest artists and conductors are included at the end of this release.
 
Full bios: srsymphony.org/Artists
High-res photos
 
FULL List of Works in the 2022-2023 Classical Series
Ludwig van Beethoven                      Overture to Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus [The Creatures of Prometheus], Opus 43*
Angélica Negrón                                  Me he perdido [I've Been Lost]*
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart              Concerto No. 23 in A major for Piano and Orchestra, K. 488
Hector Berlioz                                      Symphonie fantastique for Orchestra, Opus 14
George Gershwin                                 Promenade (Walking the Dog) for Orchestra
Wynton Marsalis                                 Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra*
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky                   Symphony No. 6, in B minor, Opus 74, Pathétique
Jessie Montgomery                             Soul Force*         
Ralph Vaughan Williams                   Flos Campi [Flower of the Field]: Suite for Viola, Orchestra and Chorus*
Ludwig van Beethoven                      Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Opus 125, Choral Symphony
Franz Waxman                                    Suite from The Nun’s Story*
Max Steiner                                          Symphonic Suite from Gone with the Wind*
Sergei Rachmaninoff                        Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Opus 27
Lili Boulanger                                      D’un soir triste [Of a Sad Evening]*              
Lili Boulanger                                      D’un matin de printemps [One Spring Morning] for Orchestra*
Maurice Ravel                                     Concerto in G major for Piano and Orchestra
Phillip Glass                                         The Canyon for Orchestra*
Claude Debussy                                   La Mer [The Sea] for Orchestra
Johann Strauss II                                 Künstlerleben [Artist’s Life] for Orchestra, Opus 316*              
Angélica Negrón                                  First symphony title TBA (First Symphony Project – California Premiere)**
Johann Strauss II                                 An der schönen blauen Donau [On the Beautiful Blue Danube], Opus 314***
Camille Saint-Saëns                           Concerto No 3 in B minor for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 61
Modest Mussorgsky                                           
  (Rimsky-Korsakov, arr.)                  A Night on Bald Mountain for Orchestra
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich                           Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra (World Premiere)****
Richard Strauss                                    Eine Alpensinfonie [Alpine Symphony] for Orchestra, Opus 64
 
* First time performed by SRS
**First Symphony Project Second Performance
***Last Performance in 1941!
****World Premiere
 
 
Season Subscriptions for 2022-2023 Classical Series
On Sale March 14
(subscription renewal deadline to retain same seats is April 8, 2022)
 
7-Concert Classical Series
The seven-concert package secures the same seat for all of the Symphony’s Classical Series concerts.
Packages are $182-$651. A 4-concert mini series and Discovery Open Rehearsal Series are also available, as well as a charter bus service subscription for the Sunday performances.
 
Symphony subscriptions are available ONLY through the
Santa Rosa Symphony Patron Services Office, beginning March 14, 2022.
 
Sponsors for the 2022-2023 Season
All listed sponsors are as of March 10, 2022.
Performances are sponsored by
Marcia Wagner, in memory of Hap Wagner (October)
Judith M. Gappa (November)
The Donald and Maureen Green Orchestral Works Endowment Fund (December)
The Peggy Anne Covington Fund (January)
In honor of Jim Lamb and in memory of Charlotte Lamb (February and May)
Viking Cruises; Supporting sponsor: The E. Nakamichi Foundation (March) 

Discovery Series underwritten by The Stare Foundation and David Stare of Dry Creek Vineyard
Concert Conversations underwritten by Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy
Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by David and Corinne Byrd
                (October – January, and March-May, and Mozart's The Magic Flute)
Conductor Laureate Bruno Ferrandis underwritten by The Alan and Susan Seidenfeld Charitable Trust (February)
Pianist Awadagin Pratt underwritten by Ava and Sam Guerrera
Violinist Bella Hristova underwritten by Sigmund Anderman, in memory of Susan Anderman
Sonoma State University Symphonic Chorus underwritten by Linda and David Hanes
Pianist Alexander Toradze underwritten by Sara and Edward Kozel
Violinist Jennifer Frautschi underwritten by Victor and Karen Trione, in memory of Henry Trione
Pianist Michelle Naughton underwritten by Nancy and Robert Novak
First Symphony Project composition by Angélica Negrón underwritten by First Symphony project commissioners:
Nancy and David Berto, Gordon Blumenfeld, Chuck and Ellen Wear, Creighton White in loving memory of Dorothy Bristow White, and Chloe Tula and Francesco Lecce-Chong
Mozart's Magic Flute sponsors:  
                                Lead sponsor: Victor and Karen Trione
                                Papageno (baritone) by Jack Dupre and Marsha Vas Dupre
                                The Queen of the Night (coloratura soprano) by Irene Sohm   
                                ArtQuest at Santa Rosa High School underwritten by Willow Creek Wealth Management
 
Hospitality PartnerS
The DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel | Sonoma Wine Country in Rohnert Park provides lodging for Santa Rosa Symphony guest artists and conductors. The hotel’s Bacchus Restaurant and Wine Bar is open for pre- and post-concert dining.
 
Korbel provides its award-winning wines as the Symphony's exclusive champagne partner for 2022-2023 Private Reserve Club receptions, which follow Classical Series performances in the Symphony League Founders room in the Green Music Center, and for Celebration 2022!, the Symphony's annual fundraising event.
 
LOGISTICS - The Green Music Center
All Classical Series performances are at Weill Hall, at the Donald and Maureen Green Music Center on the campus of Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, with access from the Rohnert Park Expressway entrance near Petaluma Hill Road. The campus is just 42 miles north of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.
 
Parking
Entering the Sonoma State University campus from Rohnert Park Expressway, there are parking lots immediately to the right. Parking in lots L, M, N and O is included in the price of ticket for Santa Rosa Symphony Classical, Discovery Rehearsal and Family Series concerts. (Parking fees may be charged for additional or special events.)
 
Patron Services Office location and hours
Location: 50 Santa Rosa Avenue (1st floor, off elevator lobby)
Hours: Mon., Tues., Thurs. and Fri. 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM; Wed. 10:30 AM - 5:00 PM; closed Sat. and Sun.
Mailing Address: Santa Rosa Symphony, 50 Santa Rosa Avenue Suite 410, Santa Rosa, CA 95404
Phone: (707) 546-8742                      Web: srsymphony.org                          
 
RELATED NEWS
The Symphony's 2022-2023, four-concert Pops series, the last to be conducted by Principal Pops Conductor Michael Berkowitz after his 15-year tenure, will be performed at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, which will be announced separately by the LBC. In addition, the Santa Rosa Symphony continues to offer special, multimedia classical music concerts with the Green Music Center (GMC), which it will be announced separately, as part of its summer season.
 
Interview Opportunities: Silow, Lecce-Chong, Prior
 
Conductor, Guest Artist and Artistic Partner short biographies
Full bios: srsymphony.org/Artists
High-res photos
Conductors
Francesco Lecce-Chong, Music Director and conductor
Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong is the Music Director of the Santa Rosa Symphony and the Eugene Symphony in Oregon. The press has described him as a “fast rising talent in the music world” with “the real gift” and recognized his dynamic performances, fresh programming, deep commitment to commissioning and performing new music as well as to community outreach.
 
Lecce-Chong has appeared with orchestras around the world including the San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, National Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Colorado Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic and collaborated with world-renowned soloists including Renée Fleming and Itzhak Perlman. 
 
Lecce-Chong is the recipient of several distinctions, including the prestigious Solti Foundation Award. Trained also as a pianist and composer, he completed his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music with Otto-Werner Mueller after attending the Mannes College of Music and Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Italy. He has had the privilege of being mentored and supported by celebrated conductors including Bernard Haitink, David Zinman, Edo de Waart, Manfred Honeck, Donald Runnicles and Michael Tilson Thomas.
 
Bruno Ferrandis, guest conductor (February Classical Series concerts)
Conductor Laureate of the Santa Rosa Symphony Bruno Ferrandis, was awarded the title after twelve seasons as the SRS Music Director. He began his tenure as the Symphony's Music Director and Conductor in July 2006. In 2012-2013, he was awarded an ASCAP AWARD First place” for Adventurous Programming with SRS.
Born in Algiers and raised in Nice, France, Ferrandis is a French citizen and a U.S. Resident. He has conducted all over the world, and his breadth of musical experience includes not only symphony and opera, but also ballet, musical theater and cinema-accompanying music. He has extensive symphonic and ballet experience with orchestras in Europe, Asia and North America. In 1997, he received a “Critics Grand Prize in France” for his conducting of "Wozzeck" by Manfred Gurlitt.
A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, he received a masters degree in conducting from The Juilliard School with Sixten Ehrling and Jorge Mester. He was conductor of The Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra and of The Juilliard Opera Center. He is both a pianist and a string bass musician.
Guest Artists – in order of appearance
Awadagin Pratt, piano (October)
Born in Pittsburgh, Awadagin Pratt enrolled in the University of Illinois at 16, where he studied piano, violin and conducting. At the Peabody Conservatory of Music, he became the first student in the school's history to receive diplomas in three performance areas – piano, violin and conducting. In 1992, Pratt won the Naumburg International Piano Competition and two years later was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Since then, he has played numerous recitals throughout the United States. In recognition of his achievements in the field of classical music, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Johns Hopkins University, as well as honorary doctorates from Illinois Wesleyan and Susquehanna Universities and delivered commencement addresses at those institutions and at Peabody Conservatory.
 
Bella Hristova, violin (November)
Bulgarian-born violinist Bella Hristova combines a storyteller’s approach to programming with a staggeringly broad repertoire that ranges from core to contemporary, including numerous works that she herself has commissioned. Praised for her “expressive nuance and a rich tone” (New York Times) and “impressive power and control” (Washington Post), Hristova is the recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and numerous awards, including First Prize in the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and First Prize in the Michael Hill International Violin Competition.
 
Beethoven's Ninth (December)
Elizabeth Prior, viola
An active Bay Area violist, Elizabeth Prior is the principal violist with the Santa Rosa symphony and a member of the New Century Chamber Orchestra. Elizabeth is also a season substitute with the San Francisco Ballet and is the associate principal violist with the Marin Symphony. She performs regularly with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony. Other orchestral credits include Freiburg Philharmonic (Associate principal) and Cape Town Symphony. She has worked with the Pittsburg Symphony, Südwestfunk, Stuttgart Radio, Basel Symphony, and the Mannheim Opera Orchestras. A native of South Africa, she was a prizewinner in the International String Competition in Pretoria and gave her debut at Carnegie Hall with the Russian Chamber Orchestra.
Kelley Nassief, soprano
“If the angels in heaven really sing, please let them do it like Nassief. Her voice combines the best of two worlds: It has bel canto size, warmth and height, and yet is svelte, with a youthful sparkle.” So wrote the Leipziger Volkszeitung when Kelley Nassief sang Elijah with the Gewandhausorchester and Kurt Masur on the occasion of the sesquicentennial of Mendelssohn’s death. In demand as a concert soloist, Kelley Nassief has recently sung Mozart’s Requiem with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection) with the Tuscon Symphony Orchestra.
Kelley Nassief was named a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, was awarded a Sullivan Foundation Grant, is a Laureate of the Leonard Bernstein Jerusalem International Oratorio and Song Competition, and received a Richard Tucker Career Grant. 
Abigail Nims, mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano Abigail Nims is renowned as a musician of integrity and versatility for her performances of repertoire spanning from Bach, Handel and Mozart to Crumb, Ligeti and premieres of contemporary works. Recent highlights include Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. Previous solo appearances include a premiere performance of Missy Mazzoli’s commissioned opera Proving Up with Opera Omaha, Handel’s Messiah with the Phoenix Symphony, Bach’s St. John Passion with the Louisiana Philharmonic, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus. Highlights of her 2021-2022 season include Handel’s Messiah with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with the Augusta Symphony. Nims is currently a member of the voice faculty at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
Christopher Pfund, tenor
Highly lauded for his irreverent portrayals of the Roasting Swan in Carmina Burana, tenor Christopher Pfund has made the role a pillar of his career, performing it with countless orchestras across North America. In past seasons he has performed Carmina Burana with the symphony orchestras of Alabama, Des Moines, Cleveland, Colorado, Fort Wayne, Hartford, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Nashville, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Reading and San Diego.
Michael Dean, bass
Lauded by the New York Times for his “strong appealing bass-baritone,” American Michael Dean has been hailed by the San Jose Mercury News as “the standout, his voice a penetrating wake-up call." Recent highlights include performances of Mozart’s Requiem with the Eugene Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with the Rochester Philharmonic and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem at the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park. Michael Dean is currently the Chair of Vocal Studies and Professor of Voice at The University of California, Los Angeles.
SSU Symphonic Chorus
Sonoma State University Symphonic Chorus, Jenny Bent director
The Sonoma State University Symphonic Chorus comprises music majors, students from other majors, staff, faculty, and community members. The chorus performs large works such as Mozart’s Requiem, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and Orff’s Carmina Burana, as well as thematic projects such as Madrigals and All That Jazz and the annual holiday Family Concert By Candlelight. Beginning with a special Sunrise Choral Concert during the Green Music Center’s 2012 grand opening weekend, the Symphonic Chorus makes its permanent home in the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Hall and Schroeder Hall at Sonoma State University.
Jenny Bent, director (SSU Symphonic Chorus)
Jenny Bent, DMA, is Director of Choral Activities at Sonoma State University and Project Manager of Chanticleer’s summer program, Chanticleer in Sonoma, in addition to her responsibilities as Choral Director for Santa Rosa Symphony.
In addition to her academic work, Bent serves as an adjudicator for such organizations as the California Music Educators Association, the American Choral Directors Association, Golden State and clinics choirs throughout the Bay Area and beyond.
 
Alexander Toradze, piano (February)
Alexander Toradze is universally recognized as a masterful virtuoso in the grand Romantic tradition. He has enriched the Great Russian pianistic heritage with his own unorthodox interpretative conceptions, deeply poetic lyricism and intensely emotional excitement. Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Alexander Toradze graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow under Lev Naumov, one of the most respected teachers of the Russian piano school, and launched an international career after winning a controversial edition of the Van Cliburn Competition in 1977. Toradze has appeared as soloist with literally all major orchestras in the world. For over 25 years, he has held a professorship at the Indiana University South Bend, where he has created the unique experience of the Toradze Piano Studio.
 
Jennifer Frautschi, violin (March)
Two-time Grammy nominee and Avery Fisher career grant recipient Jennifer Frautschi has garnered worldwide acclaim as a deeply expressive and musically adventurous violinist with impeccable technique and a wide-ranging repertoire. Equally at home in contemporary and classic repertoire, her recent seasons have featured innumerable performances and recordings of works ranging from Robert Schumann and Lili Boulanger to Barbara White and Arnold Schoenberg. She has also had the privilege of premiering several new works composed for her by prominent composers of today. Critics have described her performances as "electrifying," "riveting" and "mesmerizing" and lauded her "staggering energy and finesse" and "fierce expression." After a recent performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto, Cleveland Classical wrote, "We witnessed the most magnificent performance by a guest soloist in recent memory. From the outset of the Brahms Concerto, she was a stunning presence, her playing a breathtaking conflation of grace and grit, and at times downright ferocious."
 
Christina and Michelle Naughton, piano (May)
“Indeed, I’m ready to put them on a level with some of the greatest piano duos of our time . . . They have to be heard to be believed,” said the Washington Post of Christina and Michelle Naughton. They have captivated audiences throughout the globe with the unity created by their mystical communication, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, in Christina’s own words, “There are times I forget we are two people playing together.” The Naughtons work as a duo was recently recognized in 2019 as they became the first piano duo to receive the Avery Fisher Career Grant presented by Lincoln Center. Christina and Michelle Naughton’s career was launched in 2009 with a recital debut at Kennedy Center; and an orchestral debut at the Mann Center with the Philadelphia Orchestra, which led the Philadelphia Inquirer to characterize their playing as “paired to perfection.”
 
Full bios: srsymphony.org/Artists
High-res photos
 
ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), Seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
Copywriter & Creative Coordinator
707-546-7097  ext. 222
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

February 16, 2022: Santa Rosa Symphony begins its four-year exploration of Rachmaninoff's large-scale works alongside Hollywood scores

Santa Rosa Symphony, February 16, 2022

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) —The Symphony orchestra will perform Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 1 and Nino Rota's Ballet Suite from La Strada (The Road) on March 19, 20 and 21 at the Green Music Center's Weill Hall. This will be the first concert in Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong's four-year project: "Rachmaninoff & the Hollywood Sound." The project brings together a complete cycle of Sergei Rachmaninoff's major orchestral works to Santa Rosa for the first time.
 
Lecce-Chong said, "Often overshadowed by his piano concertos, the three symphonies and Symphonic Dances represent some of the most innovative and dramatic orchestral music of the 20th century. Though he spent much of his life in the United States and his final years in Beverly Hills, Rachmaninoff showed no interest in writing for film. However, Hollywood's directors and composers have always been influenced and inspired by his music."
 
Program at a glance:
Hildur Guðnadóttir: From the Other Place   
Nino RotA: Suite dal balletto [Ballet Suite] from La Strada [The Road] for Orchestra   
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Opus 13    
 
Interesting facts about Rachmaninoff and the Hollywood Sound:
*More than 200 film and TV soundtracks have featured Rachmaninoff's works since 1929

*Rota's score for La Strada won the first-ever Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Film (1959)

*Guðnadóttir's From the Other Place is performed from a color map and outline

*In the 2019-2020 Academy Awards season, Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir won Oscars for her scores for The Joker and the HBO's miniseries Chernobyl

Rachmaninoff's First Symphony pays homage to the music of his homeland, while exhibiting his "signature combination of unabashedly lush melodies tinged with melancholy poignancy" (program annotator Elizabeth Schwartz).
 
Nino Rota (1911-1979), a composer whose name is as familiar in Italy as John Williams is in the United States, is best known for his Fellini scores (La Dolce Vita, Amarcord, 8 1/2). In the U.S., his score for Frances Ford Coppola's The Godfather II (he also wrote the score for The Godfather) won an Academy Award for Best Score. Rota, who was performing and publishing his own music while still a teenager, learned conducting at the Curtis Music Institute in Philadelphia. He was the director of the Liceo Musicale in Bari, Italy from 1950 to 1978.
 
ENHANCEMENTS:
Program notes are available on the concert event page.

One hour prior to each performance, Lecce-Chong provides a 30-minute pre-concert talk, accompanied by guest artists and/or world premiere composers. 

COVID PROTOCOLS FOR CLASSICAL SERIES CONCERTS AT THE GREEN MUSIC CENTER
Age 7 through adult:
Masks are required 
Photo ID is required (waived for minors accompanied by parent)
And one of the following:
 Proof of vaccination 
 Negative COVID PCR test (taken within 48 hours prior to performance)  

No one will be admitted without a mask, photo ID and either proof of vaccine or negative COVID-19 PCR test. Classical Series concerts are not appropriate for youth below the age of 7. Up-to-date information may be found on the Symphony's COVID-19 update page.
 
SPONSORS:
Concert sponsored by The Donald and Maureen Green Orchestral Works Endowment Fund
Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by David and Corinne Byrd
Discovery Open Rehearsal Series sponsored by The Stare Foundation
and David Stare of Dry Creek Vineyard
Pre-concert talks sponsored by Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy
Media sponsors: The Press Democrat
 
Hi-res photos available on DropBox of Lecce-Chong and musicians
 
AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony concert "RACH & the Hollywood Sound"
 
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
 
WHEN:
Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 7:30 PM (Doors at 6:00 PM, Pre-concert talk 6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
(Discovery Open Rehearsal, Saturday, March 19, at 2:00 PM – no talk)
Sunday, March 20, 2022 at 3:00 PM (Doors at 1:30 PM, Pre-concert talk 2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
Monday, March 21, 2022 at 7:30 PM (Doors at 6:00 PM, Pre-concert talk 6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
 
WHERE:  Weill Hall, Green Music Center, Sonoma State University
 
TICKET PRICES:
$24-$97 for Classical Series performances
$18 / adult; $10 / youth (7-17 years of age) for Discovery Open Rehearsal
 
TICKETS: srsymphony.org or (707) 546-8742 (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, opening at 10:30 AM Wednesdays)
 
ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized as having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact: 
Ann Hutchinson
Copywriter & Creative Coordinator
(707) 546-7097 x222
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

January 13, 2022: George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (with Michelle Cann) and Copland's Appalachian Spring

Santa Rosa Symphony, January 13, 2022

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) —The Santa Rosa Symphony's February 12-14 program, "American Rhapsody," guest conducted by Aram Demirjian, offers works from American composers who changed the landscape of American symphonic music. Awarding-winning pianist Michelle Cann ascends the stage for George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Florence Price's Piano Concerto in One Movement. This culturally rich program, also includes Aaron Copland's iconic ballet Appalachian Spring and William Grant Still's Darker America.
 
Game-changing composers
Rhapsody in Blue introduced jazz to classical concert audiences, and propelled George Gershwin's career.
 
Florence Price was the first female African-American composer to earn national fame, and have a symphony performed by a major orchestra (her Symphony in E minor in 1933 with the Chicago Symphony).
 
Over his six-decade career, William Grant Still, known as the "dean of African American composers," worked as a performer, arranger, orchestrator, conductor and composer. Darker America represents his first work for orchestra.
 
Aaron Copland, who was known as the "dean of American composers," was unafraid of appealing to the masses. He said, "The composer who is frightened of losing his artistic integrity through contact with a mass audience is no longer aware of the meaning of the word art."
 
Guest conductor and artist
Conductor Aram Demirjian, the 2020 recipient of The Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award and music director of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, is sought after for his "graceful, energetic direction" (Sarasota Herald Tribune), bold programming and distinctive communication skills with audience members and musicians alike.
 
Demirjian’s guest conducting highlights include engagements with the Philadelphia, Sarasota, and Breckenridge Music Festival orchestras, the Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, New England Conservatory, Omaha, Portland, San Antonio and Tucson symphonies, and the Louisiana and Orlando philharmonics.

Internationally, he has conducted the Orquesta Sinfónico de Minería, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and Orchéstre Métropolitain de Montréal. Demirjian is scheduled to make upcoming appearances with the KSO, in addition to debuts with the North Carolina, San Diego, and Santa Rosa symphonies. Read Demirjian's full bio. 
 
Cann performed the New York City premiere of Price's Piano Concerto in July 2016 and the Philadelphia premiere in February 2021. She has also performed Price’s works for solo piano and chamber ensemble for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music Society of Detroit and the New World Symphony, among other presenters. The Boston Musical Intelligencer raved, “Michelle Cann, as the piano soloist, was a compelling, sparkling virtuoso, bringing this riveting work to life in its first New York performance.”

