February 1, 2022
Against a background of programming modifications and cancellations by other Bay Area performing arts orgs, California Symphony staff and musicians worked together to give wings to January concerts, TAKE FLIGHT. When All Negatives Add Up to a Positive Over four days of rehearsals and performances and after many dozens of COVID tests, musicians, staff, and
January 12, 2022
A flight of fancy inspired by the great outdoors, the music on this program evokes soaring larks, clucking hens, a mystical swan, and the wafting sounds of birdsong from the Bohemian countryside. California Symphony presents TAKE FLIGHT at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek on Saturday, Jan. 29 at 7:30pm and Sunday, Jan. 30
December 23, 2021
The “English horn” becomes the voice of the swan in Sibelius’ haunting tone poem Swan of Tuonela, in one of the best-known solos in the repertoire for the instrument. California Symphony’s James Moore tells us more about this enigmatically-named cousin of the oboe.
December 21, 2021
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) The Lark Ascending (1914/1921) Nostalgic longing permeates The Lark Ascending. Not a cozy nostalgia that looks back to a rose-tinted past, but rather a spiritual fervor for an idyllic paradise, expressed as the song of a soaring skylark and, on the earth below, human life—a poignant metaphor for our collective yearning
December 29, 2018
I tend to get a little obsessed with my hobbies. It’s how I ended up here!”—Jennifer Cho This article was originally published in December 2018 and updated in January, 2022. When she is not playing the violin, Concertmaster Jennifer Cho is busy cultivating the food forest on her 1/10th acre home in Petaluma with bassist
December 29, 2018
Concertmaster and soloist in January’s TAKE FLIGHT Jennifer Cho talks with us about playing The Lark Ascending, about her life outside of music (with her 14 feathery friends), and why performing over a swamp isn’t necessarily the greatest idea. This article was originally published in December 2018. Updated January 2022. As Concertmaster, the audience is used to seeing