December 7, 2017
Nathaniel Stookey (right) composed the music for The Composer is Dead, with text by Lemony Snicket. Illustrations Copyright © 2009 by Carson Ellis, used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. The California Symphony recently caught up with Bay Area composer Nathaniel Stookey, who composed the music for The Composer is Dead, with text by Lemony Snicket,…
November 21, 2017
The California Symphony’s A LEMONY SNICKET HOLIDAY offers Walnut Creek audiences a sing-along, the Nutcracker, hot cocoa, and a whodunit orchestra mystery, with two shows at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek on Saturday December 23, at 4PM and 8PM. Tickets start at just $20 for kids and students. FAST FACTS ·…
September 23, 2017
We have a blockbuster line up for our pre-concert talk on Sunday. Joining Music Director Donato Cabrera onstage in the Hofmann Theater at the Lesher Center for the Arts at 3PM, one hour before the performance, will be OOVE inventor Oliver DiCicco, composer Nathaniel Stookey, and soprano Maria Valdes. The talk is free to ticket…
September 12, 2017
Wonder what the musicians think of the music in our new 2017–18 LARGER THAN LIFE season? Well so did we, and so we asked them. In a poll of California Symphony musicians this summer, an astonishing 76% indicated a preference for our season opener, LYRICAL DREAMS, a program that includes pieces either written about or…
September 2, 2017
James Agee’s family home in Knoxville, TN, c.1915. The waning days of summer have us waxing nostalgic in the run up to our season opener, LYRICAL DREAMS — Sunday, September 24th at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek. All three pieces on the program — Barber Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Stookey YTTE (Yield To Total Elation) and Mahler Symphony №4 — are…
August 30, 2017
The weirdly named star of our 2017–18 Season Opener’s YTTE (Yield To Total Elation) by Nathaniel Stookey is a one-of-kind, electro-acoustic instrument created by San Francisco-based Grammy-nominated audio engineer and kinetic sculptor, Oliver DiCicco has designed, with whimsical names like “Crawdad” and “Olivetti.” The OOVE, created by Oliver DiCicco and played at our Season Opener…
August 18, 2017
Here’s our press release with everything you need to know about our 2017–18 season opener LYRICAL DREAMS, which features a modern day classic by American composer Samuel Barber, and a whimsical new instrument played by Bay Area composer Nathaniel Stookey (it bears some resemblence to a vacuum cleaner!) The program concludes with an epic masterpiece…
July 28, 2017
Inquiring minds check out our instrument petting zoo at the Chevron Family Theatre Day in Walnut Creek, July 15 2017. Princesses, pirates, and patient parents, flocked to the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek to bring smiles to children’s faces at the Chevron Family Theatre Festival one sunny Saturday in July. Costumed characters, including Darth Vader, ewoks,…