Michelle Cann began studying piano at the age of 7 and since then has placed in various state, national and international competitions, including the Music Teacher’s National Association Competition, the International Russian Piano Music Competition, the Gilmore Piano Foundation Competition and the Blount Young Artists National Competition. She made her orchestral debut at the age of 14 and since then has been invited to perform with various orchestras, including the Florida Orchestra, Tampa Bay Symphony, Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Cleveland Institute of Music Symphony Orchestra. She has performed on the nationally-broadcast radio show, "From the Top," hosted by pianist Christopher O’ Riley; was featured as the inaugural performer on WRTI 90.1 Philadelphia's new series, "In Recital"; and select performances have been broadcast regularly on Philadelphia's WHYY Television. Read full bio here.
 
ENHANCEMENTS:
Program notes are available on the concert event page.
One hour prior to each performance, Demirjian provides a 30-minute pre-concert talk, with Cann.  

COVID PROTOCOLS FOR CLASSICAL SERIES CONCERTS AT THE GREEN MUSIC CENTER
Age 7 through adult:
Masks are required 
Photo ID is required (waived for minors accompanied by parent)
And one of the following:
Proof of vaccination OR Negative COVID PCR test (taken within 72 hours prior to performance) 
 
No one will be admitted without a mask, photo ID and either proof of vaccine or negative COVID-19 PCR test. Classical Series concerts are not appropriate for youth under the age of 7. Up-to-date information may be found on the Symphony's COVID-19 update page.
 
SPONSORS:
Concert sponsored by Viking Cruises
Aram Demirjian underwritten by Corinne and David Byrd
Michelle Cann underwritten by Willow Creek Wealth Management
Discovery Open Rehearsal Series sponsored by The Stare Foundation
  and David Stare of Dry Creek Vineyard
Pre-concert talks sponsored by Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy
Media sponsors: The Press Democrat
 
Hi-res photos available on DropBox of Cann and Demirjian
 
AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony concert "American Rhapsody"
 
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony
Aram Demirjian, conductor
Michelle Cann, piano
 
WHEN:
Saturday, February 12, 2022 at 7:30 PM (Doors at 6:00 PM, Pre-concert talk 6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
(Discovery Open Rehearsal, Saturday, February 12, at 2:00 PM – no talk)
Sunday, February 13, 2022 at 3:00 PM (Doors at 1:30 PM, Pre-concert talk 2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
Monday, February 14, 2022 at 7:30 PM (Doors at 6:00 PM, Pre-concert talk 6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
 
WHERE:  Weill Hall, Green Music Center, Sonoma State University
 
TICKET PRICES:
$24-$97 for Classical Series performances
$18 / adult; $10 / youth (7-17 years of age) for Discovery Open Rehearsal
 
TICKETS: srsymphony.org or (707) 546-8742 (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, opening at 10:30 AM Wednesdays)
 
ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized as having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
Copywriter & Creative Coordinator
(707) 546-7097 x 222                                                                                ahutchinson@srsymphony.org
 

December 22, 2021: Santa Rosa Symphony Family Series is back with three winter/spring concerts

Santa Rosa Symphony, December 22, 2021

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) —Santa Rosa Symphony (SRS) presents "Gershwin's Magic Key" with Classical Kids Live! at 3:00 PM on Sunday, January 23, 2022, at the Green Music Center, the first in its three-concert Family Series. In this drama-enhanced family concert, conducted by Bobby Rogers, a young newspaper boy meets George Gershwin on the streets of New York City and learns about music from the great composer while he and the audience hear 20 of his biggest hits—I Got Rhythm, Rhapsody in Blue and Summertime, to name a few.

This affordable concert ($20/adult and $10/child) also includes a complimentary Instrument Petting Zoo, which provides an opportunity for youngsters (and curious adults) to handle and play orchestral instruments at 2:00 PM. All safety protocols (see below) will be in place for the concert and this Weill Hall lobby activity.

Bobby Rogers, who is the SRS Youth Orchestra conductor, studied conducting with Craig Kirchhoff of the University of Minnesota, John Whitwell of Michigan State University, H. Robert Reynolds of University of Michigan and USC Thornton School of Music, Mallory Thompson of Northwestern University, Jack Stamp of Indiana State and Dr. Robert Halseth of Sacramento State University. 

Throughout his career, Rogers has been very active with pit orchestras and community orchestras including American Philharmonic, Camellia Symphony and the Rancho Cordova Civic Light Orchestra. He has twice had the wonderful opportunity to conduct at Carnegie Hall. Rogers has also performed and recorded on clarinet, saxophone and flute with various jazz and rock groups, such as Lee Press-On and The Nails, Moonlight Swing Orchestra–a Glenn Miller Tribute Band, Placer Pops Orchestra, Jimmy Luxury, Lucas Arts, Gwen Stefani, Coolio, Third Eye Blind, Smash Mouth, Joe Gilman, Steinway Artist Jim Martinez and Delfayo Marsalis. Read full bio here.

Classical Kids Live! – a Classical Kids Music Education program – has collaborated with hundreds of distinguished orchestras through its Theatrical Symphony Concert Series, presenting over a thousand performances for student and family audiences. Over two million children and adults throughout North America and abroad have enjoyed these concerts, which are designed to bring to life the extraordinary lives and the musical masterpieces of the great classical composers.

The series continues on Sunday, April 3 at 3:00 PM with "Francesco at Bat," conducted by SRS Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong and "Classical Rocks!" (rescheduled from October) on Sunday, May 1 at 3:00 PM, conducted by Rogers.

COVID PROTOCOLS FOR SYMPHONY FAMILY CONCERTS
Age 7 through adult:
Masks  required 
Photo ID required (waived for children accompanied by parent) 
And one of the following:
Proof of vaccination 
Negative COVID PCR test (taken within 72 hours prior to performance) 
Ages 3 to 6: Mask and negative rapid antigen test taken within 6 hours of the event, either at home or by a laboratory.
Age 2: Mask required; no tests or proof of vaccination are required.
Patrons younger than 2 years of age are welcome without restriction.

No one will be admitted without adherence to the above protocols. Protocols are subject to change without notice. Patrons are encouraged to consult the website for current information.

All patrons, regardless of age must have a ticket.

SPONSORS:
The 2021-2022 Santa Rosa Symphony Family Series is sponsored by The Alan and Susan Seidenfeld Charitable Trust, and Victor and Karen Trione.

Hi-res photos available in DropBox of guest artist(s) and conductor

AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:

WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony family concert "Gershwin's Magic Key"
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony
Bobby Rogers, conductor
Classical Kids Live!
WHEN:
Sunday, January 23, 2022 at 3:00 PM (Complimentary Instrument Petting Zoo 2:00 PM)
WHERE:  Weill Hall, Green Music Center, Sonoma State University

TICKET PRICES:
$20 / adult; $10 / youth (12 and under)
3-concert subscription package: $54/adult; $27/child
Family packs start at $144 (minimum of 4 subscriptions, 2 of which are for children)
TICKETS: srsymphony.org or (707) 546-8742 (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, opening at 10:30 AM Wednesdays)

ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.

The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.

Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

The Symphony is recognized as having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
Copywriter & Creative Coordinator
(707) 546-7097 x 222
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

December 8, 2021: Return of Celebrated pianist Olga Kern for Beethoven's Emperor Concerto

Santa Rosa Symphony, December 8, 2021

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) —Led by Music Director and Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Santa Rosa Symphony orchestra will perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor, on January 8, 9 and 10, 2022, featuring award-winning pianist Olga Kern. The program begins with Richard Wagner's Lohengrin: Prelude to Act 1. Completing the first 2022 concert, "Beethoven à la Kern," is the world premiere of Gabriella Smith's ONE for Orchestra, which is the continuation of a four-season First Symphony Project, funded jointly by patron households of the Santa Rosa and Eugene symphonies.
 
Lecce-Chong said, "It is such a thrill and honor to welcome Bay Area native Gabriella Smith to the Santa Rosa Symphony for the world premiere of her symphony, ONE. In demand by the world's greatest ensembles and artists, Gabriella Smith will take audiences into her unique and unforgettable sound worlds in one of her largest projects to date. We are also delighted to welcome back a long-time favorite of our audience and orchestra, the brilliant pianist, Olga Kern, for Beethoven's magnificent Emperor Concerto."
 
Interesting facts about Beethoven à la Kern:
*Kern is a laureate of a number of international piano competitions, in addition to founding her own.  

*Kern was the first woman to win the Van Cliburn International Competition in more than 30 years.

*Smith's score calls for "metal objects with varying degrees of resonance.” She encourages musicians to get creative and offers some suggestions: metal mixing bowls, pots, pans, lids, cheese graters, metal water bottles, machine parts or tin cans.

*Smith says of ONE, "The title is a reminder that we humans are only one of millions of species on this planet—each of which plays an important role in the functioning of a healthy ecosystem—and we need to come together as one in order to fix the imbalance that humans have created." 

Award-winning pianist Olga Kern was born into a family of musicians in Russia and began studying piano at the age of 5, and at 17 was awarded first prize at the Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition. In 2001, she jump-started her United States career, winning a historic Gold Medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas—the first woman to do so in more than 30 years.

A Steinway Artist, Kern is a laureate of a number of international competitions. In 2016, she was Jury Chairman of both the Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition and the first Olga Kern International Piano Competition, where she also holds the title of Artistic Director. In coming seasons, she will continue to serve on the juries of a number of other high-level competitions. Kern frequently gives masterclasses and, since 2017, has served on the piano faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. In 2019, she was appointed the Connie & Marc Jacobson Director of Chamber Music at the Virginia Arts Festival.

Highlights of the 2019-20 season included performances with the Allentown Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, New Mexico Philharmonic and the New West Symphony. Read full bio.
 
Gabriella Smith is a composer and environmentalist. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area playing and writing music, hiking, backpacking and volunteering on a songbird research project in Point Reyes. Whether for orchestras, chamber ensembles, voices, or electronics, Smith’s music comes from a love of play, exploring new sounds on instruments, building compelling musical arcs and connecting listeners with the natural world.
 
Many of Smith’s works address the climate crisis and the destruction of the environment. Through her music, she often tries to provide listeners with an emotional connection to the natural world in a plea for action. Mourning our planet’s loss of biodiversity, Smith’s Requiem is a 25-minute work for eight singers and string quartet, written for Roomful of Teeth and Dover Quartet and commissioned by Bravo!Vail in 2018. Instead of the traditional Requiem text, the text of Smith’s Requiem is a list of the scientific (Latin) names of all the species that have become extinct in the last 100 years. Smith’s first full-length album, Lost Coast, deals with the grief, loss, rage, fear and hopelessness experienced as a result of climate change, as well as the joy, beauty and wonder she has felt in the world’s last wild places. Originally conceived as a cello concerto, Lost Coast was written for and recorded with cellist Gabriel Cabezas, violist/producer Nadia Sirota, Smith singing, and all three of them playing found-object percussion. Lost Coast was recorded at Greenhouse Studios in Iceland and was released June 25, 2021, on Bedroom Community. Smith has also written many works inspired by field recordings she has made of terrestrial and underwater soundscapes, including the sounds of dawn choruses, tide pools and coral reefs.
 
Described as “high-voltage and wildly imaginative” (Philadelphia Inquirer), and “the coolest, most exciting, most inventive new voice I’ve heard in ages” (Musical America), Smith’s music has been performed all over the world by yMusic, Aizuri Quartet, eighth blackbird, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Roomful of Teeth, Dover Quartet, Friction Quartet, PRISM Quartet, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra and Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, among others.
 
Hi-res photos available in DropBox of Symphony, Kern and Lecce-Chong
 
ENHANCEMENTS:
*Program notes are available on the concert event page.
*One hour prior to each performance, Lecce-Chong provides a 30-minute pre-concert talk with guest artist Olga Kern. 

COVID PROTOCOLS FOR SYMPHONY CONCERTS AT THE GREEN MUSIC CENTER
Ages 12 & up;
*Masks are required 
*Photo ID is required
*And one of the following:
  *Proof of vaccination - name on card must match photo ID.
  *Negative COVID PCR test (taken within 72 hours prior to performance) - name on the test results must match photo ID.
Ages 7-11:
*Masks are required
*Proof of vaccination or Negative COVID PCR test (taken within 72 hours prior to performance).
*Photo ID is required unless accompanied by parent. 

No one will be admitted without a mask, photo ID and either proof of vaccine or negative COVID-19 PCR test. No exceptions.
 
SPONSORS:
2021-2022 Classical Season sponsored by the Anderman Family Foundation
Concert sponsored by Judith M. Gappa
Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by David and Corinne Byrd
Olga Kern underwritten by Sara and Edward Kozel
World Premiere underwritten by First Symphony Project commissioners: Nancy and David Berto, Gordon Blumenfeld, Chuck and Ellen Wear, Creighton White in loving memory of Dorothy Bristow White, and Chloe Tula and Francesco Lecce-Chong
World Premiere Supporting Sponsor: Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy
Discovery Open Rehearsal Series sponsored by The Stare Foundation and David Stare of Dry Creek Vineyard
Pre-concert talks sponsored by Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy
Season media sponsor: The Press Democrat
 
INVERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:
Francesco Lecce-Chong
 
Hi-res photos available in DropBox of Symphony, Kern and Lecce-Chong
 
AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony concert "Beethoven à la Kern"
 
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Olga Kern, piano                
 
WHEN:
Saturday, January 8, 2021 at 7:30 PM (Doors at 6:00 PM, Pre-concert talk 6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
(Discovery Open Rehearsal, Saturday, January 8, at 2:00 PM – no talk)
Sunday, January 9, 2021 at 3:00 PM (Doors at 1:30 PM, Pre-concert talk 2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
Monday, January 10, 2021 at 7:30 PM (Doors at 6:00 PM, Pre-concert talk 6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
 
WHERE:  Weill Hall, Green Music Center, Sonoma State University
 
TICKET PRICES:
Tickets begin at $24 for Saturday and Monday evening performances; $29 for Sunday afternoon performances
Discovery Open Rehearsal ticket prices: $18 / adult; $10 / youth (7-17 years of age)
 
TICKETS: (707) 546-8742, srsymphony.org or by email at tickets@srsymphony.org (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, opening at 10:30 AM Wednesdays)
 
ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), Seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized as having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
(707) 546-7097 x 222
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

November 24, 2021: Santa Rosa Symphony names two new Directors to its administrative staff

Santa Rosa Symphony, November 24, 2021

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) — The Santa Rosa Symphony announced two new directors named to its administrative staff. Eman Isadiar will be the Symphony's new Director of Development and Brenda Fox has been promoted to Director of Marketing and Patron Services.
 
Santa Rosa Symphony President and CEO Alan Silow said, "The SRS Board and staff are very excited to have Eman come on board, with his strong fund development skills and long-standing administrative experience with Northern California performing arts. Brenda has already brought a fresh perspective to her new role and has the confidence, drive, imagination and attention to detail required to successfully direct the operations of the Marketing Department."
 
Director of Development Eman Isadiar, who will commence his work for the Symphony on December 1, comes to the Symphony from an extensive fund development background in California performing arts organizations, including roles as Executive Director for the esteemed Bear Valley Music Festival alongside the late Oakland Symphony Music Director Michael Morgan, Festival Opera in Walnut Creek, Golden State Youth Orchestra in Palo Alto and the Fremont Symphony Orchestra. Isadiar, a resident of San Rafael, holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from San Francisco State University and is a California Academy of Music Piano Competition prize winner. A Leadership San Francisco Graduate, Isadiar has served on arts-related boards, committees and task forces.

Isadiar said of his appointment, “Raising community support for the performing arts has always been central to my work. The task is even more rewarding with such a prominent orchestra as Santa Rosa Symphony, in such a prosperous community as Sonoma County."

Director of Marketing and Patron Services Brenda Fox, a Santa Rosa resident, stepped into her new role on November 16. Fox joined the Symphony in 2013 as Patron Services Manager, strengthening the marketing department with her experience in performing arts and her organizational and customer service skills. Also a board member for The Imaginists since 2018, she continues to assist that local performing arts organization with accounting. A passionate quilter and community leader, she founded the Community Quilts Project in 1999. 

Fox said, "I appreciate this opportunity to take on a greater role in the Symphony organization. I will continue to maintain my valued relationships with our patrons even as I expand my responsibilities."

PRESS PHOTOS IN DROPBOX

ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), Seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
707-546-7097  ext. 222
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

November 5, 2021: Santa Rosa Symphony showcases five of its musicians in a Hindemith concerto

Santa Rosa Symphony, November 5, 2021

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) —Francesco Lecce-Chong leads the orchestra in a program that puts five of its musicians in the spotlight as soloists. Paul Hindemith's Concerto for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Harp and Orchestra features four principal musicians and one acting principal as follows:

Kathleen Lane Reynolds, principal flute     
Laura Reynolds, principal oboe
Roy Zajac, principal clarinet
Karla Ekholm, acting principal bassoon
Dan Levitan, principal harp            
 
Lecce-Chong said, "One of the great joys of last season's virtual concerts was putting the spotlight on the musicians in our orchestra, so I'm particularly delighted to showcase five of my talented colleagues as soloists on Hindemith's Concerto. Alongside the dazzling and humorous Hindemith are two of the most intensely passionate and beloved works from the repertoire: Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony."
 
Interesting facts about Showcasing Our Own:
*At the premiere of Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, the London Times music critic wrote, “The work is wonderful because it seems to lift one into some unknown region of musical thought and feeling … one is never sure whether one is listening to something very old or very new … it cannot be assigned to a time or a school, but it is full of visions.”

*As a surprise for his wife Gertrude, Hindemith based the third movement of his concerto on the opening phrase of Mendelssohn’s famous “Wedding March” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

*Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony, an anthem of perseverance, is his most popular and most performed symphony.
 
Kathleen Lane Reynolds, flute
SRS Principal flutist Kathleen Lane Reynolds has performed with orchestras and chamber ensembles in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center, and currently performs with the SRS Chamber Players, Sonoma State University Faculty Chamber Music Series, Wind Power Woodwind Quintet, Cinnabar Opera Theater, Mendocino Music Festival, Symphony of the Redwoods and the Noyo Flute Quartet. She received her MM degree at the Manhattan School of Music.
 
Laura Reynolds, oboe
Laura Reynolds is SRS and California Symphony principal oboist, and plays second oboe and English horn with Marin Symphony, as well as performing with other regional orchestras and Trois Bois. She is on faculty at Sonoma State University, and faculty and senior program manager at San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Reynolds is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.   
 
Roy Zajac, clarinet
Principal Clarinetist Roy Zajac earned his seat in the SRS orchestra in 1998, while he was in the Air Force Band of the Golden West. He also began playing for other orchestras as a substitute. Zajac teaches and mentors and has seen his students achieve positions in California Allstate (first chair), San Francisco Youth Orchestra and the SRS Youth Orchestra. 
 
Karla Ekholm, bassoon
Second Bassoon with Santa Rosa Symphony since 1996, Karla Ekholm plays principal bassoon with San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Opera Center, Pacific Chamber Orchestra and Vallejo Symphony, as well as playing second bassoon with Marin Symphony and Eastern Music Festival Orchestra. Ekholm studied with Walter Green at San Francisco State University and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She holds a Masters of Music from Temple University where she studied with Bernard Garfield. 
 
Dan Levitan, harp
Principal Harpist Dan Levitan began playing harp in high school. His two-year preparation and participation in the 10th International Harp Contest in Israel taught Dan how to perform at the highest level of music. He has performed with most Northern California professional orchestras from Mendocino to Carmel, is principal harp for Symphony Silicon Valley and Marin Symphony, and first-call substitute harpist for the San Francisco Opera Orchestra.
 
Full bios: srsymphony.org
 
Hi-res photos available in DropBox of guest artists and Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong
 
ENHANCEMENTS:
*Program notes are available on the concert event page.
*One hour prior to each performance, Lecce-Chong provides a 30-minute pre-concert talk, accompanied by guest artist(s). 

COVID PROTOCOLS FOR SYMPHONY CONCERTS AT THE GREEN MUSIC CENTER

Ages 12 & up:
Masks are required 
Photo ID is required
And one of the following:
  Proof of vaccination - name on card must match photo ID.
  Negative COVID PCR test (taken within 72 hours prior to           performance) - name on the test results must match photo ID.

Ages 7-11:
Masks are required
Negative COVID PCR test (taken within 72 hours prior to performance).
Photo ID is required unless accompanied by parent. 

No one will be admitted without a mask, photo ID and either proof of vaccine or negative COVID-19 PCR test. No exceptions.
 
SPONSORS:
2021-2022 Classical Season sponsored by the Anderman Family Foundation
Concert sponsored by Jim Lamb
Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by David and Corinne Byrd
Kathleen Lane Reynolds underwritten by Dr. Larry Schoenrock Endowment Fund
Laura Reynolds underwritten by Karen Brodsky and Mark Dierkhising
Roy Zajac underwritten by Chuck and Ellen Wear
Karla Ekholm underwritten by Gregory Sprehn
Discovery Open Rehearsal Series sponsored by The Stare Foundation
and David Stare of Dry Creek Vineyard
Pre-concert talks sponsored by Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy
Media sponsor: The Press Democrat
 
INVERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:
Francesco Lecce-Chong
 
Hi-res photos available in DropBox of guest artists and Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong
 
AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony concert "Showcasing Our Own"
 
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Kathleen Lane Reynolds, flute        
Laura Reynolds, oboe
Roy Zajac, clarinet
Karla Ekholm, bassoon
Dan Levitan, harp              
 
WHEN:
Saturday, December 4, 2021 at 7:30 PM (Doors at 6:00 PM, Pre-concert talk 6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
(Discovery Open Rehearsal, Saturday, December 4, at 2:00 PM – no talk)
Sunday, December 5, 2021 at 3:00 PM (Doors at 1:30 PM, Pre-concert talk 2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
Monday, December 6, 2021 at 7:30 PM (Doors at 6:00 PM, Pre-concert talk 6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
 
WHERE:  Weill Hall, Green Music Center, Sonoma State University
 
TICKET PRICES:
Tickets begin at $24 for Saturday and Monday evening and Sunday afternoon performances
Discovery Open Rehearsal ticket prices: $18 / adult; $10 / youth (7-17 years of age)
 
TICKETS: (707) 546-8742, srsymphony.org or by email at tickets@srsymphony.org (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, opening at 10:30 AM Wednesdays)
 
ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), Seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized as having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
(707) 546-7097 x 222                                                                                ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

October 6, 2021: Santa Rosa Symphony performs Scheherazade Clarinetist David Krakauer featured in klezmer world premiere he co-composed

Santa Rosa Symphony, October 6, 2021

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) —The Santa Rosa Symphony presents a culturally rich program with orchestral klezmer music from traditional to world premiere, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade conducted by Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong. Renowned clarinetist David Krakauer is featured in the world premiere of The Fretless Clarinet: Concerto for Klezmer Clarinet and Orchestra, which he composed with Kathleen Tagg.
 
Lecce Chong said, "David Krakauer has been a mentor, friend and musical inspiration since my college days, and it is truly an honor to bring to life this incredible concerto. I look forward to not only showcasing his amazing artistry with the orchestra, but also giving our audience the unique and thrilling experience of traditional klezmer music in concert."
 
