Beethoven’s Ninth and a World Premiere

Guild Chorus Performs with California Symphony

by Stacey Street, California Symphony Executive Director

The California Symphony looks forward to our concerts with the Baroque Choral Guild on May 16, 17, and 18 in a program of Beethoven’s timeless Ninth Symphony, the overture to Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and the premiere of Songs of Destiny by our composer-in-residence Kevin Beavers.

With these performances we mark several firsts: our first commission for orchestra with chorus and soloists, our first subscription concert outside Contra Costa County, and our first collaboration with BCG. “I’ve known Sanford Dole since I performed with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra,” says Music Director Barry Jekowsky, “and I’ve always been impressed with his talent. I’m very much looking forward to working with him and the Guild Chorus as I feel it will be a true partnership.”

The mission of the California Symphony, now in its 17th season, is to perform the full range of the orchestral repertoire with emphasis on works by American composers. Since 1990 we have been the resident professional orchestra of the Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, and it was in our debut concerts there that we last performed Beethoven’s Symphony, No. 9. Noting this, Maestro Jekowsky says, “It’s highly appropriate that for our debut at the San Mateo Performing Arts Center, we again present this masterwork.”

Kevin Beavers, in residence through 2005, is the fifth composer to participate in California Symphony’s Young American Composer-in-Residence Program. We have now commissioned and premiered fourteen original pieces of music, catapulting all previous participants to international success. In a three-year residency, emerging composers can hone their craft, developing and refining a new work each year. Our unique orchestra-as-laboratory approach offers a composer a long, intensive relationship with the orchestra. Throughout the year, BCG and the vocal soloists have also participated in this process in preparation for the premiere of Songs of Destiny by Beavers. The composer says, “It’s an invigorating experience I’ll treasure throughout my career.”

Jekowsky expresses his gratitude to Sonja Wohlgemuth, Sanford Dole, and the Guild’s board for their help in establishing this collaboration. “It has always been a dream of the California Symphony to bring its music to new communities. I also hope this will allow the chorus to stretch by performing one of the most important works of the choral repertoire and participating in the world premiere of what we hope will become an important part of future choral libraries.”

Visit www.californiasymphony.org to learn more about the California Symphony. Call (925) 943-7469 for tickets on May 16 or 18 in Walnut Creek. Call (650) 424-1410 for tickets on May 17 in San Mateo.

Volume 12, Issue 4

Baroque Choral Guild, 953 Industrial Ave. Ste 118, Palo Alto CA 94303, 650.424.1410