Culturally Rich Program
For the first half of the evening, the symphony will take on a klezmer flavor. In addition to Krakauer and Tagg's concerto, the Symphony will perform orchestral arrangements of two traditional klezmer pieces (Der Heyser Bulgar and Der Gasn Nign) and Abraham Ellstein's Chassidic Dance.
 
Francesco Lecce-Chong's program concludes with Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade (Symphonic Suite) for Orchestra, a piece inspired by One Thousand and One Arabian Nights
 
David Krakauer Only a select few artists have the ability to convey their message to the back row, to galvanize an audience with a visceral power that connects on a universal level. David Krakauer is such an artist. Widely considered one of the greatest clarinetists on the planet with his own unique sound and approach, he has been praised internationally as a key innovator in modern klezmer as well as a major voice in classical music. In 2015, he received a Grammy nomination as soloist with the conductor-less chamber orchestra A Far Cry.

Krakauer began his journey with the music of his Eastern European Jewish cultural heritage at the end of the 1980s as the Berlin Wall was falling, and culture from “behind the Iron Curtain” began to emerge in the West. Inspired by these massive cultural shifts, he began to explore klezmer music as he sought to connect with his Jewish identity in a deeper way. He very quickly became a creator in his own right; first as a member of the groundbreaking band The Klezmatics (that launched the second klezmer revival of the early 1990s), then as an integral part of John Zorn’s Radical Jewish Culture movement, and ultimately as a composer, soloist and bandleader in the klezmer genre.

He has participated in a wide array of projects, solo appearances, and multi-genre collaborations with ensembles, conductors, composers and individual artists such as the WDR Big Band, Abraham Inc. (co-led with Fred Wesley and Socalled), the Emerson Quartet, Marin Alsop, Wlad Mathulets, Leonard Slatkin (Orchestre de Lyon), Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Quatuor Debussy, JoAnn Falletta, George Tsontakis, Anakronic Electro Orkestra and Kathleen Tagg (pianist and co-creator of Breath & Hammer). Read full bio.
 
ENHANCEMENTS:
Program notes are available on the concert event page.

Concert Conversations, 30-minute pre-concert talks, occur one hour prior to each performance, with Lecce-Chong, usually accompanied by the guest artist(s).  

COVID-19 Requirements:
Proof of Vaccination OR negative COVID-19 PCR test result dated within 72 hours of the concert AND a photo I.D. will be required for entry. All patrons must be properly masked. Children younger than 12 may be admitted with a negative COVID-19 PCR result dated within 72 hours of the concert and photo ID (ID may be waived if accompanied by a parent). That age group (7-11) may also attend the Discovery Rehearsal without such proofs. Patrons who do not comply with these guidelines will be denied entry or asked to leave the concert hall. No exceptions. More info.
 
SPONSORS:
Classical Series sponsored by the Anderman Family Foundation
Concert sponsored by the Peggy Anne Covington Fund
Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by Corinne and David Byrd
David Krakauer underwritten by Sigmund Anderman, in memory of Susan Anderman
World Premiere commissioned by the Santa Rosa Symphony (lead commissioner), the Eugene Symphony and The
      Adele and John Gray Endowment Fund, with additional support from Karen Brodsky and Mark Dierkhising
Discovery Open Rehearsal Series sponsored by The Stare Foundation and David Stare of Dry Creek Vineyard
Pre-concert talks sponsored by Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy
Season media sponsor: The Press Democrat
 
RELATED NEWS – Masterclass November 4, 2021
On Thursday, November 4, 2021, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM, Krakauer will offer a masterclass at Weill Hall. This opportunity to learn new techniques, which may even apply to other instruments, and see students respond and improve in real time, is free, though reservations are required. Interested parties may call Patron Services at (707) 546-7097 to reserve a seat. Masks will be required, but proof of vaccination or a negative test will not be necessary for this smaller event. 
 
INVERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES
Francesco Lecce-Chong, David Krakauer, Kathleen Tagg
 
HIGH RES PHOTOS OF KRAKAUER (and Kathleen Tagg)
 
SRS ORCHESTRA PHOTOS
 
LECCE-CHONG PHOTOS
 
AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony Concert "Klezmer & Krakauer"
 
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
David Krakauer, violin
 
WHEN:
Saturday, November 6, 2021 at 7:30 PM (Doors at 6:00 PM, Pre-concert talk 6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
(Discovery Open Rehearsal, Saturday, November 6, 2021, at 2:00 PM – no talk)
Sunday, November 7, 2021 at 3:00 PM (Doors at 1:30 PM, Pre-concert talk 2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
Monday, November 8, 2021 at 7:30 PM (Doors at 6:00 PM, Pre-concert talk 6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
 
WHERE:  Weill Hall, Green Music Center, Sonoma State University
 
TICKET PRICES:
Saturday and Monday evening, and Sunday afternoon performances: $24-$87. See COVID-19 Vaccine/Negative test requirements at srsymphony.org.
Discovery Open Rehearsal: $18 / adult; $10 / youth (7-17 years of age). See COVID-19 Vaccine/Negative test requirements at srsymphony.org.
 
TICKETS:
(707) 546-8742 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Wednesday 10:30 am – 5:00 pm) srsymphony.org anytime
 
ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), Seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized as having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
707-546-7097 x 222
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

September 24, 2021: Santa Rosa Symphony honors Alan Silow, President and CEO for its Celebration 2021! fundraising event on November 5, 2021

Santa Rosa Symphony, September 24, 2021

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) — The Santa Rosa Symphony’s annual fundraising event, Celebration 2021! honors Alan Silow, President and CEO of the Santa Rosa Symphony for his 20 years of service to the Symphony on Friday, November 5 at 5:30 PM. Celebration 2021! includes an elegant reception in Prelude Restaurant and a recital by clarinetist and composer David Krakauer. A gourmet dinner in the Person Lobby is followed by a paddle raise for the Symphony’s music education programs.
 
SRS Chairman of the Board Corinne Byrd says, "I’m delighted that the Board selected Symphony President & CEO Alan Silow to be the honoree at our Celebration 2021 Gala! He is the quintessential example of consummate executive leadership: a seasoned professional whose acumen for strategy and program-building have propelled our Symphony Association, for 20 years, to greater success. Furthermore, Alan’s remarkable resourcefulness and perseverance during the past Symphony season will long benefit our patrons, youth, musicians, staff and community in infinite ways."
 
This intimate affair will have no more than 166 people in attendance, with plenty of room to spread out in the spacious Green Music Center. With patron safety in mind, all attendees will provide proof of full vaccination and remain masked when not eating or drinking. Tickets are $350/person ($265 is tax-deductible).
 
Alan Silow
In June 2021, Silow was awarded the Heart of Sonoma County™ Excellence in Leadership Award by the Center for Volunteer & Nonprofit Leadership. Silow earned the award for his achievements during his nearly 20-year tenure with the Symphony.
 
Alan Silow has been President and CEO of the Santa Rosa Symphony since July of 2002. During his tenure, the Symphony has returned to a fiscally sound basis that has produced annual surpluses in both operations and an endowment that has grown over 500%. Silow played a leadership role in the public/private partnership with Sonoma State University to build a new world-class symphony hall that opened in Fall 2012. The Santa Rosa Symphony is now the largest California regional symphony orchestra north of Los Angeles and the resident orchestra at the world-class Green Music Center. He also currently sits on the Board of the Santa Rosa Convention & Visitors Bureau to provide better cross-cultivation between the arts and tourism. Silow’s accomplishments were recognized with a nonprofit leadership award for innovation, community engagement and growth given by North Bay Business Journal in October 2012.
 
Prior to taking this position, he concluded a successful, three-year tenure as Executive Director of ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio. Previous positions include Director of Marketing & Public Relations for the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, a world-renowned, performing arts organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Executive Director of the Santa Fe Convention & Visitors Bureau. During his tenure, readers of Conde Nast Traveler magazine named Santa Fe the top travel destination in the world.
 
Silow graduated Phi Beta Kappa with an undergraduate B.A. degree in Economics with Honors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs. He is married with one son and lives in Oakmont located in Sonoma Valley.
 
PHOTO OF ALAN SILOW             
 
David Krakauer, clarinet
David Krakauer has been praised internationally as a key innovator in modern klezmer as well as a major voice in classical music. In 2015, he received a Grammy nomination as soloist with the conductor-less chamber orchestra, A Far Cry. He began his journey with the music of his Eastern European Jewish cultural heritage at the end of the 1980s as the Berlin Wall was falling, and culture from “behind the Iron Curtain” began to emerge in the West. Inspired by these massive cultural shifts, he began to explore klezmer music as he sought to connect with his Jewish identity in a deeper way. He very quickly became a creator in his own right; first as a member of the ground-breaking band The Klezmatics (that launched the second klezmer revival of the early 1990s), then as an integral part of John Zorn’s Radical Jewish Culture movement, and ultimately as a composer, soloist and band leader in the klezmer genre.
 
His wide array of projects, solo appearances, and multi-genre collaborations includes ensembles, conductors, composers and individual artists such as the WDR Big Band, Abraham Inc. (co-led with Fred Wesley and Socalled), the Emerson Quartet, Marin Alsop, Wlad Mathulets, Leonard Slatkin (Orchestre de Lyon), Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Quatuor Debussy, JoAnn Falletta, George Tsontakis, Anakronic Electro Orkestra and Kathleen Tagg (pianist and co-creator of Breath & Hammer).
 
PHOTO OF DAVID KRAKAUER
 
RELATED NEWS:
David Krakauer performs with the Symphony November 6, 7 & 8, for “Krakauer & Klezmer,” which includes traditional klezmer arranged for orchestra, a world premiere Krakauer composed with Kathleen Tagg and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. Press release will be sent separately in early October.
 
AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:
 
WHAT: Celebration 2021! Honoring Alan Silow, Santa Rosa Symphony President and CEO
 
INCLUDES: reception, dinner, and recital by clarinetist David Krakauer
 
WHEN: Friday, November 5, 2021, 5:30 PM
 
WHERE:  Weill Hall, Green Music Center, Sonoma State University
 
Tickets: $350/person ($265 is tax-deductible)
 
PURCHASE METHOD: Enid Rickley-Myres: (707) 546-7097 x 223 OR Patron Services: (707) 546-8742

hours: M-F 9 AM - 5 PM, closed Saturdays and Sundays.
 
ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), Seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
707-546-7097  ext. 222
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

September 15, 2021: Santa Rosa Symphony Returns to In-person Concerts Featuring works by groundbreaking men of the past and innovative women of today October 2, 3 & 4, 2021 at the Green Music Center

Santa Rosa Symphony, September 15, 2021

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) —After a successful season of virtual concerts, the Santa Rosa Symphony returns to the Green Music Center on October 2, 3 and 4. Prize-winning Violinist Julian Rhee, praised for his "sophisticated, assured tone, superb intonation" (The Strad), performs Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5, Turkish with the orchestra. Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations, with each movement written in the persona of one of the composer's friends; Libby Larsen's Deep Summer Music, inspired by waving, colorful fields of grain; and First Symphony Project composer Gabriella Smith's Rust complete this program of innovators, past and present, conducted by Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong.  
 
Lecce Chong said, "I am thrilled to welcome audiences back to the Green Music Center with a program that celebrates the joy and magnificence of orchestral music. Alongside Elgar's beloved Enigma Variations, I look forward to introducing audiences to the exciting music of our Composer-in-Residence, Gabriella Smith, as well as one of the most impressive young musicians I know today, violinist Julian Rhee."
 
Santa Rosa Symphony President and CEO Alan Silow said, "This season proves to be just as memorable as the last as we reunite in our beautiful, acoustically exquisite hall to enjoy a season filled with wonder alongside familiar comforts and, after the struggles getting here, with a greater appreciation for what we have."
 
Julian Rhee made his Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra debut at age eight. Since then, he has been a soloist with the Aspen Philharmonic, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Avanti Chamber Orchestra, and the San Diego, Pittsburgh, Eugene and Madison symphony orchestras. He has performed in concert halls across the United States and has also appeared in Argentina, Vienna and Hungary. He earned the firs- place prize at the Elmar Oliveira, Johansen and Klein international competitions, as well as winning the Aspen Concerto Competition. Rhee studied with Almita and Roland Vamos at the Music Institute of Chicago Academy. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree with Miriam Fried at the New England Conservatory. Read full bio.
 
INNOVATIVE COMPOSERS OF TODAY
Gabriella Smith
Also an environmentalist, Smith volunteers on a songbird research project.

Smith released Lost Coast, her first full-length album in July 2021, with cellist Gabriel Cabezas.

Gabriella Smith's first Symphony, ONE for Orchestra, a First Symphony Project commission supported by SRS and Eugene Symphony donors, premieres in Santa Rosa Symphony's "Beethoven à la Kern," January 8-10.

Libby Larsen
Libby Larsen lays claim to more than 500 original compositions, which encompass multiple genres, and range from vocal, band and chamber music, to massive orchestral works and more than 15 operas.

Larsen won a Grammy Award for producer of Best Classical Vocal Performance.

Larsen's works appear on more than 50 CDs.

Larsen often pulls rhythms from styles of speech in American language. For example, the speech of an auctioneer or revivalist.
 
ENHANCEMENTS:
Program notes are available on the concert event page.

Concert Conversations, 30-minute pre-concert talks, occur one hour prior to each performance, with Lecce-Chong, usually accompanied by the guest artist(s).
 
COVID-19 Requirements:
Proof of Vaccination or negative COVID-19 test results within 72 hours AND a photo I.D. will be required for entry. All patrons must be properly masked. No one under 12 years of age will be admitted to the performances, with the exception of patrons 7-12 years of age to the Discovery Rehearsal. Patrons who do not comply with these guidelines will be denied entry or asked to leave the concert hall. No exceptions. More info.
 
SPONSORS:
Classical Series sponsored by the Anderman Family Foundation
Concert sponsored by Marcia Wagner, in memory of Hap Wagner
Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by Corinne and David Byrd
Julian Rhee underwritten by Ava and Sam Guerrera
Discovery Open Rehearsal Series sponsored by The Stare Foundation
and David Stare of Dry Creek Vineyard
Pre-concert talks sponsored by Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy
Season media sponsor: The Press Democrat
 
RELATED NEWS – Masterclass September 30, 2021
On Thursday, September 30, 2021, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM, Rhee will offer a masterclass at Weill Hall.
The two 17-year-old violinists from Santa Rosa Symphony Institute for Music Education's Training Young Musicians who will perform for Rhee during the masterclass are Credo High senior Aeden Seaver (co-concertmaster for Young People’s Chamber Orchestra) and Sonoma Academy senior Jeremy Felton (concertmaster of Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra). This opportunity to learn new techniques, which may even apply to other instruments, and see students respond and improve in real time, is free, though reservations are required. Interested parties may call Patron Services at (707) 546-7097 to reserve a seat. Masks will be required, but proof of vaccination or a negative test will not be necessary for this smaller event. 
 
INVERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES
Francesco Lecce-Chong, Julian Rhee
 
HIGH RES PHOTO OF RHEE
 
SRS ORCHESTRA PHOTOS
 
LECCE-CHONG PHOTOS
 
AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony Concert "Elgar & Mozart"
 
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Julian Rhee, violin
 
WHEN:
Saturday, October 2, 2021 at 7:30 PM (Doors at 6:00 PM, Pre-concert talk 6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
(Discovery Open Rehearsal, Saturday, October 2, 2021, at 2:00 PM – no talk)
Sunday, October 3, 2021 at 3:00 PM (Doors at 1:30 PM, Pre-concert talk 2:00 PM-2:30 PM)
Monday, October 4, 2021 at 7:30 PM (Doors at 6:00 PM, Pre-concert talk 6:30 PM-7:00 PM)
 
WHERE:  Weill Hall, Green Music Center, Sonoma State University
 
TICKET PRICES:
Saturday and Monday evening, and Sunday afternoon performances: $24-$87. See COVID-19 Vaccine/Negative test requirements at srsymphony.org.
Discovery Open Rehearsal: $18 / adult; $10 / youth (7-17 years of age). See COVID-19 Vaccine/Negative test requirements at srsymphony.org.
 
TICKETS:
(707) 546-8742 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Wednesday 10:30 am – 5:00 pm) srsymphony.org anytime
 
ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), Seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized as having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
707-546-7097 x 222
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org


 

July 19, 2021: Santa Rosa Symphony welcomes new Board Members

Santa Rosa Symphony, July 19, 2021

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) — The Santa Rosa Symphony (SRS), in its 94th season, announces seven new appointments to its board of directors. The following Symphony supporters, listed in alphabetical order, began their term on July 1, 2021: Sharon Beckman, Judy Chen, Shari DeMaris, Fernando Dizon, Ann Marie McGee, Nancy Novak and Alexander Volonts.
 
New board officers are as follows: Corinne Byrd, Chairman of the Board; Keven Brown, Vice-Chairman; Sean Pryden, Treasurer; Garth Bixler, Secretary; Al Seidenfeld, Immediate Past Chairman. 
 
SRS Chairman of the Board Corinne Byrd said, "As we enter the Symphony’s 94th season, it is with great pleasure that we welcome our new Board Directors and announce the Board officers. I look forward to serving with all of them as the new Chairman of the Board.”
 
Sharon Beckman retired from her head of marketing position at Columbia House in New York City 18 years ago.
Beckman now volunteers for several local causes and, as a member of the Symphony League, enjoys providing refreshments to the Symphony's orchestra members at their rehearsal breaks.
 
Judy Chen has lived in Santa Rosa since 2006. Born in Taiwan, she is fluent in English and Chinese. She has played the piano since the third grade, winning regional piano competitions, and played in bands in high school. Chen is a realtor and Agent Leadership Council member with Keller William Realty Wine Country Group. She was a senior tax specialist in PricewaterhouseCoopers Taipei office before moving to the United States.
 
Shari DeMaris is the relatively new Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Exchange Bank. With more than 23 years of technical accounting and financial leadership experience, she held leadership roles at several public accounting and financial institutions before joining Exchange Bank in October 2020.
 
Fernando Dizon is a retired engineer with an AB in Physics and an MS in Materials Science and Engineering, both from UC Berkeley. He had a 40-year career in the electronics industry, most notably with Hewlett Packard in Santa Rosa. He and his wife, Grace Harris, became subscribers to the Santa Rosa Symphony early in the 1980s.
 
Ann Marie McGee relocated to Sonoma County from the East Bay in Fall 2017. Prior to retirement, she had her own marketing consulting firm, specializing in branding, messaging and positioning services for startup/early-stage technology companies. She also taught music at Arkansas State University, Hendrix College and Interlochen Center for the Arts and was a member of the Arkansas Symphony.
 
Nancy Novak is a retired sales and business development leader with over 25 years of experience working with Global 100 companies across multiple industries. Novak plays cello with the Santa Rosa Junior College orchestra, the North Bay Sinfonietta, and sometimes with La Escuela de Música in La Paz, Mexico. She also plays piano with string players, as well as volunteering as a piano player on Charmian London’s Steinway at the Jack London State Historic Park. 
 
SRS violist Alexander Volonts is an active educator, musician and investor. He has been a member of the Santa Rosa Symphony since 2007. Originally from New York, Volonts earned his Bachelor of Music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Now a Santa Rosa resident, he has been the Specialty Strings teacher at SunRidge Elementary School since 2016 and has worked for SRS' Simply Strings program since 2013.  
 
FULL BIOS BELOW
HIGH-RES PHOTOS HERE (DropBox)
 
Sharon Beckman
When Sharon Beckman left New York City for Santa Rosa 18 years ago, the president of CBS Masterworks, the classical label of CBS Records, told her to look up the Santa Rosa Symphony. He told her it was a very well-respected regional orchestra. She did, and has been a subscriber ever since. She soon joined the Symphony League where her favorite activity has been providing the hard-working orchestra members refreshments at their rehearsal breaks.
 
Beckman spent most of her career at Columbia House where she led the music marketing department for many years. When she and her husband David decided to retire, Northern California was at the top of their list of destinations.
 
While still in New York, Beckman became very involved with Canine Companions for Independence and raised a puppy for them in Manhattan. So, when the Beckmans moved to Santa Rosa, she continued her involvement with CCI and eventually served on their Northwestern Board of Directors. Beckman’s volunteer activity moved to Alternatives to Violence Project and she did prison workshops on nonviolence prior to Covid. She is also a Kitchen Mentor at Ceres Community Project, which provides meals for acutely ill people. In addition, she participates in the Japanese American Citizens League's oral history program, which goes into Sonoma County schools to talk about the treatment of Japanese Americans during WWII as a warning about how racial profiling can threaten democracy. She is currently very active with Impact 100 Redwood Circle, a women’s giving circle that supports Sonoma County nonprofits, and has served on its executive team. 
 
Judy Chen
Judy Chen has lived in Santa Rosa with her husband Barry Wu and three children since 2006. She was born in Taiwan and is fluent in English and Chinese. She has played the piano since the third grade, winning regional piano competitions, and played in bands in high school. Her daughter, who now plays violin in the Santa Rosa Symphony Young People Chamber Orchestra, was the youngest player in Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra in 2018, when the group toured Hungary and Austria.
 
Chen is a realtor with Keller William Realty Wine Country Group. She is an Agent Leadership Council member in the company and a quadruple gold award recipient. She was a senior tax specialist in PricewaterhouseCoopers Taipei office before moving to the United States. Her focus was merger and acquisition and international taxation. She graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and received her master’s degrees in Accounting and Finance.
 
Chen enjoys hiking, traveling and making new friends in her free time. She is extremely excited to learn and serve on the board of SRS as well as meeting all the sponsors, staff and musicians associated with the Symphony.
 
Shari DeMaris
Shari DeMaris is the relatively new Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Exchange Bank. 
DeMaris has over 23 years of technical accounting and financial leadership experience. She held leadership roles at several public accounting and financial institutions before joining Exchange Bank in October 2020. She is a licensed CPA and holds bachelor's degrees in both Accounting and Spanish from DePaul University and the University of Iowa, respectively. Active in the community, DeMaris served as chair and board member for both the Iowa City Area Development Group and the Chamber of Commerce, was the board chair for the Domestic Violence Intervention Program and was a mentor for the Youth Leadership Program before moving to California.
 
DeMaris grew up involved in music since the second grade – band, orchestra, chorus musicals and more. She enjoys all types of music and has an affinity for classical and jazz, and anything that is on the radio. Music has been an important part of her life for as long as she can remember.
 
Fernando Dizon
Fernando Dizon is a retired engineer with an AB in Physics and an MS in Materials Science and Engineering, both from UC Berkeley. He had a 40-year career in the electronics industry with various companies, though mainly with Hewlett Packard in Santa Rosa. He and his wife, Grace Harris, became subscribers to the Santa Rosa Symphony early in the 1980s. His two children played clarinet beginning in elementary school and continued through the music program at Santa Rosa High School. They both studied under Roy Zajac, principal clarinetist of the Santa Rosa Symphony and his son Quinn Dizon became principal clarinetist in the College of Wooster Community Orchestra.
 
Fernando’s interests include cooking (he says he makes a “mean” paella), running (completed two half-marathons in 2018 and 2019) and swimming.
 
Ann Marie McGee
Ann Marie McGee relocated to Sonoma County from the East Bay in Fall 2017. Prior to retirement, she had her own marketing consulting firm, specializing in branding, messaging and positioning services for startup/early-stage technology companies. Her consultancy was preceded by stints at several technology startups in Silicon Valley, including GRiD Systems, where she was the Marketing Manager for the industry’s first tablet computer, Poqet Computer, later acquired by Fujitsu Personal Systems, with responsibility for International Marketing and DG Systems/DG Fast Channel, a digital network for distributing advertising content to radio and TV stations.
 
Before her tech career, she taught music at Arkansas State University, Hendrix College and Interlochen Center for the Arts and was a member of the Arkansas Symphony. McGee holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in flute performance from the University of Idaho and the University of Illinois.
 
McGee is a member of Impact 100 Redwood Circle, where she currently serves as Co-Chair of the Marketing Committee. While residing in the East Bay, she served as a board member for Brighter Beginnings and Northern Light School, both in Oakland, and the Contra Costa Crisis Center in Walnut Creek.
 
She has also served on an assortment of advisory/advancement committees, capital campaigns and task forces for the University of Idaho. McGee and her husband currently support master classes for students at Idaho's Lionel Hampton School of Music given by visiting artists for the Auditorium Chamber Music Series. She also serves on the Steering Committee for the Idaho Greek Alumni Council.
 
As a National Volunteer for Delta Delta Delta sorority, McGee currently serves on the Volunteer Engagement Committee, focused on identifying, recommending and supporting volunteer leadership for national coordinator and committee chair positions. She is also a member of a collegiate chapter advisory team for Tri Delta’s chapter at the University of Idaho. 
 
McGee is married to Robert (Bob) McGee, President and COO for Straus Family Creamery, executive board member of the California Dairy Institute, board member and past president for CTE Foundation and incoming board president for Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT). Their son, Thomas, resides in Oakland and daughter, Shannon and her husband, in New York City. When not volunteering, she enjoys her family, friends, cooking, playing her flute, gardening, watercolor painting, tennis, and golf and looks forward to spending more time in Idaho.
 
Nancy Novak
Nancy Novak is a retired sales and business development leader with over 25 years of experience working with Global 100 companies across multiple industries. Novak earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from UC Santa Barbara and began her technology sales career with IBM in 1985. She has also worked for Lotus Development, Oracle and Microsoft. Novak was responsible for building and managing teams worldwide and was recognized for developing strategic relationships and consistently exceeding sales objectives year after year. 

Novak grew up in Kansas and spent summers in Vermont. She began piano and cello from a young age and studied both instruments until graduation from high school. She was First Chair cellist in high school and competed in yearly piano competitions. During her career, she continued to study piano and later "became reacquainted" with her cello. Novak has played in the Redwood Symphony and the South Bay Philharmonic (formerly named HP Symphony). She now plays cello with the Santa Rosa Junior College orchestra, the North Bay Sinfonietta, and sometimes, La Escuela de Música in La Paz, Mexico. On the piano, she enjoys playing chamber music with string players, as well as volunteering as a piano player on Charmian London’s Steinway at the Jack London State Historic Park. 
 
Novak and her husband Robert, a retired electrical and software engineer, moved to Santa Rosa in 2016 and lost their new home and most of their possessions in the 2017 Tubbs fire, including their 1919 Steinway. Together, the couple enjoys watersports, especially sailing and kite-surfing. They have sailed on the San Francisco Bay for years. In the last decade, they have been seasonal sailors throughout Mexico and now in the South Pacific. Novak finds music to be a wonderful connection with different cultures. She has made rewarding and lasting friendships with youth and their families, supporting music schools and being invited to play in orchestras, mostly in La Paz, Mexico.
 
Novak has been a supporter through volunteer and subscriber work, and has attended master classes and SRS League-sponsored events.
 
Alexander Volonts
SRS violist Alexander Volonts is an active educator, musician and investor. He has been a member of the Santa Rosa Symphony since 2007. Originally from New York, Volonts arrived in California to study at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he completed a Bachelor of Music degree, as a viola student of Jodi Levitz. In subsequent years, Volonts settled in Sonoma County, and focused on teaching music to students as well as growing roots in the community. He has been the Specialty Strings teacher at SunRidge Elementary School since 2016 and has worked for SRS Simply Strings program since 2013.  
 
Volonts' wife Tingting Gu is an accomplished violinist. The couple have two healthy children, Nathan (3 years old) and Tiana, who is under one year old. Volonts spends ample time raising his children alongside Tingting, teaching violin lessons and researching equities for investment consideration.  
 
Volonts is pleased to be welcomed by the SRS Board of Directors and applauds the excellent work that the organization has achieved during the course of his ongoing tenure as a member of the orchestra. 
 
ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), Seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
707-546-7097  ext. 222
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

July 15, 2021: Santa Rosa Symphony Thrives, Breaks Records in a Difficult Year: New offerings, record giving and extended reach

Santa Rosa Symphony, July 15, 2021

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) —The Santa Rosa Symphony's 2020-2021 fiscal year proved to be an exceptional year of expanding into new markets, adding new skills, and reaching people across the nation, even the globe, with free, virtual concerts, three of which were rebroadcast on two Bay Area public television stations.
 
“The Symphony has a history of weathering adversity and giving back in times of crisis. The Symphony met the challenge of the pandemic with the same resolve to continue to support the Symphony's mission and keep its music accessible,” said President & CEO Alan Silow.
 
Top Organizational Highlights:

Secured governmental and university approvals, and established health and safety protocols to record and stream more orchestral performances than any other California orchestra

Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong reprogrammed entire classical season to meet pandemic safety requirements, satisfy union regulations, keep musicians and staff employed, and save the season for subscribers and patrons

Virtual concerts largely responsible for 121% rise in individual donors, 289% rise in new donors and 167% rise in donations, from 22 different states

Most successful fundraiser in the organization's 18-year history of similar galas, honoring Corrick & Norma Brown

Symphony concerts were rebroadcast, for the first time, on television: Three SRS @ Home concerts on Northern California Public Media stations KRCB and KPJK, reaching 2.8 million Bay Area households

Symphony staff and Music Director, while sheltered-in-place, kept patrons engaged with online content

All education programs proceeded, retrofitted for online and modified for in-person 

Record level of donations buoyed by high levels of individual donations, board giving, government grants and SRS League support

Eighteenth consecutive year ending the fiscal year in the black  

Learning on the go, key strategies employed included:

Choosing YouTube, a streaming platform most familiar to patrons, for its virtual concert series

Making virtual series free to increase accessibility and reach, while competing with entertainment platforms such as Netflix

Enhancing virtual concerts with value adds such as musician introductions and inspiring donation appeals

Hiring professional video production team familiar with the Green Music Center and its Weill Hall

Performing for recording in Weill Hall  

Creating new subscriber benefits to retain subscribers, who had paid for concerts in advance: 30-day access to virtual concerts and newly created soloist recital videos

Leveraging in-house talent to prepare materials for videographer and edit smaller video pieces

Relying on and embracing Lecce-Chong's tech skills and dynamic presence for added live pre-concert talk and post Q&A with musicians  

These efforts paid off with the following:

Average viewership (estimating two/household) was 4,421, exceeding that for a sold-out Weill Hall three-concert weekend

Subscription to SRS YouTube channel rose by 1,200%

Donations, including new virtual sponsorships, exceeded typical single ticket sales  

INVERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:
Alan Silow
 
ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), Seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
707-546-7097  ext. 222
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

July 13, 2021: Santa Rosa Symphony's President and CEO Alan Silow honored with Excellence in Leadership Award

Santa Rosa Symphony, July 13, 2021

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) —Santa Rosa Symphony President and CEO Alan Silow received the Excellence in Leadership Award at the Center for Volunteer & Nonprofit Leadership's June 24, 2021, virtual Heart of Sonoma County™ Award ceremony. Silow earned the award for his achievements during his nearly 20-year tenure with the Symphony.
 
These achievements include:

Helping to rejuvenate a capital fundraising campaign that raised $145 million to build Sonoma State University’s Green Music Center

Diversifying programming with addition of Pops and Family Concert Series

Increasing the organization’s endowment from $1.5 million to $16.5 million

Expanding annual educational outreach to 30,000, enabling inclusion for underserved students and providing greater access to in-school music programs

Overseeing the Youth Orchestra’s international concert tours, established during his tenure

Launching an innovative virtual concert series during the pandemic

Tripling the budget over time while remaining in the black every year  

"I am deeply honored for this recognition that reflects the enormous contributions by the Santa Rosa Symphony to the Sonoma County community over these many years," said Silow.
 
SRS Board Chairman Corinne Byrd said, “We are grateful that our President & CEO Alan Silow was selected for this well-deserved honor. As the executive leader of the largest performing arts organization in our region, he has been a community hero time and time again, inspiring our stakeholders to work together in the service of something far greater than themselves. Alan’s vision and extraordinary efforts have made a positive difference in this community for two decades. The Santa Rosa Symphony’s innovative educational programs reaching 30,000 children and youth annually are only one example of his immense influence. We are truly fortunate to have Alan at the helm!”
 
Silow and his fellow recipients, chosen from 126 nominees in eight award categories, were presented with certificates of recognition from Senator Bill Dodd, Senator Mike McGuire, Congressman Jared Huffman, Congressman Mike Thompson, Assemblymember Marc Levine, Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar Curry, Assemblymember Jim Wood and the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. The Excellence in Leadership Award, sponsored and presented by Medtronic, included a check for $5,000 for the Santa Rosa Symphony Association.
 
“With contributions of their time, talent, and treasure, the individuals and organizations nominated for the Heart of Sonoma County Awards demonstrate that Sonoma County is a community of great leaders that do the right thing,” said Linda Jacobs, CEO at Center for Volunteers & Nonprofit Leadership (CVNL).
 
Other honors at CVNL's first annual Heart of Sonoma County™ Award awards event included Corporate Community Service Award (American AgCredit), Volunteer of the Year Award (Gene Girimonte of Alzheimer’s Associations of the North Bay), Excellence in Board Leadership Award (Mary Henderson, Chop’s Teen Club), Excellence in Innovation Award (Humane Society of Sonoma County’s Community Veterinary Clinic), five Youth Volunteer of the Year Awards, Achievement in Nonprofit Excellence Award (Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Santa Rosa) and a Lifetime Achievement Award (William “Willie” Tamayo). The awardees received a grand total of $35,000 to support the critical work of local nonprofits and volunteers.
  
The programs and services of CVNL, formerly known as the Volunteer Center of Sonoma County, include the Sonoma Human Race, Secret Santa, Court Referral Program and Volunteer Wheels.
 
ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), Seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
707-546-7097  ext. 222
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

July 6, 2021: Santa Rosa Symphony announces its 2021-2022 Season Season Subscriptions on sale Tuesday, July 6, 2021 "Classical Reunion" features four world premieres, new musical projects, new packages

Santa Rosa Symphony, July 6, 2021

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) — The Santa Rosa Symphony (SRS), in its 10th season as Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, announces its 94th season, “Classical Reunion,” featuring four world premieres, including a new work by Grammy award-winning composer Michael Daugherty highlighting the beauty and ecological diversity of our county. Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong’s programming also includes masterworks from lauded composers of centuries past and works by up-and-coming living composers. Lecce-Chong conducts seven of the eight Classical Series concerts. Leveraging skills learned during the pandemic, the Symphony offers its subscribers two new packages, which include YouTube concerts in addition to the live performances. Subscriptions are on sale beginning July 6.
 
Lecce-Chong says, “I'm thrilled to welcome audiences back to the Green Music Center for the unparalleled experience of live orchestral music. Our performances this season will celebrate our diverse, vibrant community and the resilient creative spirit with four major world premieres. After a season of virtual performances with a smaller orchestra, an ambitious lineup of grand orchestral classics by Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff, Elgar and Respighi will bring our full orchestra back to the stage.”
 
Season Highlights for 94th performance season (October – June

Programming highlights:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5, Turkish
Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations
Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade
Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 1
Claude Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun [after Mallarmé]
George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue
Michael Daugherty's Valley of the Moon
Ottorino Respighi's The Fountains of Rome and The Pines of Rome

Acclaimed guest artists [full bios (short bios at the end of the release), high-res photos
Pianists Olga Kern (returning) and Michelle Cann
Violinists Julian Rhee and Elina Vähälä (returning)
Clarinetist David Krakauer
Guest Conductor Aram Demirjian (February concert)

World Premieres
The Fretless Clarinet Concerto for Klezmer Clarinet and Orchestra by David Krakauer and Kathleen Tagg (featuring Krakauer)
Gabriella Smith's Symphony No. 1 (First Symphony project season two)
Michael Daugherty's Valley of the Moon
Enrico Chapela Barba's Los Braceros [The Laborers] Cantata for Mariachi and Orchestra (in a rescheduled concert set from the 19-20 season, which is outside of the 21-22 subscription package)

Celebration 2021! fundraiser honors Alan Silow, SRS President and CEO on November 5, 2021

Three-concert Family Series, conducted by Bobby Rogers (October and January) and Lecce-Chong (April)

Two new 7-Concert Classical Series subscription packages
7-Concert Classical Plus Series (adds 30-day access to watch the Oct-May concerts on YouTube)
7-Concert Classical Hybrid Series (Oct-Dec only on YouTube)

Free youth tickets – one per paid adult
 
SRS President and CEO Alan Silow says, "After more than a year apart, returning to be together in our acoustically superb, beautiful hall with inspiring music from our talented musicians, celebrated soloists and charismatic music director will be a transformative experience no one will want to miss."

“Classical Reunion” Season Overview
Programming for the 2021-2022 season begins on Saturday, October 2, 2021, with the finale of the seven-concert series in early May (dates and descriptions below). All performances are at the Green Music Center’s Weill Hall on the Sonoma State University campus in Rohnert Park, California.  
 
CELEBRATION 2021!
The Symphony’s annual fundraising event, Celebration 2021! honors Alan Silow, President and CEO of the Santa Rosa Symphony for his 20 years of service to the Symphony on Friday, November 5 at 5:30 PM. Celebration 2021! includes an elegant reception in Prelude Restaurant and a recital by clarinetist and composer David Krakauer. A gourmet dinner in the Person Lobby features a paddle raise for the Symphony’s music education programs.
 
SRS Chairman of the Board Corinne Byrd says, "I’m delighted that the Board selected Symphony President & CEO Alan Silow to be the honoree at our Celebration 2021 Gala! He is the quintessential example of consummate executive leadership: a seasoned professional whose acumen for strategy and program-building have propelled our Symphony Association, for 20 years, to greater success. Furthermore, Alan’s remarkable resourcefulness and perseverance during the past Symphony season will long benefit our patrons, youth, musicians, staff and community in infinite ways."
 
TWO FOUR-SEASON MUSICAL PROJECTS
Lecce-Chong launches a new four-season project this season. Rachmaninoff & the Hollywood Sound is a four-year exploration in which Rachmaninoff's larger orchestral works are brought together with works by influential Hollywood composers of the past and present, illustrating their shared lush, lyrical and highly praised Hollywood sound. The four-season First Symphony Project, in its second season, features Gabriella Smith in residence when the Symphony premieres her first symphony.
 
FREE YOUTH TICKETS
To encourage their exposure to Classical music and to transform Symphony attendance into a family outing, youths 7-17 years of age may attend the Symphony for free with a paid adult. These two-for-one tickets are not available for purchase online.
 
SPECIAL CONCERT
In June, the “Visions of Hope” concert set, rescheduled from May 2020, will be performed at Weill Hall on June 11-13, 2022. Single tickets will be available for this special concert with the first-ever commission and world premiere of a major work for Mariachi and Orchestra. Mariachi Champaña Nevín and vocalists Rafael Jorge Negrete and Mónica Ábrego will join the orchestra for Enrico Chapela Barba’s Los Braceros [The Laborers] Cantata for Mariachi and Orchestra, which tells the story of romance and family loyalty during the 1942-1964 agreement between the United States and Mexico for agricultural worker migration. The concert also includes Arturo Márquez’ Danzón No. 2 and Ottorino Respighi’s The Fountains of Rome and The Pines of Rome.
 
Concert Conversations (one hour prior to Classical Series performances)
Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong discusses the music and composers, often with the guest artists, one hour prior to the Classical Concert Series performances in Weill Hall. These informative pre-concert talks, which are available at no cost to all ticket holders, are general seating. Concert Conversations are held before Saturday and Monday night performances at 6:30 PM and prior to Sunday afternoon performances at 2:00 PM. This season, all four world premiere composers will join Lecce-Chong when their works are performed.  
 
2021-2022 Classical Series Programming highlights
Saturday and Monday 7:30 PM / Sunday 3:00 PM / Discovery Open Rehearsal Saturday 2:00 PM
 
In addition to masterworks by familiar composers and works that even the classical music novice will recognize, the 2021-2022 Classical Series includes works by five living composers and three world premieres. With the special June concert, rescheduled from May 2020, the number of living composers climbs to six and world premieres to four.
 
Timeless treasures
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5, Turkish
Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations
Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade
Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 1
Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun [after Mallarmé]
George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue
Respighi's The Fountains of Rome and The Pines of Rome
 
Works by living composers
Libby Larsen’s Deep Summer Music
Gabriella Smith’s Rust
Gabriella Smith's Symphony No. 1 (World Premiere)
David Krakauer and Kathleen Tagg’s The Fretless Clarinet Concerto for Klezmer Clarinet and Orchestra (World Premiere)
Michael Daugherty’s Valley of the Moon (World Premiere)
Hildur Guŏnadóttir’s From the Other Place (performed from a color map, making each performance unique)
Enrico Chapela Barba's Los Braceros [The Laborers] Cantata for Mariachi and Orchestra (World Premiere)
 
2021-2022 Classical Series Concerts
 
Elgar & Mozart
October 2, 3 & 4, 2021 
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Julian Rhee, violin
 
LIBBY LARSEN: Deep Summer Music
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Violin Concerto No. 5, Turkish
GABRIELLA SMITH: Rust
EDWARD ELGAR: Enigma Variations
 
Klezmer & Krakauer
November 6, 7 & 8, 2021 
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
David Krakauer, clarinet
 
DAVID KRAKAUER, arranger: Traditional Klezmer Selections
DAVID KRAKAUER and KATHLEEN TAGG: The Fretless Clarinet Concerto for Klezmer Clarinet and Orchestra (World Premiere)
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Scheherazade
 
SHOWCASING OUR OWN
December 4, 5 & 6, 2021
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Kathleen Lane Reynolds, flute
Laura Reynolds, oboe
Roy Zajac, clarinet
Carla Wilson, bassoon
Dan Levitan, harp
 
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
PAUL HINDEMITH: Concerto for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Harp and Orchestra
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 5
 
BEETHOVEN à la KERN
January 8, 9 & 10, 2022
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Olga Kern, piano
 
RICHARD WAGNER: Lohengrin: Prelude to Act 1
GABRIELLA SMITH: Symphony No. 1 [First Symphony Project Commission] (World Premiere)
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor
 
American Rhapsody
February 12, 13 & 14, 2022
Aram Demirjian, guest conductor
Michelle Cann, piano
 
WILLIAM GRANT STILL: Darker America
GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue
FLORENCE PRICE: Piano Concerto in One Movement
COPLAND: Appalachian Spring
 
RACH & THE HOLLYWOOD SOUND
March 19, 20 & 21, 2022
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
 
Hildur Guŏnadóttir: From the Other Place
NINO ROTA: Ballet Suite from La Strada [The Road]
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 1
 
Valley of the moon
May 7, 8 & 9, 2022 
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Elina Vähälä, violin
 
JOHANN STRAUSS II: Overture to Die Fledermaus [The Bat]
ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD: Violin Concerto
CLAUDE DEBUSSY: Prelude to the Afternoon of the Faun [after Mallarmé]
MICHAEL DAUGHERTY: Valley of the Moon (World Premiere)
 
VISIONS OF HOPE (Special Concert rescheduled from 19-20 season)
June 11-13, 2022
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Mariachi Champaña Nevín
Rafael Jorge Negrete, baritone
Mónica Ábrego, soprano
 
ARTURO MÁRQUEZ: Danzón No. 2 for Orchestra
ENRICO CHAPELA BARBA: Los Braceros [The Laborers] Cantata for Mariachi and Orchestra (World Premiere)
OTTORINO RESPIGHI: The Fountains of Rome
OTTORINO RESPIGHI: The Pines of Rome
 
 
Short bios for guest artists, conductors and world premiere composers are at the end of this release.
 
Full bios: https://www.srsymphony.org/Press-Room/Artist-Bios
 
High-res photos
 
FULL List of Works in the 2020-2021 Classical Series
Libby Larsen                                        Deep Summer Music for Orchestra*               
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart              Concerto No. 5 in A major for Violin and Orchestra, K. 219, Turkish    
Gabriella Smith                                    Rust       
Edward Elgar                                        Enigma Variations for Orchestra, Opus 36
David Krakauer, arranger                 [Traditional Klezmer Selections]*
David Krakauer/Kathleen Tagg        The Fretless Clarinet Concerto for Klezmer Clarinet and Orchestra**
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov                 Scheherazade (Symphonic Suite) for Orchestra, Opus 35
Ralph Vaughan Williams                   Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis for Orchestra 
Paul Hindemith                                    Concerto for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Harp and Orchestra*         
Dmitri Shostakovich                          Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Opus 47           
Richard Wagner                                   Lohengrin: Prelude Act 1, WWV 75*            
Gabriella Smith                                    Symphony No. 1 [First Symphony Project Commission]**
Ludwig van Beethoven                      Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 73, Emperor
William Grant Still                              Darker America (symphonic poem) for Orchestra*    
George Gershwin                                 Rhapsody in Blue for Piano and Orchestra    
Florence Price                                       Concerto in D minor in One Movement for Piano and Orchestra*           
Aaron Copland                                    Appalachian Spring (complete ballet) for Orchestra   
Hildur Guðnadóttir                             From the Other Place*     
Nino Rota                                             Suite dal balletto from La Strada [The Road] for Orchestra*    
Sergei Rachmaninoff                         Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Opus 13*       
Johann Strauss II                                 Overture to Die Fledermaus [The Bat], Opus 367       
Erich Wolfgang Korngold                  Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 35            
Claude Debussy                                   Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune [Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun]
                                                                for Orchestra [after Mallarmé], L. 86
Michael Daugherty                           Valley of the Moon for Orchestra**
Arturo Márquez                                   Danzón No. 2 for Orchestra
Enrico Chapela Barba                        Los Braceros [The Laborers] Cantata for Mariachi and Orchestra**
Ottorino Respighi                                                Le fontane di Roma [The Fountains of Rome] for Orchestra
Ottorino Respighi                                                I pini di Roma [The Pines of Rome] for Orchestra       
 
* first time performed by SRS
**World Premiere
 
Classical Series EVENT PAGE EXTRAS
Program Notes, written by Elizabeth Schwartz, offer insight and fascinating details about the concert program.
Spotify playlists of the works on the concert program, curated by Lecce-Chong
 
Santa Rosa Symphony Family Concert Series (Sundays at 3:00 PM at Weill Hall)
The three-concert SRS Family Concert Series, performed on Sunday afternoons at 3:00 PM, are ideal for children, while also a delight for adults. An Instrument Petting Zoo will be available in the lobby one hour before all performances, which is free to all ticket holders.
 
October 24, 2021 “Classical Rocks!” conducted by Bobby Rogers
Young audience members are introduced to live orchestral music and the “families” of instruments that make it happen. Among the excerpts of works from Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Dvorak, Mozart, Rossini and more, they may recognize tunes that have made their way into pop culture.
 
January 23, 2022 "Gershwin's Magic Key" conducted by Bobby Rogers
A poor newspaper boy and American composer George Gershwin meet by chance on the streets of New York City. While the orchestra weaves 20 of Gershwin’s greatest hits like I Got Rhythm and Rhapsody in Blue into the drama, the boy explores the vast melting pot of American music and unlocks his own musical potential.
 
April 3, 2022 "Francesco at Bat" conducted by Francesco Lecce-Chong
Lecce-Chong leads the orchestra for an interactive concert that includes a singalong of Take Me Out to the Ballgame! Young patrons will discover how musicians train just like athletes, with practice and teamwork. Patrons may show their team spirit by wearing a sports jersey.
 
Subscriptions Series Tickets for the 2021-2022 Season
On Sale July 6
(subscription renewal deadline to retain same seats is August 6, 2021)
 
7-Concert Classical Series
The seven-concert package secures the same seat for all of the Symphony’s Classical Series concert.
Saturday and Monday Packages: $147-$588; Sunday Packages: $175-$623
(Some seating areas require a minimum, per-seat donation.)
 
7-Concert Classical Plus Series
In addition to securing seats for the seven concerts in the hall, with this package, subscribers may view the October – December concerts on YouTube for up to 30 days. These YouTube concerts are not available to nonsubscribers.
Saturday and Monday Packages: $154-$616; Sunday Packages: $182-$651
 
7-Concert Classical Hybrid Series
Subscribers to this Hybrid Series view the October – December concerts on YouTube and return to their seats in January. These YouTube concerts are not available to nonsubscribers.
Saturday and Monday Packages: $140-$560; Sunday Packages: $168-$595
 
Mini Series
Patrons select four of the seven Classical Series concerts to create a customized Mini Series.
Saturday and Monday Packages: $72-$270; Sunday Packages: $87-$285
 
Come As You Can Series
Eight ticket vouchers, which may be redeemed in any combination of performance days and seats.
Packages: $400
 
Discovery Rehearsal Series  (Seven Saturdays at 2:00 PM at Weill Hall)
These general-seating, working rehearsals are ideal as a shared family experience, a sneak preview for the performance or as an economical alternative for price-conscience patrons.
Packages: $112 for adults; $70 for youth ages 7-17
 
Family Series (Three Sundays at 3:00 PM at Weill Hall)
These three interactive concerts provide an opportunity for classical music lovers to share their passion for classical music with the young people in their lives.
Packages: $54 for adults and $27 for children (12 and younger).
 
Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra Concerts (Three Saturdays at 3:00 PM)
Santa Rosa Symphony Institute for Music Education’s Training Young Musicians programs includes several performance-level youth ensembles. Its most advanced ensemble, the Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra, performs three concerts in Weill Hall as follows:
Saturday, November 13, 2021 at 3:00 PM  |  Saturday, March 5, 2022 at 3:00 PM  |  Saturday, May 14, 2022 at 3:00 PM
Tickets: General seating tickets are $15/adult, $5/student in advance and $20/adult, $10/student on concert day.
 
Sunday Bus Packages
The Santa Rosa Symphony sponsors private bus service to the Sunday Classical Series concerts at the Green Music Center. Details and specific bus schedules are available online or by calling the Patron Services Office at 707-546-8742.  
Packages: $84 for all seven concerts; $60 for four concerts; $16 for one concert
 
Symphony subscriptions are available ONLY through the
Santa Rosa Symphony Patron Services Office beginning July 6, 2021.
 
2021-2022 Classical Series SPONSOR: ANDERman Family foundation
All listed sponsors are as of July 1, 2021.
 
Performances are sponsored by
Marcia Wagner, in memory of Hap Wagner (October)
The Peggy Anne Covington Fund (November)
Jim Lamb (December)
Judith M. Gappa (January)
Viking Cruises (February)
Donald Green, in memory of his loving wife Maureen Green (March)

Discovery Series underwritten by The Stare Foundation and David Stare of Dry Creek Vineyard
Concert Conversations underwritten by Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy
Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by David and Corinne Byrd (Oct., Nov., Dec., Jan. and Mar.)
Guest conductor Aram Demirjian underwritten by David and Corinne Byrd (Feb.)
Guest violinist Julian Rhee underwritten by Ava and Sam Guerrera
Guest clarinetist David Krakauer underwritten by Sigmund Anderman, in memory of Susan Anderman
Guest clarinetist Roy Zajac underwritten by Chuck and Ellen Wear
Guest flutist Kathleen Lane Reynolds underwritten by Dr. Larry Schoenrock Endowment Fund
Guest oboist Laura Reynolds underwritten by Karen Brodsky & Mark Dierkhising
Guest bassoonist Carla Wilson underwritten by Gregory Sprehn
Guest pianist Olga Kern underwritten by Sara And Edward Kozel
Guest pianist Michelle Cann underwritten by Willow Creek Wealth Management
Guest violinist Elina Vähälä underwritten by David and Linda Hanes
First Symphony Project composer Gabriella Smith underwritten by First Symphony project commissioners: Nancy and David Berto, Gordon Blumenfeld, Chuck and Ellen Wear, Creighton White in loving memory of Dorothy Bristow White, and Chloe Tula and Francesco Lecce-Chong
Rescheduled Special Concert Visions of Hope Sponsors:
Supporting Sponsors: County of Sonoma & Creative Sonoma, National Endowment for the Arts, and Los Cien
Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by Norma Person, in memory of Evert Person
Enrico Chapela Barba underwritten by Pam and Tim Chanter
Guest artist Mariachi Champaña Nevín supporting sponsors: Pacific Gas & Electric, and Nancy and Robert Novak
Los Braceros underwritten by the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation
The Fretless Clarinet world premiere underwritten in part by Karen Brodsky & Mark Dierkhising
Performance Video Library underwritten by Gregory Sprehn
 
Hospitality Partner: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel
The DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Sonoma Wine Country in Rohnert Park provides lodging for Santa Rosa Symphony guest artists and conductors. The hotel’s Bacchus Restaurant and Wine Bar is open for pre- and post-concert dining.
 
WINE PARTNER: Rodney Strong Wine Estates
Rodney Strong Wine Estates provides its award-winning wines as the Symphony's exclusive wine partner for 2021-2022 Private Reserve Club receptions, which follow Classical Series performances in the Symphony League Founders room in the Green Music Center, and for Celebration 2021!, the Symphony's annual fundraising event.
 
LOGISTICS - The Green Music Center
All Classical Series performances are at Weill Hall, at the Donald and Maureen Green Music Center on the campus of Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, with access from the Rohnert Park Expressway entrance near Petaluma Hill Road. The campus is just 42 miles north of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.
 
Parking
Entering the Sonoma State University campus from Rohnert Park Expressway, there are parking lots immediately to the right. Parking in lots L, M, N and O is included in the price of ticket for Santa Rosa Symphony Classical, Discovery Rehearsal and Family Series concerts. (Parking fees may be charged for additional or special events.)
 
Patron Services Office location and hours
Location: 50 Santa Rosa Avenue (1st floor, off elevator lobby)
Hours: Mon., Tues., Thurs. and Fri. 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM; Wed. 10:30 AM - 5:00 PM; closed Sat. and Sun.
Mailing Address: Santa Rosa Symphony, 50 Santa Rosa Avenue Suite 410, Santa Rosa, CA 95404
Phone: 54-MUSIC (707) 546-8742                 Web: srsymphony.org                         Currently closed to walk-ins
 
RELATED NEWS
The Symphony's four-concert Pops series, conducted by Michael Berkowitz and performed at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts has been announced separately. In addition, the Santa Rosa Symphony continues to offer special, multimedia classical music concerts at the Green Music Center (GMC), which was announced by the GMC on July 1, as part of its summer season.
 
Interview Opportunities: Silow, Lecce-Chong
 
Conductor, Guest Artist and Composer short biographies
Full bios: https://www.srsymphony.org/Press-Room/Artist-Bios
 
High-res photos
Conductors
Francesco Lecce-Chong, Music Director and conductor 
American conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong is the Music Director of the Santa Rosa Symphony and the Eugene Symphony in Oregon. The press has described him as a “fast-rising talent in the music world” with “the real gift” and recognized his dynamic performances, fresh programming, deep commitment to commissioning and performing new music as well as to community outreach. Lecce-Chong has appeared with the San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic, Xi’An Symphony Orchestra and Hong Kong Philharmonic, and has collaborated with Renée Fleming and Itzhak Perlman. The San Francisco Chronicle described Lecce-Chong’s subscription concert debut with the San Francisco Symphony as “first rate” praising the “vitality and brilliance of the music-making he drew from members of the San Francisco Symphony.”
 
Lecce-Chong is the recipient of several distinctions, including the prestigious Solti Foundation Award. Trained also as a pianist and composer, he completed his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music with Otto-Werner Mueller after attending the Mannes College of Music and Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Italy. He has had the privilege of being mentored and supported by celebrated conductors including Bernard Haitink, David Zinman, Edo de Waart, Manfred Honeck, Donald Runnicles and Michael Tilson Thomas. Read full bio.
 
Bobby Rogers, SRS Youth Orchestra conductor (Nov 1 and Jan 24 Family Series concerts)
Throughout his career, Bobby Rogers has been very active with pit orchestras and community orchestras, including American Philharmonic, Camellia Symphony and the Rancho Cordova Civic Light Orchestra. Rogers was conductor of the Santa Rosa Symphony Aspirante Orchestra from 2011-2018. In addition to his post as SRS Youth Orchestra Conductor, Rogers is the Music Director at Pioneer High School in Woodland, Director of Jazz Program at Solano Community College, adjunct Professor of Band at Woodland Community College and Artistic Director of the Yolo Community Band. Read full bio.
 
Aram Demirjian, guest conductor (Feb 13-15 Classical Series concerts)
Conductor Aram Demirjian is the 2020 recipient of The Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award from The Solti Foundation U.S. Demirjian’s guest conducting highlights include engagements with the Philadelphia, Sarasota, and Breckenridge Music Festival orchestras, the Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, New England Conservatory, Omaha, Portland, San Antonio and Tucson symphonies, and the Louisiana and Orlando philharmonics. Internationally, he has conducted the Orquesta Sinfónico de Minería, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and Orchéstre Métropolitain de Montréal. Other awards include the 2017 and 2019 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Awards; a 2018 Solti Foundation U.S. Buccheri Opera Residency with Lyric Opera of Chicago and the 2011 Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize from the Aspen Music Festival, where he was a three-time Conducting Fellow in the Aspen Conducting Academy. Read full bio.
 
World Premiere composers – in order of performance
 
Kathleen Tagg is a South African composer, pianist and producer based in New York. She has performed on four continents with artists from very different genres and disciplines, and is becoming known for her distinctive sound that mixes together acoustic and electronic sounds, loops, samples and extended techniques she developed.
 
With David Krakauer (see artist bio below), she co-composed and produced the score for Minyan by Eric Steel (Berlin Biennale 2020) as well as an immersive multimedia concert experience with video designer Jesse Gilbert, The Ties that Bind Us, for the Boulez Saal, Berlin. Recent commissions include a song cycle [commissioned by soprano Golda Schultz and pianist Jonathan Ware, premiered in a live broadcast on Süddeutscher Rundfunk]. Additional new productions include the co-creation of Mazel Tov Cocktail Party, a festive genre-crossing project. Other large-scale works include pieces for the Royal Netherlands Marine Band and Cape Philharmonic Orchestra, and arrangements for New Century Chamber Orchestra and Vienna Jewish Culture Fest. Her musical, Erika’s Wall, with Sophie Jaff, received a developmental production by The Music Theater Company, Chicago. She was a 2014-2015 Dramatist Guild fellow, 2017 Con Ed Exploring the Metropolis Composer in Residence and 2016 artist-in-residence at Brown Arts Initiative. Read full bio.
 
Gabriella Smith, composer (First Symphony Project)
Gabriella Smith is a composer from the San Francisco Bay Area whose music is described as “high-voltage and wildly imaginative” (Philadelphia Inquirer), and “the coolest, most exciting, most inventive new voice I’ve heard in ages” (Musical America). Her music has been performed throughout the U.S. and internationally by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Roomful of Teeth, Aizuri Quartet, Dover Quartet, eighth blackbird, Bang on a Can All-Stars, the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, the Nashville Symphony, PRISM Quartet, and yMusic, among others. Read full bio.
 
Michael Daugherty, composer (Valley of the Moon for Orchestra)
Many, if not most orchestras throughout the world have performed works by GRAMMY Award-winning composer Michael Daugherty. Known for his ear, his wit and his imagination of how instruments work together, his music is inspired by American idioms, mythologies and icons. Born in 1954 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Daugherty is the son of a dance band drummer and the oldest of five brothers, all professional musicians. His music has received six GRAMMY Awards, including “Best Contemporary Classical Composition” in 2010 for Deus ex Machina for piano and orchestra and in 2016 for Tales of Hemingway for cello and orchestra. Read full bio.
 
Enrico Chapela Barba, composer [Los Braceros (The Laborers) Cantata for Mariachi and Orchestra]
Born in Mexico City in 1974, Enrico Chapela Barba studied guitar performing and composition at CIEM academy in Mexico. He obtained a Master's degree at the University of Paris Saint-Denis in 2008, and is writing his PhD thesis in the National University in Mexico (UNAM). Since the year 2002, he has won recognition at several international competitions such as The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowships, National System of Art Creators (FONCA-Mexico), the International Rostrum of Composers (UNESCO), International Alexander Zemlinsky Composition Competition and The Barlow Endowment for Music Composition Prize, amongst others. His orchestral works and film scores have been commissioned and performed by leading orchestras worldwide. Read full bio.
 
Guest Artists – in order of appearance
Julian Rhee, violin
Julian Rhee made his Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra debut at age eight, and has gone on to perform with orchestras including the Aspen Philharmonic, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Avanti Chamber Orchestra, and the San Diego, Pittsburgh, Eugene, and Madison symphony orchestras. He has performed in an array of venues, including Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall, Heinz Hall, the Overture Center for the Arts, Teatro El Círculo in Rosario, Argentina, The Musikverein in Vienna, Bartok Hall in Hungary, New World Center and the John F Kennedy Center. In January of 2020, Rhee was named the first prize winner of the Elmar Oliveira International Competition, and was also awarded the special Community Engagement Award. He has performed at the John F. Kennedy Center as a Presidential Scholar and received his medal at the White House. Read full bio.
 
David Krakauer, clarinet
David Krakauer has been praised internationally as a key innovator in modern klezmer as well as a major voice in classical music. In 2015, he received a Grammy nomination as soloist with the conductor-less chamber orchestra A Far Cry. He began his journey with the music of his Eastern European Jewish cultural heritage at the end of the 1980s as the Berlin Wall was falling, and culture from “behind the Iron Curtain” began to emerge in the West. Inspired by these massive cultural shifts, he began to explore klezmer music as he sought to connect with his Jewish identity in a deeper way. He very quickly became a creator in his own right; first as a member of the ground-breaking band The Klezmatics (that launched the second klezmer revival of the early 1990s), then as an integral part of John Zorn’s Radical Jewish Culture movement, and ultimately as a composer, soloist and band leader in the klezmer genre.
 
His wide array of projects, solo appearances, and multi-genre collaborations includes ensembles, conductors, composers and individual artists such as the WDR Big Band, Abraham Inc. (co-led with Fred Wesley and Socalled), the Emerson Quartet, Marin Alsop, Wlad Mathulets, Leonard Slatkin (Orchestre de Lyon), Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Quatuor Debussy, JoAnn Falletta, George Tsontakis, Anakronic Electro Orkestra and Kathleen Tagg (pianist and co-creator of Breath & Hammer). Read full bio.
 
Kathleen Lane Reynolds, flute
Kathleen Reynolds, principal flutist with the Santa Rosa Symphony since 1984, has appeared as a soloist many times throughout the years. A native of Sonoma County, Reynolds received her MM in Flute Performance at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. Her flute instructors include Samuel Baron, Julius Baker, Harvey Sollberger, Marcel Moyse, Jean Pierre Rampal, and Carol Wincenc. She spent several years in New York performing orchestral and chamber music with such orchestras as the American Philharmonic and the National Orchestra Association, in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Reynolds is an active orchestral and chamber musician and studio flute instructor at Sonoma State University. Read full bio.
 
Laura Reynolds, oboe
Laura Reynolds is an active chamber and orchestral performer throughout Northern California; Principal oboist with the Santa Rosa Symphony, California Symphony, and second oboe and English horn with Marin Symphony. She also performs regularly with other regional orchestras and is enjoying the exploration of reed trios with Trois Bois. She is a member of the applied faculty of Sonoma State University as well as of the Pre-College and Continuing Education Divisions at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she additionally works as senior program manager. A graduate of the University of Michigan and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, her principal teachers were Harry Sargous and William Bennett. Read full bio.
 
Roy Zajac, clarinet
Principal Clarinet Roy Zajac has played the clarinet since he was 10 years old, when he started on an instrument purchased from a neighbor. The music of his family and their friends, who played guitar and sang, permeated his young life in rural Mexico. Zajac auditioned and won the spot of Principal Clarinet for the Santa Rosa Symphony in 1998, while he was still in the Air Force Band of the Golden West. He also began playing for other orchestras as a substitute. He says that’s the most difficult position, especially with often getting late notice to perform. Read full bio.
 
Carla Wilson, bassoon
Carla Wilson is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area. She serves as the principal bassoonist with the Santa Rosa, Marin, Berkeley, California and Napa Symphonies and is second bassoon with the Vallejo Symphony. She also performs with and has recorded and toured with the San Francisco Symphony. She has served as principal for the Music in the Mountains Festival since 1982, where she has been a frequent soloist and featured chamber music artist. Additionally, she has participated in the Cabrillo, San Luis Obispo and Mendocino Music Festivals. Wilson received a Bachelor of Music degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she studied with Walter Green. Further studies took place at the Aspen Music Festival, the Tanglewood Music Center Fellowship Program, and on scholarship in London. Read full bio.
 
Dan Levitan, harp
Principal Harpist Dan Levitan began playing harp in his high school orchestra in Philadelphia as a freshman. His two-year preparation and participation in the 10th International Harp Contest in Israel, which included very challenging repertoire, taught Dan how to perform on the highest level of music. He has performed with most Northern California professional orchestras from Mendocino to Carmel, is principal harp for Symphony Silicon Valley and Marin Symphony, and first-call harpist for the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. Dan also relishes teaching private harp lessons to young harpists in youth orchestras. He has coached at Sonoma State University, U.C. Berkeley, El Camino Youth Orchestra and currently coaches with the California Youth Symphony. Read full bio.
 
Olga Kern, piano
Russian-American pianist Olga Kern jumpstarted her U.S. career with her historic Gold Medal win at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas as the first woman to do so in more than thirty years. First prize winner of the Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition at seventeen, Kern is a laureate of many international competitions. In 2016, she served as Jury Chairman of both the Seventh Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition and the first Olga Kern International Piano Competition, where she also holds the title of Artistic Director. Kern frequently gives masterclasses and since September 2017, has served on the piano faculty of the prestigious Manhattan School of Music. Additionally, Kern has been chosen as the Virginia Arts Festival’s new Connie & Marc Jacobson Director of Chamber Music, beginning with the 2019 season. Read full bio.
 
Michelle Cann, piano
Pianist Michelle Cann made her orchestral debut at age 14 and has since performed as a soloist with numerous ensembles including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Florida Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, and New Jersey Orchestra. A champion of the music of Florence Price, Cann performed the New York City premiere of the composer’s Concerto in One Movement with The Dream Unfinished Orchestra in July 2016 and the Philadelphia premiere with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin in February 2021, which the Philadelphia Inquirer called “exquisite.” She has also performed Price’s works for solo piano and chamber ensemble for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music Society of Detroit and the New World Symphony, among other presenters.
Read full bio.
 
Elina Vähälä, violin
Born in the US and raised in Finland, Elina Vähälä made her orchestral debut with Sinfonia Lahti at the age of twelve and was later chosen by Osmo Vänskä as the orchestra’s “young master soloist.” She performs internationally and wins praise from audiences and musicians alike as “a fluent, stylish and gifted musician whose brilliant technique is matched by an abundant spirit, sensitivity and imagination” (Chicago Tribune). In 2008, she was chosen to perform at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony which was televised to a worldwide audience. Read full bio.
 
Mariachi Champaña Nevín
Mariachi Champaña Nevín is widely regarded as one of the leading proponents of “classical mariachi music” in the world. Comprised of virtuoso mariachi and classical musicians, this unique ensemble fully embraces the ideals of traditional Mexican music and European Classical music. Led by composer and trumpeter Jeff Nevin, they have delighted diverse audiences across the U.S., Mexico, and as far away as Russia and South Korea for more than two decades. Read full bio.
 
Rafael Jorge Negrete, baritone
Rafael Jorge Negrete, an opera and concert singer at the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City, has performed throughout Mexico as well as venues in Latin America and Europe. He has also been broadcast on TV and radio. In the U.S., he is the leading artist at Charlotte Latin American Festival in North Carolina, as well as performing in concerts in Tucson, Arizona, Chicago, San Diego, San Bernadino and Tijuana with Mariachi Champaña Nevín. In addition, he has sung operetta including roles in The Merry Widow, Zehn Maedchen und kein Mann, The Fantasticks and Beauty and the Beast. As an actor, he has appeared in numerous movies, soap operas and documentaries. Negrete studied, as a grant recipient, at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts Mozarteum in Salzburg. Read full bio.
 
Mónica Ábrego, soprano
Soprano Mónica Ábrego has performed with many orchestras, such as the Colorado Symphony, Iowa Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Delaware Symphony Orchestra, La Jolla Symphony & Chorus, Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra, Lucca Chamber orchestra, the OBC (Barcelona) and Bulgaria Symphony Orchestra; as well as with the Chihuahua Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom she toured Mexico and the U.S. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2003 as a soloist for the Pacific Opera Encore company as well as in Lincoln Center's Merking Hall. She also performs traditional Mexican music with Champaña Nevín Mariachi, around the world. Read full bio.
 
Full bios: https://www.srsymphony.org/Press-Room/Artist-Bios
 
High-res photos
 
ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), Seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.
 
Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
The Symphony is recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. 

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
Marketing Associate
707-546-7097  ext. 222
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

2020-2021 Season

May 19, 2021: SRS @ Home Concert Featuring Peanuts® Gallery by Zwilich Airs on NorCal Public Media Channels KRCB and KPJK on June 20 and 21, 2021

Santa Rosa Symphony, May 19, 2021

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) — In partnership with Northern California Public Media, the Santa Rosa Symphony's SRS @ Home virtual concert, recorded at the Green Music Center's Weill Hall on May 1 and premiered on YouTube on May 16, will air on NorCal Public Media channels KRCB 22 and KPJK 60 on Sunday, June 20, 2021 at 8:00 PM and Monday, June 21, 2021 at 7:30 PM, respectively. This concert, no longer available to the public, will air as the second concert in NorCal Public Media's Santa Rosa Symphony Presents series, reaching 2.8 million households in a nine-county region.
 
Celebrating Sonoma County, the orchestra will perform Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Peanuts® Gallery  with acclaimed, San Francisco-based pianist Elizabeth Dorman in a concert that also features a reprise of Santa Rosa native Paul Dooley's Sonoma Strong, an SRS commission.
 
Lecce-Chong said, "Our season concludes with a bit of fun, gratitude and optimism. From Rossini's slapstick comedy overture to Zwilich's comics-inspired piano concerto, listeners of all ages will be smiling and chuckling along to the music with us. From a work inspired by our community's recovery from the 2017 Tubbs fire to one celebrating medical workers, we honor those who have kept our community safe through this time. And, ultimately, my colleagues and I will be performing with the fervent hope that this will be the last time we perform in the Green Music Center without our beloved audience."
 
Program
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, artistic partner
Elizabeth Dorman, piano
 
ROSSINI: Overture to Il signor Bruschino
MICHAEL DAUGHERTY: Asclepius, Fanfare for Brass and Percussion
ZWILICH: Peanuts® Gallery for Piano and Orchestra (featuring pianist Elizabeth Dorman)
PAUL DOOLEY: Sonoma Strong for Chamber Orchestra
HAYDN: Symphony No. 45, Farewell
 
 
The local angle
SRS Artistic Partner Ellen Taaffe Zwilich met Santa Rosa icon and cartoonist Charles Schulz as she thanked him for featuring her flute concerto in one of his Peanuts® comic strips. As Composer Chair at Carnegie Hall, Zwilich wrote Peanuts® Gallery for a family concert to be performed by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. "I would never, ever write down to a child," she said in an interview with Lecce-Chong, adding that she would maybe write something shorter, but definitely something she herself would want to hear. Zwilich, who was the first woman to earn the Pulitzer Prize in Music in addition to a very long list of prestigious awards, highlights a different Peanuts® character in each of the work’s six movements. During the course of composing the light-hearted, yet complex piece, she and Schulz formed a close and lasting friendship.
 
Continuing with the local theme, the orchestra will perform a new arrangement by Paul Dooley of his Sonoma Strong to accommodate the smaller orchestra necessitated by COVID restrictions. The work, commissioned by the Santa Rosa Symphony, pays tribute to Dooley’s hometown's experience of the 2017 Tubbs fire, even calling for string players to assist with playing the increased number (22) of whirlies. A whirly is a flexible, tuned hose made of corrugated plastic that, when whipped around, makes an eerie, sustained tone reminiscent of a siren or the wind. The second part of the two-part work, according to Dooley, "expresses hope and rebirth and builds to a heroic climax." 
 
Lecce-Chong added, “I think Sonoma Strong was always about something even bigger than our recovery from the horrific wildfires. It is a work that celebrates the strength of our community. Paul created a piece that focuses on our collective resiliency and creative capacity in the midst of tragedy. The support and commitment of our community to the arts has helped the Santa Rosa Symphony innovate and thrive during the pandemic, bringing the restorative power of music to all. I cannot think of a more perfect work to sum up our gratitude and hope as we complete this most unusual season of music.”
 
The Soloist
Pianist Elizabeth Dorman, who will perform Peanuts® Gallery on stage with the orchestra, has performed with the Louisville Orchestra, the Leipzig Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and Symphony Parnassus, as well as for interdisciplinary projects at the New World Symphony. Her live solo performances have been nationally broadcast on NPR and public radio. San Francisco Chronicle music critic Joshua Kosman has praised her “elegance and verve.” Read her full bio.
 
Complementary programming
Also included in the program are Gioachino Rossini's Overture to Il signor Bruschino and multiple Grammy-winning composer Michael Daugherty's Asclepius, Fanfare for Brass and Percussion.
 
Fittingly capping this final 2020-2021 SRS @ Home Season concert is Franz Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 45, Farewell, in which the orchestra members gradually peel off the stage in the last movement, leaving just two musicians on stage to finish the piece.
 
Finding the stations
NorCal Public Media's KRCB broadcasts, over the air, on channel 22.1. Viewers can access it on channel 22 on Comcast Cable (high definition on channel 722), ATT U-verse, DirecTV and Dish. KRCB reaches audiences in Sonoma, Napa, Marin, San Francisco, Alameda, Solano, Contra Costa and the southern tip of Mendocino and Lake counties.
 
KPJK’s over-the-air channel number is 60.1. KPJK is channel 17 (717 for HD) on Comcast, 43 on ATT U-verse and DirecTV, and 60 on Dish. KPJK’s over-the-air coverage is more to the south (parts of Sonoma, Napa and Solano; all of Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties).
 
Interview Opportunities
President and CEO Alan Silow
Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong
Artistic Partner Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
 
High-res photos available upon request
 
At a glance / Calendar listing:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony Presents: SRS @ Home May 16 concert
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony  
WHEN: Sunday, June 20, 2021 at 8:00 PM; Monday June 21, 2021 at 7:30 PM
WHERE: KCRB Channel 22 on June 20 and KPJK Channel 60 on June 21
INFORMATION: Leave message at (707) 546-8742 (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM)
 
About the Santa Rosa Symphony
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 93 years, began his tenure in 2018. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service. 

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
Marketing Associate
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

April 30, 2021: SRS @ Home Concert Featuring Works by Two Pulitzer Prize-winning Women

Santa Rosa Symphony, April 30, 2021

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) — In partnership with Northern California Public Media, the Santa Rosa Symphony's SRS @ Home virtual concert, recorded at the Green Music Center's Weill Hall on April 10 and premiered on YouTube on April 25, will air on NorCal Public Media channels KRCB 22 and KPJK 60 on Sunday, May 30, 2021 at 8:00 PM and Monday, May 31, 2021 at 7:30 PM, respectively. This concert, no longer available to the public, will air as the second concert in NorCal Public Media's Santa Rosa Symphony Presents series, reaching 2.8 million households in a nine-county region.
 
Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong's program includes works by two women who have made Pulitzer Prize history. Caroline Shaw was the youngest recipient in Music at age 30, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, the Symphony’s Artistic Partner, was the first woman to win the honor in Music. SRS Concertmaster Joseph Edelberg will be featured for Zwilich's Romance for Violin and Chamber Orchestra.
 
Soloist
Edelberg has performed for many years with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and American Bach Soloists. Guest leader appearances include Berkeley, Marin and California symphonies, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Magnificat Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists and San Francisco Opera Merola Grand Finals Orchestra. Read full bio.
 
Program
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, artistic partner
Joseph Edelberg, violin
 
CAROLINE SHAW: Entr’acte for String Orchestra
ZWILICH: Romance for Violin and Chamber Orchestra
ARTURO MÁRQUEZ: Danzón No. 4 for Chamber Orchestra
TCHAIKOVSKY: Serenade in C major for String Orchestra
 
Description and appeal for those new to classical music
The first two pieces on the program are well suited for people new to classical music. Entr’acte’s rich, vibrant themes, appeal to players and audiences. Shaw quipped that people have called it a “gateway drug for new music.” With Romance, Zwilich focused on the theme, or “tune,” over a complex progression, making it a good candidate for a classical music novice, while still enjoyable for the initiates, and especially so for fans of Edelberg.  
 
Márquez, the son of a mariachi musician, incorporates his Mexican culture into his Cuban dance pieces, or danzóns. Danzón No. 4 exudes melancholy and nostalgia and is dedicated to two of his siblings.  
 
Tchaikovsky wrote Serenade for Strings as a tribute to Mozart, his idol. At its premiere in 1881, the St. Petersburg audience called for an encore of the second movement. The waltz in the second movement, arranged for soprano and full orchestra, was performed as From the Heart of a Lonely Poet by Kathryn Grayson and the MGM studio orchestra for the 1945 film Anchors Aweigh. It was also used, in the ‘80s, as the startup theme for a British television station.
 
Finding the stations
NorCal Public Media's KRCB broadcasts, over the air, on channel 22.1. Viewers can access it on channel 22 on Comcast Cable (high definition on channel 722), ATT U-verse, DirecTV and Dish. KRCB reaches audiences in Sonoma, Napa, Marin, San Francisco, Alameda, Solano, Contra Costa and the southern tip of Mendocino and Lake counties.
 
KPJK’s over-the-air channel number is 60.1. KPJK is channel 17 (717 for HD) on Comcast, 43 on ATT U-verse and DirecTV, and 60 on Dish. KPJK’s over-the-air coverage is more to the south (parts of Sonoma, Napa and Solano; all of Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties).
 
Looking Ahead
The last of the three-concert Santa Rosa Symphony Presents series will air the SRS @ Home May 16 concert on KRCB on June 20 at 8:00 PM and on KPJK on June 21 at 7:30 PM. The program is as follows:
 
ROSSINI: Overture to Il signor Bruschino
MICHAEL DAUGHERTY: Asclepius, Fanfare for Brass and Percussion
ZWILICH: Peanuts® Gallery for Piano and Orchestra (featuring pianist Elizabeth Dorman)
PAUL DOOLEY: Sonoma Strong for Orchestra
HAYDN: Symphony No. 45, Farewell
 
Interview Opportunities
President and CEO Alan Silow
Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong
Artistic Partner Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
 
High-res photos available upon request
 
At a glance / Calendar listing:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony Presents: SRS @ Home Apr 25 concert
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony  
WHEN: Sunday, May 30, 2021 at 8:00 PM; Monday May 31, 2021 at 7:30 PM
WHERE: KCRB Channel 22 on May 30 and KPJK Channel 60 on May 31
INFORMATION: Leave message at (707) 546-8742 (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM)
 
About the Santa Rosa Symphony
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 93 years, began his tenure in 2018. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service. 

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
Marketing Associate
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org 

April 19, 2021: Santa Rosa Symphony’s "SRS @ Home May 16" Celebrates Sonoma County with Zwilich's Peanuts® Gallery, featuring pianist Elizabeth Dorman, and Santa Rosa native Paul Dooley's Sonoma Strong

Santa Rosa Symphony, April 19, 2021

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) — Santa Rosa Symphony (SRS) presents a virtual concert experience, conducted by Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong, celebrating Sonoma County on May 16, 2021 at 3:00 PM on the Symphony's YouTube channel. The orchestra will be joined by acclaimed, San Francisco-based pianist Elizabeth Dorman for SRS Artistic Partner Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Peanuts® Gallery in a concert that also features a reprise of Santa Rosa native Paul Dooley's Sonoma Strong.
 
Lecce-Chong said, "Our season concludes with a bit of fun, gratitude and optimism. From Rossini's slapstick comedy overture to Zwilich's comics-inspired piano concerto, listeners of all ages will be smiling and chuckling along to the music with us. From a work inspired by our community's recovery from the 2017 Tubbs fire to one celebrating medical workers, we honor those who have kept our community safe through this time. And, ultimately, my colleagues and I will be performing with the fervent hope that this will be the last time we perform in the Green Music Center without our beloved audience."
 
Zwilich met Santa Rosa icon and cartoonist Charles Schulz as she thanked him for featuring her flute concerto in one of his Peanuts® comic strips. As Composer Chair at Carnegie Hall, Zwilich wrote Peanuts® Gallery for a family concert to be performed by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. "I would never, ever write down to a child," she said in an interview with Lecce-Chong, adding that she would maybe write something shorter, but definitely something she herself would want to hear. Zwilich, who was the first woman to earn the Pulitzer Prize in Music in addition to a very long list of prestigious awards, highlights a different Peanuts® character in each of the work’s six movements. During the course of composing the light-hearted, yet complex piece, she and Schulz formed a close and lasting friendship.
 
Pianist Elizabeth Dorman, who will perform Peanuts® Gallery on stage with the orchestra, has performed with the Louisville Orchestra, the Leipzig Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and Symphony Parnassus, as well as for interdisciplinary projects at the New World Symphony. Her live solo performances have been nationally broadcast on NPR and public radio. San Francisco Chronicle music critic Joshua Kosman has praised her “elegance and verve.” Read her full bio.
 
Continuing with the local theme, the orchestra will perform a new arrangement by Paul Dooley of his Sonoma Strong to accommodate the smaller orchestra necessitated by COVID restrictions. The work, commissioned by the Santa Rosa Symphony, pays tribute to Dooley’s hometown's experience of the 2017 Tubbs fire, even calling for string players to assist with playing the increased number (22) of whirlies. A whirly is a flexible, tuned hose made of corrugated plastic that, when whipped around, makes an eerie, sustained tone reminiscent of a siren or the wind. The second part of the two-part work, according to Dooley, "expresses hope and rebirth and builds to a heroic climax."  
 
Lecce-Chong added, “I think Sonoma Strong was always about something even bigger than our recovery from the horrific wildfires. It is a work that celebrates the strength of our community. Paul created a piece that focuses on our collective resiliency and creative capacity in the midst of tragedy. The support and commitment of our community to the arts has helped the Santa Rosa Symphony innovate and thrive during the pandemic, bringing the restorative power of music to all. I cannot think of a more perfect work to sum up our gratitude and hope as we complete this most unusual season of music.”
 
Also included in the program are Gioachino Rossini's Overture to Il signor Bruschino and acclaimed American composer Michael Daugherty's Asclepius, Fanfare for Brass and Percussion.
 
Fittingly capping this final 2020-2021 SRS @ Home Season concert is Franz Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 45, Farewell, in which the orchestra members gradually peel off the stage in the last movement, leaving just two musicians on stage to finish the piece.
 
Recorded on May 1, 2021, in Green Music Center's Weill Hall, the concert premieres May 16 at 3:00 PM, preceded by a live, 30-minute pre-concert talk with Lecce-Chong and Zwilich at 2:00 PM and followed by a live post-concert Q&A with Lecce-Chong and special guests—all on YouTube. All three elements of this event are free, though donations to support the ongoing music and outreach programs of the Symphony are gratefully accepted during the event.
 
INVERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:
Francesco Lecce-Chong, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
 
AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony concert SRS @ Home May 16
 
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony  
 
WHEN: Sunday, May 16, 2021 at 3:00 PM
Pre-concert Talk 2:00 PM-2:30 PM
 
WHERE: Santa Rosa Symphony’s YouTube Channel (also accessible from the event page)
 
COST: Free, with donations gratefully accepted
 
INFORMATION: Leave message at (707) 546-8742 (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM)
 
ENHANCEMENTS:
Close-ups of musicians and conductor
Introduction to works by SRS musicians
Thirty-minute pre-concert talk on YouTube with Lecce-Chong & Zwilich at 2 PM on concert day
Post-concert Q&A on YouTube with Lecce-Chong & guests
Program book (online flipbook and printable version) available on concert event page
 
Sponsors
Classical Concert Series underwritten by Sara and Edward Kozel, in memory of Laura Tietz
SRS @ Home Lead Sponsor: Charles M. Schulz Museum, dedicated to the Peanuts Creator
SRS @ Home Supporting Sponsor: Victor and Karen Trione
SRS @ Home Supporting Sponsor: The Stare Foundation and David Stare of Dry Creek Vineyard
SRS @ Home Supporting Sponsor: County of Sonoma – Board of Supervisors
 
April 25 Concert Sponsor: Viking Cruises
Concert Supporting Sponsor: The E. Nakamichi Foundation
Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by The Alan and Susan Seidenfeld Charitable Trust
Pre-concert talks Sponsor: Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy
Media Sponsor: The Press Democrat
 
-High-res photos available upon request-
 
About the Santa Rosa Symphony
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 93 years, began his tenure in 2018. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service. The organization infused the local economy with more than $4 million in 2019.
 
The Symphony is recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support. Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
Marketing Associate
707-953-1663 (mobile)
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org 

April 5, 2021: Santa Rosa Symphony’s SRS @ Home Apr 25 Features Works by Two Pulitzer Prize-winning Women

Santa Rosa Symphony, April 5, 2021

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) — Santa Rosa Symphony (SRS) presents a virtual concert experience with works by two women who have not only won a Pulitzer Prize, but have broken Pulitzer records. Caroline Shaw was the youngest recipient in music at age 30, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, the Symphony’s Artistic Partner, was the first woman to win the honor for music. The program opens with Shaw’s Entr’acte for String Orchesta, followed by Zwilich’s Romance for Violin and Orchestra, featuring SRS Concertmaster Joseph Edelberg. The program, conducted by SRS Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong, continues with Arturo Márquez’ Danzón No. 4 for Chamber Orchestra and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Serenade in C major for String Orchestra. This free YouTube concert is preceded by a live pre-concert talk with Lecce-Chong and Zwilich, and a post-concert Q&A with Francesco and special guests.  
 
Lecce-Chong says, "I can't wait to fill the stage of the Green Music Center with our largest string section this season for the rich, gorgeous sounds of Tchaikovsky's beloved Serenade. I am also thrilled to showcase our concertmaster, Joe Edelberg, on Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Romance. As audiences have experienced all season long, Joe's artistry and leadership have been more essential than ever in facing the challenges of safely performing as an orchestra during a pandemic."
 
Appeal for those new to classical music concerts
The first two pieces on the program are well suited for people new to classical music. Entr’acte’s rich, vibrant themes, appeal to players and audiences. Shaw quipped that people have called it a “gateway drug for new music.” With Romance, Zwilich focused on the theme, or “tune,” over a complex progression, making it a good candidate for a classical music novice, while still enjoyable for the initiates, and especially so for fans of Edelberg.  
 
Edelberg has performed for many years with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and American Bach Soloists. Guest leader appearances include Berkeley, Marin and California symphonies, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Magnificat Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists and San Francisco Opera Merola Grand Finals Orchestra. He has also appeared at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming, as concertmaster at the Summer Festival Orchestras of Mendocino and San Louis Obispo, and as guest principal second violin of the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra. His solo appearances include the symphonies of Oakland, Berkeley and Santa Rosa. He has recorded with the aforementioned baroque orchestras, the Berkeley Symphony, Chanticleer and Earplay. Read full bio.
 
Márquez, the son of a mariachi, incorporates his Mexican culture into his Cuban dance pieces, or danzóns. Danzón No. 4 exudes melancholy and nostalgia and is dedicated to two of his siblings.   
 
Tchaikovsky wrote Serenade for Strings as a tribute to Mozart, his idol. At its premiere in 1881, the St. Petersburg audience called for an encore of the second movement. The waltz in the second movement, arranged for soprano and full orchestra, was performed as From the Heart of a Lonely Poet by Kathryn Grayson and the MGM studio orchestra for the 1945 film Anchors Aweigh. It was also used, in the ‘80s, as the startup theme for a British television station.
 
Recorded on April 10, 2021, in Green Music Center's Weill Hall, the concert premieres April 25 at 3 PM, preceded by a live pre-concert talk with Lecce-Chong and Zwilich at 2 PM and followed by a live post-concert Q&A with Lecce-Chong—all on YouTube. All three elements of this event are free, though donations to support the ongoing music and outreach programs of the Symphony are gratefully accepted during the event.
 
INVERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:
Francesco Lecce-Chong, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
 
AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony concert SRS @ Home Apr 25
 
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony  
 
WHEN: Sunday, April 25, 2021 at 3:00 PM
Pre-concert Talk 2:00 PM-2:30 PM
 
WHERE: Santa Rosa Symphony’s YouTube Channel (also accessible from the event page)
 
COST: Free, with donations gratefully accepted
 
INFORMATION: Leave message at (707) 546-8742 (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM)
 
ENHANCEMENTS:
Close-ups of musicians and conductor
Introduction to works by SRS musicians
Thirty-minute pre-concert talk on YouTube with Lecce-Chong & Zwilich at 2 PM on concert day
Post-concert Q&A on YouTube with Lecce-Chong & guests
Program book (online flipbook and printable version) available on concert event page
 
Sponsors
Classical Concert Series underwritten by Sara and Edward Kozel, in memory of Laura Tietz
SRS @ Home Lead Sponsor: Charles M. Schulz Museum, dedicated to the Peanuts Creator
SRS @ Home Supporting Sponsor: Victor and Karen Trione
SRS @ Home Supporting Sponsor: The Stare Foundation and David Stare
of Dry Creek Vineyard
SRS @ Home Supporting Sponsor: County of Sonoma – Board of Supervisors
 
April 25 Concert Sponsor: Viking Cruises
Concert Supporting Sponsor: County of Sonoma & Creative Sonoma
Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by David and Corinne Byrd
Joseph Edelberg underwritten by Dr. Larry Schoenrock Endowment Fund
Pre-concert talks Sponsor: Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy
Media Sponsor: The Press Democrat
 
-High-res photos available upon request-
 
About the Santa Rosa Symphony
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 93 years, began his tenure in 2018. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service. The organization infused the local economy with more than $4 million in 2019.
 
The Symphony is recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support. Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
Marketing Associate
707-953-1663 (mobile)
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org
 

February 25, 2021: Zuill Bailey performs West Coast Premiere of Zwilich Cello Concerto on Weill Hall stage with Santa Rosa Symphony

Santa Rosa Symphony, February 25, 2021

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) — Santa Rosa Symphony presents a virtual concert experience, including, for the first time this season, a guest artist on stage with the orchestra. On Sunday, March 28, 2021, at 3 PM, internationally acclaimed, Grammy-winning cellist Zuill Bailey will perform Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, which he premiered less than one year ago (see press quote below). This free YouTube concert features works by three additional American composers: Jessie Montgomery’s Starburst for String Orchestra, Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings and Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question for Chamber Orchestra. Anchoring the SRS @ Home Mar 28 concert, conducted by SRS Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong, is Johannes Brahms’ Serenade No. 2 in A major for Orchestra.
 
Lecce-Chong says, "One of the major highlights of our season will be giving the West Coast Premiere of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Cello Concerto on our March program. With the performance streaming on YouTube, it’s also the first time audiences around the world will have a chance to hear this incredible new work performed by Grammy-winning cellist Zuill Bailey. I’m also looking forward to showing off our incredible woodwinds with Brahms’ Serenade No. 2, which is, essentially, a symphony for woodwinds.”
 
SRS @ Home Artistic Partner Ellen Taaffe Zwilich is one of the most performed living American composers. Her extensive list of awards and honors includes being the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for music and the first woman to earn a doctorate in composition from The Julliard School. Though it wasn’t Zwilich’s original intention, her love of jazz and experience playing bebop trumpet and big band found its way into her cello concerto, which has a jazz character. Of its performance by Bailey on March 8, 2020, music critic John Fleming noted, “His warmth and richness of tone, lyrical phrasing, and rhythmic flair brought a splendid sense of freedom to the 15-minute work that was infectious.”
 
A consummate concerto soloist, Bailey has been featured with symphony orchestras worldwide. He is Artistic Director of El Paso Pro Musica, the Sitka Summer Music Festival (Alaska), the Northwest Bach Festival (Washington), the Mesa Arts Center Series (Arizona) and Professor of Cello at the University of Texas at El Paso. Read full bio.
 
Opening the program is a work by a young, prolific American composer the Symphony performed just last season. Jessie Montgomery wrote Starburst for String Orchestra with the Sphinx Virtuosi in mind. She refers to it as a “play on imagery of rapidly changing musical colors.”
 
From the exhilaration of Starburst, virtual audiences will experience lower, more earthy vibrations, with Barber’s somber Adagio for Strings, an American staple that one broadcaster referred to as our “national funeral music.”
 
For Ives’ Unanswered Question, musicians will be scattered throughout the Hall, turning the empty hall into a positive for a unique virtual concert experience.
 
Brahms’ Serenade No. 2 in A major is unique in that there are no violins. The remaining strings collaborate with the star of the piece, the woodwinds.
 
Recorded on March 20, 2021, in Green Music Center's Weill Hall, the concert premieres March 28 at 3 PM, preceded by a live pre-concert talk at 2 PM and followed by a live post-concert Q&A with Lecce-Chong—all on YouTube. All three elements of this event are free, though donations to support the ongoing music and outreach programs of the Symphony are gratefully accepted during the event.
 
INVERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:
Francesco Lecce-Chong, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, President and CEO Alan Silow
 
AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony concert "SRS @ Home Mar 28"  
 
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony  
 
WHEN: Sunday, March 28, 2021 at 3:00 PM
Pre-concert Talk 2:00 PM-2:30 PM
 
WHERE: Santa Rosa Symphony’s YouTube Channel (also accessible from the event page)
 
COST: Free, with donations gratefully accepted
 
INFORMATION: Leave message at (707) 546-8742 (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM)
 
ENHANCEMENTS:
Close-ups of musicians and conductor
Introduction to works by SRS musicians
Thirty-minute pre-concert talk on YouTube with Lecce-Chong at 2 PM on concert day
Post-concert Q&A on YouTube with Lecce-Chong immediately following the performance
Program book (online flipbook and printable version) available on concert event page
 
Sponsors
Classical Concert Series underwritten by Sara and Edward Kozel, in memory of Laura Tietz
SRS @ Home Lead Sponsor: Charles M. Schulz Museum, dedicated to the Peanuts Creator
SRS @ Home Supporting Sponsor: Victor and Karen Trione
SRS @ Home Supporting Sponsor: The Stare Foundation and David Stare
of Dry Creek Vineyard
SRS @ Home Supporting Sponsor: County of Sonoma – Board of Supervisors
 
March 28 Concert Sponsor: Jim Lamb
Zuill Bailey underwritten by Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy
Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by David and Corinne Byrd
Pre-concert talks Sponsor: Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy
Media Sponsor: The Press Democrat
 
-High-res photos available upon request-
 
About the Santa Rosa Symphony
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 93 years, began his tenure in 2018. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service. The organization infused the local economy with more than $4 million in 2019.
 
The Symphony is recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support. Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
Marketing Associate
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

January 27, 2021: Santa Rosa Symphony presents a virtual concert featuring Dvořák's Czech Suite

Santa Rosa Symphony, January 27, 2021

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) —Santa Rosa Symphony presents a virtual concert experience filled with love and life on Sunday, February 28, 2021 at 3 PM on its YouTube channel. SRS @ Home Feb 28, conducted by Francesco Lecce-Chong, features Antonín Dvořák's Czech Suite for Small Orchestra and Richard Wagner’s Siegfired Idyll for Small Orchestra, and works by William Grant Still and the Symphony’s SRS @ Home Artistic Partner and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.
 
Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong says, "Our February concert explores the gorgeous, rich sounds of 19th century Romanticism with works by Dvořák and Wagner - and their influence today. Although both composers are most well-known for their large-scale symphonies and operas, we will be featuring deeply personal and intimate works by them: Dvorak's ode to his homeland and Wagner's love letter to his wife."
 
Recorded on February 13 in Green Music Center's Weill Hall, the concert premieres February 28 at 3 PM, preceded by a live pre-concert talk at 2 PM and followed by a live post-concert Q&A with Lecce-Chong—all on YouTube. All three elements of this event are free, though donations to support the ongoing music and outreach programs of the Symphony are gratefully accepted during the event.
 
In Dvořák's Czech Suite for Small Orchestra, the composer embraces his heritage, incorporating Czech dance rhythms from Bohemia and Moravia, including a milder precursor to the Polish polka. The work was composed and premiered in the spring of 1879.
 
Wagner wrote Siegfried Idyll for Small Orchestra as a surprise Christmas and birthday gift for his wife Cosima, who was awakened at dawn on Christmas day in 1870 to a 13-piece ensemble performing it on the stairs outside her bedroom. The work is a very personal love letter filled with tenderness.
William Grant Still, a prolific African-American composer who broke many racial barriers in his lifetime, received a citation for Outstanding Service to American Music from the National Association for American Composers and Conductors in 1949. He was the first African American to accomplish the following:
* Symphony performed by major orchestra (Afro-American Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, 1931)

* Opera produced by a major company (New York City Opera, Troubled Island, 1949)

* Conducted a major orchestra (Los Angeles Philharmonic, 1936)

* Opera televised on a national network (A Bayou Legend, 1981)

Originally conceived as a cello concerto, Still’s Serenade is filled with expressive melodies and lush textures.
 
Zwilich became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1983 and composed her multi-textured Prologue and Variations for String Orchestra later that same year. The work, according to Zwilich, “celebrates the special sonorities, character and expressiveness of the string orchestra.”
 
INVERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:
Francesco Lecce-Chong
 
AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony concert "SRS @ Home Feb 28"  
 
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony
 
WHEN: Sunday, February 28, 2021 at 3:00 PM
Pre-concert Talk 2:00 PM-2:30 PM
 
WHERE:  Santa Rosa Symphony’s YouTube Channel (access also from event page)
 
COST: Free, with donations gratefully accepted
 
INFORMATION: Leave message at (707) 546-8742  (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM)
 
ENHANCEMENTS:
Program book (online flipbook and printable version) available on concert event page
Overview video with Lecce-Chong on event page and YouTube Channel
Informative, engaging, 30-minute pre-concert talk on YouTube with Lecce-Chong at 2 PM concert day
Post-concert Q&A on YouTube with Lecce-Chong immediately following the performance
 
Sponsors
Classical Concert Series underwritten by Sara and Edward Kozel, in memory of Laura Tietz
SRS @ Home Lead Sponsor: Charles M. Schulz Museum, dedicated to the Peanuts Creator
SRS @ Home Supporting Sponsor: Victor and Karen Trione
SRS @ Home Supporting Sponsor: The Stare Foundation and David Stare
of Dry Creek Vineyard
SRS @ Home Supporting Sponsor: County of Sonoma – Board of Supervisors
 
Feb 28 Concert Sponsored by Joseph A. and Judith M. Gappa
Supporting Sponsor: Exchange Bank
Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by David and Corinne Byrd
Pre-concert talks Sponsor: Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy
Media Sponsor: The Press Democrat
 
-High-res photos available upon request-
 
About the Santa Rosa Symphony
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 93 years, began his tenure in 2018. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service. The organization infused the local economy with more than $4 million in 2019.
 
The Symphony is recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support. Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

Media Contact:
Ann Hutchinson
Marketing Associate
ahutchinson@srsymphony.org

December 17, 2020: Santa Rosa Symphony Announces Five-year Contract Renewal with SRS Music Director, Francesco Lecce-Chong

Santa Rosa Symphony, December 17, 2020

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) —The Santa Rosa Symphony announces the renewal of its contract with Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong for another five years following the completion of his current three-year contract on June 30, 2021. The agreement, signed late last month, is effective from July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2026. The contract calls, pending continued pandemic restrictions, for Lecce-Chong to conduct the customary six out of seven Classical Series concert sets, several special event performances, and continue his considerable community outreach off the podium.
 
This year, Lecce-Chong crafted new programming, adapted for a smaller compliment of musicians, for recording virtual concerts and, in addition to conducting, provided live pre-concert talks and post-concert Q & As for each. He has also helped the Symphony stay connected with its subscribers and wider community during the pandemic through his weekly "Thursday Night Live" events on Facebook and YouTube, in which he dives into specific classical music pieces, and interviews composers and musicians.
 
SRS President and CEO Alan Silow said, "We could not have hoped for a more creative, collegial and inspirational artistic leader than Lecce-Chong. His renewed commitment to our orchestra, our young people and our patrons will serve as a beacon of light for years to come."
 
SRS Board Chairman Al Seidenfeld said, “It’s truly an honor to have such an enthusiastic, skilled conductor, who is a champion of living composers and music education, as our Music Director for another five years. His vision and drive will take this orchestra to ever-increasing heights.”
 
Lecce-Chong said, "In my three seasons as Music Director, this orchestra and community have shown an astounding creativity, grit and resiliency in the face of wildfires, smoke, power outages and now a pandemic. We have brought the joy and excitement of our music-making to more people than ever before through our virtual series. So, I am thrilled to continue making music with my brilliant colleagues on stage and grateful for the opportunity to lead us through these challenging times. In the next few years, we will continue our industry-leading commitment to the musical voices of today and I will continue to champion the work of our vital education programs and youth ensembles. The Santa Rosa Symphony continues to show that the future of orchestral music is bright, and together we can bring that hope to our whole community."
 
Lecce-Chong, who guest conducts around the world, made his San Francisco Symphony subscription debut in the 2018-2019 season and his New York Philharmonic debut as part of the legendary Young People’s Concert Series in the 2019-2020 season.
 
Now maintaining a residence in Sonoma County, Lecce-Chong simultaneously serves as Music Director of the Eugene Symphony in Oregon. Lecce-Chong is represented by IMG Artists, an agency that includes such luminaries as Renée Fleming, Joshua Bell and Sarah Chang on its roster.
 
About the Santa Rosa Symphony
 
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 93 years, began his tenure in 2018. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service. The organization infused the local economy with more than $4 million in 2019. 
 
The Symphony is also recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support. Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
 
Media Contact:
Sara Mitchell
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
707-546-7097  ext. 218
smitchell@srsymphony.org

November 4, 2020: Santa Rosa Symphony celebrates Beethoven's 250th birthday with his Third Symphony

Santa Rosa Symphony, November 4, 2020

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) — Santa Rosa Symphony presents an enhanced concert experience on Sunday, December 13, 2020 at 3 PM on its YouTube channel. This virtual concert, conducted by Francesco Lecce-Chong, the third in the Symphony's SRS @ Home series, features Beethoven's Third Symphony and works by Antonio Vivaldi, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Jessie Montgomery.
 
This concert, recorded earlier in December in Green Music Center's Weill Hall, will premiere on December 13 at 3 PM, preceded by a live pre-concert talk at 2 PM and followed by a live post-concert Q&A with Lecce-Chong—all on YouTube. All three elements of this event will be free, though donations to support the ongoing music and outreach programs of the Symphony will be gratefully received during the event.
 
Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong says, "It's been such a timely pleasure to present Beethoven's early symphonies to our community and beyond. Beethoven was a revolutionary who struggled with his impending deafness as he wrote this Third Symphony. It encourages us to push past convention and limitations to create something beautiful and lasting."
 
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 was a game-changer, not just for the composer's career, but for classical music in general. Beethoven dared to introduce new, nontraditional elements, which were unappreciated by the critics of the day. After this long, unique symphony, the up-and-coming composer was branded a revolutionary.
 
The Symphony's December concert begins with Source Code by Jessie Montgomery, a living composer from New York, who also dares to break with convention, offering something new and thought-provoking. The Washington Post describes her works as "turbulent, wildly colorful and exploding with life." An African-American, whose own 39th birthday is days before the concert, Montgomery writes of the piece, "The first sketches of Source Code began as transcriptions of various sources from African American artists prominent during the peak of the Civil Rights era in the United States." She describes her one-movement dirge-like work as centering on a new "melody based on syntax derived from black spirituals." 
 
Vivaldi's Concerto for Violin, Two Oboes, Two Horns and Continuo provides an excellent showpiece for pairs of orchestra members to "talk" to one another and is a vibrant example of Vivaldi's recipe for an engaging concerto. 
 
Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Greensleeves, arranged by Ralph Greaves, pairs Vaughan Williams' version of the timeless, ubiquitous English tune with the composer's Lovely Joan. Vaughan Williams wove Greensleeves into the music for Shakespeare's play, "The Merry Wives of Windsor," and composed the Lovely Joan for "Sir John in Love," his own opera, based on the same plot. The pairing embodies Merry Old England.
 
 
INVERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:
Francesco Lecce-Chong
 
AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony concert "SRS @ Home Dec 13"  
 
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony
 
WHEN: Sunday, December 13, 2020 at 3:00 PM
Pre-concert Talk 2:00 PM-2:30 PM
 
WHERE:  Santa Rosa Symphony’s YouTube Channel (access also from event page)
 
COST: Free, with donations gratefully accepted
 
INFORMATION: Leave message at (707) 546-8742  (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM)
 
ENHANCEMENTS:
Program book (online flipbook and printable version) available on concert event page
Overview video with Lecce-Chong on event page and YouTube Channel
Informative, engaging, 30-minute pre-concert talk on YouTube with Lecce-Chong at 2 PM concert day
Post-concert Q&A on YouTube with Lecce-Chong immediately following the performance
 
Sponsors
Classical Concert Series underwritten by Sara and Edward Kozel, in memory of Laura Tietz
SRS @ Home Lead Sponsor: Anderman Family Foundation
SRS @ Home Supporting Sponsor: The Stare Foundation and David Stare of Dry Creek Vineyard
Dec 15 Concert Sponsored by Donald and Maureen Green
Supporting Sponsor: Linda and David Hanes
Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by David and Corinne Byrd
Pre-concert talks sponsors: Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy
Media Sponsor: The Press Democrat
 
-High-res photos available upon request-
 
About the Santa Rosa Symphony
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 93 years, began his tenure in 2018. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service. The organization infused the local economy with more than $4 million in 2019.
 
The Symphony is recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support. Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

Media Contact:
Sara Mitchell
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
707-546-7097  ext. 218
smitchell@srsymphony.org

October 14, 2020: Santa Rosa Symphony presents SRS @ Home with Beethoven’s Second Symphony

Santa Rosa Symphony, October 14, 2020

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) — Santa Rosa Symphony presents an enhanced concert experience on Sunday, November 15, 2020 at 3 PM on its YouTube channel. This virtual concert, conducted by Francesco Lecce-Chong, the second in the Symphony's SRS @ Home series, features Beethoven's Second Symphony and works by Scott Joplin, Chen Yi, Gabriela Lena Frank and Max Bruch.
 
This concert will premiere on November 15 at 3 PM, preceded by a live pre-concert talk at 2 PM and followed by a live post-concert Q&A with Lecce-Chong—all on YouTube. All three elements of this event will be free, though donations to support the ongoing music and outreach programs of the Symphony will be gratefully received during the event.
 
Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong says, "I am delighted to showcase several of our own musicians as soloists on this program, violinists Jay Zhong and Michelle Maruyama, and cellist Adelle-Akiko Kearns. Our concert features a selection of colorful dances from a diverse group of American composers - Gabriella Lena Frank, Chen Yi, and Scott Joplin. We also continue our Beethoven journey with his second symphony - full of dazzling virtuosity and comedic wit!"
 
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2, which anchors the November program, is replete with the full gamut of emotions that the composer wrestled with at the onset of his increasing deafness. Already pushing the envelope, Beethoven begins to rewrite the rules and forge new musical territories with his then unconventional nuances, showing himself to be a master composer.
 
The shorter works offered in this concert comprise a vibrant variety of works, many of which are too seldom heard in modern orchestral settings.
 
The program opens with “Coqueteos” from Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout by Gabriela Lena Frank, a composer whose high-energy Escaramuza, based on an Incan Warrior dance, delighted SRS @ Home viewers in October.  This piece blends Andean folk music traditions with western Classical and, Frank says, “is direct in its harmonic expression, bold and festive.”
 
In addition to Frank’s three-minute work, Francesco will conduct a subset of the orchestra for two rags by the “The King of Ragtime," Scott Joplin. The Entertainer gained increased fame in popular culture as the theme song for The Sting, a feature film starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman. Maple Leaf Rag, composed in 1899, is the most famous and most imitated rag ever written. 
 
Chen Yi’s Romance and Dance for Two Violins and String Orchestra, together invite listeners into a realm where Chinese and Western Classical music blend to become more than the sum of their parts. In Romance, western instruments imitate the sound of the Chinese ch’in, a 2000-year-old seven-string zither. Dance evokes the “dancing ink on paper in Chinese calligraphy and the fiery moving gestures of ancient Chinese women dancers,” says Yi. SRS associate concertmaster Jay Zhong and assistant principal second violin Michelle Maruyama are the violin soloists.
 
The spotlight shines on SRS Principal Cellist Adelle-Akiko Kearns in Max Bruch’s lyrical Canzone in B-flat major for Cello and Orchestra. Critics praise Kearns as an “impressive” cellist exhibiting “beautifully sensuous cello playing.” The San Francisco native is a recipient of the prestigious Artists International Award. Kearns made her New York recital debut at Carnegie’s Weill Hall in November of 2008. Read her full bio here.
 
INVERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:
Francesco Lecce-Chong
 
AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony concert "SRS @ Home Nov 15"  
 
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony
 
WHEN: Sunday, November 15, 2020 at 3:00 PM
Pre-concert Talk 2:00 PM-2:30 PM
 
WHERE:  Santa Rosa Symphony’s YouTube Channel (access also from event page)
 
COST: Free, with donations gratefully accepted
 
INFORMATION: Leave message at (707) 546-8742  (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM)
 
ENHANCEMENTS:
Program book (online flipbook and printable version) available on concert event page
Overview video with Lecce-Chong on event page and YouTube Channel
Informative, engaging, 30-minute pre-concert talk on YouTube with Lecce-Chong at 2 PM concert day
Post-concert Q&A on YouTube with Lecce-Chong. immediately following the performance
 
Sponsors
Classical Concert Series underwritten by Sara and Edward Kozel, in memory of Laura Tietz
SRS @ Home Lead Sponsor: Anderman Family Foundation
SRS @ Home Supporting Sponsor: The Stare Foundation and David Stare of Dry Creek Vineyard
Nov 15 Concert Sponsored by Peggy Anne Covington
Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by David and Corinne Byrd
Pre-concert talks sponsors: Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy
Media Sponsor: The Press Democrat
 
-High-res photos available upon request-
 
About the Santa Rosa Symphony
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 93 years, began his tenure in 2018. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service. The organization infused the local economy with more than $4 million in 2019.
 
The Symphony is recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support. Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

Media Contact:
Sara Mitchell
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
707-546-7097  ext. 218
smitchell@srsymphony.org

 

September 22, 2020: Santa Rosa Symphony presents SRS @ Home with Beethoven’s First Symphony

Santa Rosa Symphony, September 22, 2020

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) — Santa Rosa Symphony presents the first virtual concert in its new and dynamic SRS @ Home series on Sunday, October 11, 2020 at 3 PM. At a time when many California regional orchestras are going dark, the Santa Rosa Symphony presents a virtual series, featuring the largest number of musicians on stage for an orchestral concert in the state, with up to 32 socially-distanced musicians for some of the works. Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong conducts unique configurations of the orchestra, recorded live on the Weill Hall stage. This free, virtual event, featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1, will stream on the Symphony's YouTube channel. This historic concert will be preceded by a live pre-concert talk at 2 PM and immediately followed by a live post-concert Q&A with Lecce-Chong—all on YouTube. All three elements of this event will be free, though donations to support the ongoing music and outreach programs of the Symphony will be gratefully received, during the event.
 
Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong says, "This program is a celebration of the orchestra and our musicians through a diverse array of works spanning 400 years of composition. Individual sections of the orchestra will be featured, from percussion to strings, in unique configurations in the Green Music Center before we conclude with Beethoven's first symphony."
 
"I am thrilled and grateful for the opportunity to be back on stage with my colleagues,” added Lecce-Chong. “Being able to share the hope, joy, and comfort of music is vital in times like this and these free virtual events will reach more people in our community than ever before."
 
"We have taken a bold artistic step forward," commented President and CEO Alan Silow, "by producing, for free, the largest virtual orchestral program by any orchestra in the state of California, inspiring all lovers of classical music and providing meaningful employment to our fine musicians.”
 
The program opens with Lyric for Strings by George Walker (1922-2018), a highly successful pianist, composer and teacher with a dizzying list of “firsts.” Walker was the first African American instrumentalist to obtain professional concert management, the first African American composer to win the Pulitzer Prize in Music (for his Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra) and he was the first living composer inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame (2000). 
 
The brass section will then will have their due as they perform two canzoni by 16th century Venitian composer Giovanni Gabrieli, arranged by the Santa Rosa Symphony’s principal trombone, Bruce Chrisp.
 
The program continues with Escaramuza for percussion, harp, piano, and strings by Gabriela Lena Frank, which draws on Peruvian influences for a lively tribute to the kachampa dance of the Incan warrior. Woodwinds and brass take the stage for Richard Strauss’ Serenade in E-flat major for Thirteen Wind Instruments, Op. 7. The piece, written when the composer was 17, features graceful, elegant melodies, owing to Strauss’ affinity for Mozart.
 
The program concludes with Beethoven’s First Symphony, written when he was 29. His first symphony, which bears the influences of Haydn and Mozart, was praised at its premiere as a masterpiece.
 
INVERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:
Francesco Lecce-Chong
 
AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:
 
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony concert "SRS @ Home Oct 11"  
 
WHO: Santa Rosa Symphony
 
WHEN: Sunday, October 11, 2020 at 3:00 PM
Pre-concert talk 2:00 PM-2:30 PM
 
WHERE:  Santa Rosa Symphony’s YouTube Channel (access also from event page)
 
COST: Free, with donations gratefully accepted
 
INFORMATION: Leave message at (707) 546-8742  (Weekdays 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM)
 
ENHANCEMENTS:
Program book (online flipbook and printable version) available on concert event page
Overview video with Lecce-Chong on event page and YouTube Channel
Informative, engaging, 30-minute pre-concert talk on YouTube with Lecce-Chong at 2 PM concert day
Post-concert Q&A on YouTube with Lecce-Chong. immediately following the performance
 
Sponsors
Classical Concert Series underwritten by Sara and Edward Kozel, in memory of Laura Tietz
SRS @ Home Lead Sponsor: Anderman Family Foundation
SRS @ Home Supporting Sponsor: The Stare Foundation and David Stare of Dry Creek Vineyard
Oct 11 Concert Sponsored by Marcia Wagner, in memory of Hap Wagner
Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by The Alan and Susan Seidenfeld Charitable Trust
Pre-concert talks sponsors: Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy
Media Sponsor: The Press Democrat
 
-High-res photos available upon request-
 
About the Santa Rosa Symphony
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 93 years, began his tenure in 2018. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service. The organization infused the local economy with more than $4 million in 2019.
 
The Symphony is recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support. Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

Media Contact:
Sara Mitchell
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
707-546-7097  ext. 218
smitchell@srsymphony.org

September 3, 2020: Santa Rosa Symphony streams redesigned fall concerts from Weill Hall, Green Music Center

Santa Rosa Symphony, September 3, 2020

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) — The Santa Rosa Symphony (SRS), with government approval for private recording sessions, will perform, record and stream its redesigned Fall concerts, making them safely accessible online for subscribers, patrons and new audiences around the globe. In early October, November and December, on the Green Music Center's Weill Hall stage, a socially-distanced subset of the orchestra and Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong will record three concerts to replace the originally planned live concerts. SRS @ Home Virtual Fall Concert Series will be streamed live on YouTube on October 11, November 15 and December 13 at 3:00 PM. Additional performances by soloists are reserved exclusively for SRS subscribers.
 
Lecce-Chong says, "In the face of the difficulties behind us and the struggles ahead, the Symphony will share uplifting musical experiences, as it has during past crises from 9/11 to the Tubbs fire. This is truly a historic moment in our Symphony's long history, and we are so excited to present our first concerts, specifically programmed, directed and filmed for you to enjoy in your homes. We come together to celebrate the power of music to connect us—bringing joy, hope and comfort to our lives. We may not be in the Green Music Center in person, but imagine that across our community, we will all be gathered for a performance—in living rooms and backyards, on phones and TVs, with family or maybe some neighbors."
 
Working with Diversified Stages, a professional video production company, and implementing approved health and safety protocols, the Symphony is recording concert events that will include close-ups and a variety of angles of the musicians performing, along with a virtual peek backstage, short interviews, commentary, a post-concert Q & A with the Music Director and more.  
 
President and CEO Alan Silow said, "This orchestra has long focused on serving our community, from free post-wildfire concerts to free educational training for those underserved. As we all shelter safely in place, the Symphony now has an opportunity to reach more people than ever before by providing these virtual Fall concerts free and open to all."
 
The concerts in this SRS@Home Virtual Concert Series, curated by Lecce-Chong, will include one each of Beethoven's Symphonies No. 1, 2 and 3, leading up to the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth in December. Given the smaller number of musicians necessary to maintain social distancing, Lecce-Chong has the unique opportunity to present works originally intended for concerts performed in homes and other works rarely heard in a symphony performance, like: Gabriela Lena Frank's Escaramuza for Strings, Percussion, Harp and Piano; Richard Strauss' Serenade for Thirteen Wind Instruments; Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag and The Entertainer; and Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Greensleeves. Francesco will share details about these special virtual performances during a short LIVE YouTube video on September 27 at 3:00 PM on the Santa Rosa Symphony YouTube channel. Francesco conveys his enthusiasm and vision for the series in this short YouTube video.
 
Viewers are encouraged to explore the Symphony's "Ways to Watch" page, several days prior to the first premiere, to learn how to access the videos on their smart TVs, older TVs connected to app-ready devices, computers, tablets, phones and other devices. While these concerts are free, a donation will be requested during the event.
 
Subscribers, who have paid in advance for these concerts, will have access to exclusive, additional virtual music programming featuring the season's guest artists Van Cliburn gold medal pianist Olga Kern, critically acclaimed violinist Elina Vähälä and SRS' own superbly talented principal violist Elizabeth Prior.
 
SRS @ HOME Virtual Concert Series
Conducted by Francesco Lecce-Chong
 
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11 at 3:00 PM on YouTube
 
GEORGE WALKER: Lyric for Strings
GABRIELI: Canzoni for Brass
GABRIELA LENA FRANK: Escaramuza for Strings, Percussion, Harp and Piano
R. STRAUSS: Serenade for Thirteen Wind Instruments
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 1            
 
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15 at 3:00 PM on YouTube
 
Adelle-Akiko Kearns, cello
 
GABRIELA LENA FRANK: Coqueteos from Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout
CHEN YI: Romance and Dance for Two Violins and String Orchestra
JOPLIN: The Entertainer and Maple Leaf Rag
BRUCH: Canzone for Cello and Orchestra
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 2
           
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13 at 3:00 PM on YouTube
 
JESSIE MONTGOMERY: Source Code for String Orchestra
VIVALDI: Concerto Grosso for Violin, Two Oboes and Two Horns
BEETHOVEN:  Symphony No. 3, Eroica
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Fantasia on Greensleeves
 
 
only subscribers have access to the following performances
Sunday, October 18 at 3 PM on YouTube
Olga Kern, piano—in recital with interview by Francesco Lecce-Chong
 
RACHMANINOFFMusical Moments for Piano, Opus 16, No. 4
TCHAIKOVSKY: Meditation for Piano, Opus 72, No. 5
SCRIABIN: Etudes for Piano Opus 42, No. 4 and No. 5
PROKOFIEV: Etude for Piano, Opus 2, No. 4
LIADOV: The Musical Snuffbox for Piano
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV / RACHMANINOFF: Flight of the Bumblebee
 
Sunday, November 22 at 3 PM on YouTube
Elina Vähälä, violin—in recital with interview by Francesco Lecce-Chong
 
BACH: Partita No. 2, Allemande and Chaconne
 
Sunday, December 20 at 3 PM on YouTube
Elizabeth Prior, viola—in recital with interview by Francesco Lecce-Chong
 
PAUL HINDEMITH: Trauermusik [Music of Mourning]
Additional selections to be announced
 
SPONSORS for October SRS@Home concerts
Classical Concert Series underwritten by Sara and Edward Kozel, in memory of Laura Tietz
 
OCTOBER concert sponsored by Marcia Wagner, in memory of Hap Wagner
Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by The Alan and Susan Seidenfeld Charitable Trust
 
NOVEMBER concert sponsored by the Peggy Anne Covington Fund
Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by David and Corinne Byrd
Elina Vähälä (subscriber virtual performance) underwritten by Linda Castiglioni
 
DECEMBER concert sponsored by Donald and Maureen Green
Francesco Lecce-Chong underwritten by David and Corinne Byrd
Elizabeth Prior (subscriber virtual performance) underwritten by Ava and Sam Guerrera
 
Discovery Open Rehearsal Series sponsored by The Stare Foundation and David Stare of Dry Creek Vineyard
Pre-concert talks sponsored by Jamei Haswell and Richard Grundy

 
 
About the Santa Rosa Symphony
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 92 years, began his tenure in 2018. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service. The organization infused the local economy with more than $4 million in 2018.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (7 sets), 7 Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a 3-concert Family Series and a 4-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts. The Symphony is also recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually.
 
Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support. Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

Media Contact:
Sara Mitchell
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
707-546-7097  ext. 218
smitchell@srsymphony.org

August 11, 2020: Virtual gala honoring Symphony icons Norma and Corrick Brown Features recital by award-winning pianist Olga Kern

Santa Rosa Symphony, August 11, 2020

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) — The Santa Rosa Symphony will host its first virtual gala honoring long-time Symphony icons Norma and Corrick Brown. Unlike prior seasons, this fundraising celebration is a free event that is open to the public. The event will stream online on Saturday, September 12, 2020 at 6:30 PM. Viewing instructions will be posted to the Symphony website closer to the event. The evening will include tributes from long-time friends of the Browns, presentations by prominent community luminaries, a brief recital by Van Cliburn gold medal winner Olga Kern, as well as an opportunity to support the Symphony.
 
Conductor Emeritus Corrick Brown served as the Symphony's second music director and conductor from 1957 to 1995. He added many programs to the Symphony's offerings and enriched the orchestra with an influx of talented, professional musicians. His wife Norma worked behind the scenes with myriad tasks and projects and was a gracious host to guest artists who stayed in their home. The couple's involvement with the Symphony did not end in 1995; they hosted Conductor Laureate Bruno Ferrandis when he was in the country, played piano duets for Symphony fundraisers and continue to support the Symphony they helped establish.
 
Funds raised through this event will help support the Symphony's many music education programs, which include:  in-school music curriculum and presentations, interactive performances at the Green Music Center for elementary school students and afterschool social action programs for underserved elementary school students. (In-person elements of these programs are temporarily paused or virtual, but will resume when pandemic restrictions have been lifted.)  
 
Russian-American pianist Olga Kern was born into a family of musicians with direct links to Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff and began studying piano at the age of five. She jumpstarted her United States career with her historic Gold Medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, as the first woman to do so in more than thirty years. Read Olga's bio at srsymphony.org/Artists/Olga-Kern.
 
Detailed instructions for where and how to watch will be posted to the Symphony's website.
 
High res photos available upon request
 
SPONSORS
Lead Sponsor: Donald and Maureen Green

Supporting sponsors: Anonymous; Alan and Susan Seidenfeld Charitable Trust; Faye Smith; Sandra Jordan; Norma Person; Prosource of Santa Rosa and World of Carpet One, Gayle & Arnie Carston; Santa Rosa Symphony League; The Press Democrat; Green Music Center
 
EVENT LISTING
WHAT: Santa Rosa Symphony Virtual Gala, honoring Norma & Corrick Brown
 
WHO:
Luminaries: TBA
Olga Kern, piano  
 
WHEN: Saturday, September 12, 2020 at 6:30 PM
 
WHERE:  Viewing link to be posted on the SRS website at srsymphony.org
 
COST: Free, but donations encouraged
 
About the Santa Rosa Symphony
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 92 years, began his tenure in 2018. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service. The organization infused the local economy with more than $4 million in 2018.
 
The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (7 sets), 7 Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a 3-concert Family Series and a 4-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts. The Symphony is also recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually.
 
Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support. Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

Media Contact:
Sara Mitchell
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
707-546-7097  ext. 218
smitchell@srsymphony.org

July 7, 2020: Santa Rosa Symphony 2019-2020 Season (and Fiscal Year) Review

Santa Rosa Symphony, July 7, 2020

Santa Rosa, Calif.) —The Santa Rosa Symphony's 2019-2020 fiscal year began with expanded program offerings, another record-beating, season-opening fundraiser and strong ticket sales. Then the Kincaid Fire and the pandemic caused an unprecedented number of concert postponements in a single season. The organization met the challenges, adapted and ended the fiscal year, once again, in the black.  

Top organizational highlights:
Two summer co-productions with the Green Music Center: free multimedia concert "Four Seasons of Sonoma County" with Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and photos curated by Museum of Sonoma County; and "Raiders of the Lost Ark in concert"

Most successful gala fundraiser of its kind in 17 years, honoring Gaye LeBaron

Negotiation of new five-year contracts with Musicians and Stagehands Unions

Critically-acclaimed, first full season of conducting and programming by music director Francesco Lecce-Chong

Inaugural First Symphony Project performance and launch of SRS Institute for Music Education's First Opus Project

Strong overall enrollment in youth orchestras, exceeding budgeted goal

Ticket sales for Classical Series and Family Series on record pace

High levels of individual donations, board giving, government grants and League support

Positive bottom line for seventeenth consecutive year
 
The pandemic caused the postponement of the last eight weeks of the season’s performances and three performances in the Green Music Center's summer season, and the temporary closing of the SRS administrative and patron services offices. The fourteen-member staff continues to work from home. Since the beginning of the sheltering in place, the organization accomplished the following:
 
All eight Classical Series and Family concerts rescheduled

Continued engagement through:
Music Director hosted Facebook "Watch Parties"
Virtual concert featuring 14 youth ensemble groups
Online videos/classes for youth ensembles and Simply Strings
NorCal Public Media radio broadcasts of past SRS performances
Sharing of individual SRS musician music performance videos
Video conversations with donors and the Music Director
 
“For 92 years, the Santa Rosa Symphony has valued its role in making a difference in the life of its community. The success of our organization has not been accidental or haphazard. It has been based on artistic and educational excellence, fiscal ingenuity and community engagement. Intangible assets like trust, good decision-making, artistic and managerial expertise, reputation and relationships, a positive organizational culture, and the quality of the board, staff and orchestra all have influenced our performance,” said SRS President and CEO Alan Silow.
 
INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES:
Francesco Lecce-Chong, Alan Silow
 
About the Santa Rosa Symphony
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 93 years, began his tenure in 2018. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service. The organization infused the local economy with more than $4 million in 2019.
 
In its 93rd season, the Symphony’s performance schedule will include 21 Classical Series concerts, 6 Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a 4-concert Family Series and a 5-concert Pops Series. The Symphony is also recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually.
 
Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support. Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

Media Contact:
Sara Mitchell
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
707-546-7097  ext. 218
smitchell@srsymphony.org

July 1, 2020: Santa Rosa Symphony welcomes new Board Members July 1, 2020

Santa Rosa Symphony, July 1, 2020

(Santa Rosa, Calif.) — The Santa Rosa Symphony, as it enters its 93rd season, announced five new appointments to its board of directors. They are Corinne Antipa (Musician Representative), Liz Bippart (League Representative), Mark Dierkhising, Jack Dupre and Joe Smith. In addition, board member Garth Bixler has been elected as Secretary. Continuing board officers are as follows: Al Seidenfeld, Chairman of the Board; Corinne Byrd, Vice-Chairman; Sean Pryden, Treasurer; and Jamei Haswell, Immediate Past Chairman. 
 
SRS Chairman of the Board Al Seidenfeld said, "The board welcomes these fine new additions to our roster. I know that, as we work together, they will inspire us with their dedication and enrich us with their diverse backgrounds, knowledge and contributions."
 
Mark Dierkhising, sometimes called Dierk, is a renowned, award-winning chef and restauranteur. He has been working and living in Sonoma and Napa counties since the mid 70s. Dierkhising, along with his wife Karen Brodsky, is the owner of Dierk’s Parkside and Midtown Cafes, both in Santa Rosa.
 
Jack Dupre was first appointed to the Board in 1975 and co-chaired, with Yale Abrams, the Major Gifts Committee, which was the Symphony’s initial attempt to garner support from local businesses. Dupre served as president from 1981 to 1983, when the Symphony moved its performances to the Luther Burbank Center. Before his transition to emeritus status in 2005, he chaired the Personnel Committee and was a member of the 2004-2005 Music Director Selection Committee, which hired Bruno Ferrandis.
 
Joe N. Smith Jr. is the Senior Vice President and Manager of the Small Business Administration Department at Exchange Bank. Smith has been a career SBA lender and held both National and Regional Sales Management positions for SBA lending banks coast to coast. Prior to moving to northern California in 2008, Smith was co-founder and President of American Business Lending in Dallas. He has served for the last 11 years on the Board of The Sonoma County Family YMCA and has been a two-term Chairman and currently serves as the Treasure and Finance committee.
 
Corinne Antipa is a longtime member of the Santa Rosa Symphony cello section, has an active private studio and is a freelance performer in northern California. She had the great good fortune of studying with Bonnie Hampton and then with Colin Hampton before going to college, where the siren song drew her back to dance. Antipa holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in dance from Mills College and, until this last school year, spent forty years on the faculty of Santa Rosa Junior College teaching dance technique, dance history and choreography.
 
Liz Bippart moved from Estes Park, Colorado, just in time for the opening of the Green Music Center. Her parents, John and Betsy Bippart, were longtime supporters of the Santa Rosa Symphony. Soon after moving to California, Bippart joined the Santa Rosa Symphony League. She chaired Dinner is Served, one of the major fundraising events for its first six years. She served as liaison to the Music Education committee of Santa Rosa Symphony for three years and is now President of the League.
 
-High-res photos of Bippart, Smith and Dupre available upon request-
 
FULL BIOS, in alphabetical order
 
Corinne Antipa
Corinne Antipa is a longtime member of the Santa Rosa Symphony cello section, has an active private studio and is a freelance performer in northern California. She had the great good fortune of studying with Bonnie Hampton and then with Colin Hampton before going to college, where the siren song drew her back to dance. Antipa holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in dance from Mills College and, until this last school year, spent forty years on the faculty of Santa Rosa Junior College teaching dance technique, dance history and choreography. She also has worked in the field of historical dance in reconstruction and performance. The cellist in her, as well as the dancer, led her to be trained in the Feldenkrais Method in 1994.
 
Antipa lives in Santa Rosa with a variety of four-footed companions and “without the guidance of parental good sense, she might have chucked it all for a horse, a saddle and the open range!”

Liz Bippart
Liz Bippart has resided in Healdsburg since 2012, having arrived from Estes Park, Colorado, just in time for the opening of the Green Music Center. Her parents, John and Betsy Bippart, were longtime supporters of Santa Rosa Symphony. Her love of classical music started early on with piano lessons and trips to Los Angeles to hear Zuben Mehta conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Soon after moving back to California, Bippart joined the Santa Rosa Symphony League. She chaired Dinner is Served, one of the major fundraising events for its first six years. She served as liaison to the Music Education committee of the Santa Rosa Symphony for three years and is now President of the League.

Bippart is a life-long swimmer and has enjoyed swim vacations to the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia, Lake Powell, St. John and, most recently, to the Galapagos. Her sister, Carolyn lives abroad and they travelled to Lebanon, Thailand and Cambodia, where they volunteered at an elephant sanctuary. “Chopping and stripping sugar cane with machetes for elephant snacks is strenuous,” she says. “Bathing and feeding an eighty-eight year old elephant is a priceless experience.”

Having a nursing background, Bippart was trained and volunteered at Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco. She can be seen very briefly in the Oscar nominated documentary, End Game.

Her biggest thrill now is being a new grandmother of identical twin boys who live in Bodega Bay.
,
Mark Dierkhising
Mark Dierkhising, sometimes called Dierk, is a renowned, award-winning chef and restauranteur. He has been working and living in Sonoma and Napa counties since the mid 70s. Dierkhising, along with his wife Karen Brodsky, is the owner of Dierk’s Parkside and Midtown Cafes, both in Santa Rosa.

Dierkhising graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. After graduation, he headed straight for the Bay Area, winding up in Calistoga, where he and his brother bought their first restaurant in 1976. Before venturing out on their own in the mid 90s, the brothers were celebrated in multiple publications such as Gourmet, Bon Appetite and awarded the Grand Spectator’s “Greatest Wine List” 13 years straight.

After consulting for numerous hotels and businesses throughout the world, Dierkhising became the first Executive Chef for the Green Music Center and Sonoma State University in 2001. This was back when the music center was just a twinkle in people’s eyes. It was during this time Dierkhising met his wife Karen Brodsky, an emeritus SSU librarian. The two opened Dierk’s Parkside Café in 2006 and it has been food, family and fun ever since.

A key element of the couple’s business plan is a commitment to working with the community.  Through the restaurants, Mark and Karen are able to donate and participate with numerous community organizations, nonprofits and local businesses. Dierkhising’s heavy involvement with Social Advocates for Youth (SAY), for example, was acknowledged in 2014, when he was awarded the North Bay Business Journal’s Corporate Philanthropy Award.

Dierkhising is honored to be joining the Santa Rosa Symphony Board of Directors. While not a musician himself, music has always been an important part of his life. One of his fondest memories of music is as a boy on Saturday mornings, when he and his grandmother would make bread while listening to opera and polkas from her kitchen radio. Dierkhising remembers that old radio could only receive a few stations—music or baseball.

Jack Dupre
Jack Dupre was appointed to the Symphony Board in 1975 by Dr. Ambrose Nichols, Board President and founding president of Sonoma State University. His first committee assignment was to co-chair, with Yale Abrams, the Major Gifts Committee, which was the Symphony’s initial attempt to garner support from local businesses. Dupre served as president from 1981 to 1983, moved its performances to the Luther Burbank Center. Before his transition to emeritus status in 2005, he was chair of the Personnel Committee and a member of the 2004-2005 Music Director Selection Committee, which resulted in the hiring of Bruno Ferrandis.

Dupre joined Hewlett-Packard Co. in 1964 as a microwave development engineer and subsequently managed the development of RF (Radio Frequency) and microwave sweep oscillators, spectrum analyzers, and lightwave instruments for both Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies. After retiring from Hewlett-Packard/Agilent in 2002, he continues to work as a consultant in the area of fiber-optic test and standards.

He holds a BSEL from California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, and an MSEE from Stanford University.

Dupre’s wife is Marsha Vas Dupre, an active Symphony League member and a former Santa Rosa City Council and SRJC Board of Directors member. They each have two grandchildren, Jack’s in Potomac, Maryland and Marsha’s in Sebastopol. They share their time between homes in Santa Rosa and The Sea Ranch and travel extensively.

Joe N. Smith
Joe N. Smith Jr. is the Senior Vice President and Manager of the Small Business Administration Department at Exchange Bank. Exchange Bank has been the largest lender of SBA loans in Sonoma County since 2018. Smith has been a career SBA lender and held both National and Regional Sales Management positions for SBA lending banks coast to coast. Prior to moving to northern California in 2008, Smith was co-founder and President of American Business Lending in Dallas. He has served for the last 11 years on the Board of The Sonoma County Family YMCA and has been a two-term Chairman and currently serves as the Treasure and Finance committee.

Smith and his two sons have lived in Windsor since 2008. His sons graduated from Windsor High School in 2019 and 2020, and live with him. Smith grew up in Nashville, where his love of all types of music began. From a young age, he played in his Boy Scout Drum and Bugle Corp and later was First Chair trumpet all four years in his high school marching band as well as jazz band. He still plays his trumpet, although he considers it more noise that he makes than music.

He attended the University of Tennessee and graduated with a degree in Finance. While at UT, Smith played four years of lacrosse and was a Student Athletic Representative. Smith is an avid golfer, enjoys riding his motorcycle, fishing, camping and boating with his sons. Smith is extremely excited to learn and serve with the Santa Rosa Symphony, as well as meeting all of the quality people associated with the Symphony.

About the Santa Rosa Symphony
Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 93 years, began his tenure in 2018. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service. The organization infused the local economy with more than $4 million in 2019.

In its 93rd season, the Symphony’s performance schedule will include 21 Classical Series concerts, 6 Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a 4-concert Family Series and a 5-concert Pops Series. The Symphony is also recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually.

Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support. Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

Media Contact:
Sara Mitchell
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
707-546-7097  ext. 218
smitchell@srsymphony.org

Contact Us

Administrative Office:
50 Santa Rosa Ave
Suite 410
Santa Rosa CA 95404
Phone:  (707) 546-7097

Patron Services | Box Office:
Phone: (707) 546-8742
E-mail: tickets@srsymphony.org

 

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