Paul Dresher, Cornucopia Esa-Pekka Salonen, Five Images After Sappho Jessica Rivera, soprano Beethoven, Symphony No. 3, “Eroica”
Pre concert talk begins at 7:10PM
Joana's inaugural season continues with the inventive Berkeley composer Paul Dresher and his lush, multi-layered Cornucopia. Joana also introduces us to the music of Esa-Pekka Salonen, her mentor at the LA Phil, with resident artist Jessica Rivera singing his chamber setting of surviving texts by the Greek poet Sappho. Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony concludes this fascinating program.
A concert overture by the young German composer Jörg Widmann is followed by resident artist Jessica Rivera, singing Barber’s setting of James Agee’s poem of a summer evening as a young boy. The season concludes with the German master, Brahms.
Watch the Berlin Philharmonic perform the grand finale of the Brahms:
Thursday
May 20, 2010
8 PM
First Congregational Church of Berkeley (Directions)
Berkeley Akademie
Kent Nagano, Artistic Director
Beethoven, Quintet in E-flat for Piano and Winds, Op. 16 Jörg Widmann, Versuch über die Fuge Mozart, Clarinet Concerto in A, K. 622
Jörg Widmann, clarinet soloist
Conductor Laureate Kent Nagano returns for a single intimate Berkeley Akademie performance, examining the works of the masters and how they are as relevant today as ever. Order today for best seating availability, as Berkeley Akademie concerts do sell out!
Bruce Christian Bennett, Of Memory: II. Terpsichore Don Myers, The Greek Muse: "Shut-up, Socrates" Patricio da Silva, No Cruising for the Muse Andy Tan, The Veil of Polyhymnia
Join us for Berkeley Symphony's groundbreaking new music series, Under Construction, as composers hear their works come to life for the very first time! Each informal evening features different works by our group of Emerging Composers in Residence, led by Music Director Joana Carneiro. A Q&A with the composer follows the reading/performance of each work. It's like open mic night... with full orchestra!
Bruce Christian Bennett, Of Memory I Don Myers, 1969: In Short There Is Simply Naught... Patricio da Silva, Woodstock Andy Tan, A Soldiers Diary
Join us for Berkeley Symphoy's groundbreaking new music series, Under Construction, as composers hear their works come to life for the very first time! Each informal evening features different works by our group of Emerging Composers in Residence, led by Music Director Joana Carneiro. A Q&A with the composer follows the reading/performance of each work. It's like open mic night... with full orchestra!
Steven Stucky,Radical Light Jean Sibelius, Symphony No. 7 Steven Stucky, “Elegy” from August 4, 1964 (West Coast premiere) Igor Stravinsky, The Firebird Suite
(1919 version)
Stravinsky's music was radical in its day, yet now his Firebird is a concert hall favorite that you can experience alongside the work of a modern-day Stravinksy, Pulitzer Prize winner Steven Stucky. Joana conducts Stucky's Radical Light—paired here with a Sibelius symphony which inspired it—plus a work based on events of a single day which altered both the Presidency of LBJ and American history.
Pre-concert talk at 7:10 PM with Joana Carneiro and Steven Stucky.
The Auditorium at Malcolm X Elementary School 1731 Prince St.
Berkeley Symphony Family Concert
Ming Luke, conductor
Meet a soprano who's going to sing with Berkeley Symphony, but who has “lost her rhythm.” This Family Concert will explore the differences between rhythm and tempo, and may even have students join us in making and improvising their own rhythms! Music will include selections from the opera Carmen by Bizet, music of Berkeley composer Gabriela Lena Frank, and other concert favorites!
John Adams, The Chairman Dances Listen to sound clip Gabriela Lena Frank,Peregrinos (West Coast premiere) Béla Bartók, Concerto for Orchestra
Two Berkeley composers open Joana’s tenure: John Adams with a scene out of his opera Nixon in China, depicting a foxtrot between Chairman Mao and his bride, a former Shanghai movie actress; and Gabriela Lena Frank’s Peregrinos (Pilgrims), inspired by stories gathered from Latino immigrants.
Malcolm X Elementary School Auditorium 1731 Prince St.
Berkeley Symphony Family Concert
Ming Luke, conductor
Join Berkeley Symphony in a hilarious and educational journey with San Francisco Opera Violinist Dawn Harms. Learn about music written three hundred years ago and music written today. Play the violin for the first time and even compose works for Dawn to perform! Read about this concert in the Berkeley Daily Planet
Musical selections to include: Antonio Vivaldi, “Spring” from The Four Seasons Wolfgang A. Mozart, Violin Concerto in D Major Danny Elfman, Theme from The Simpsons Leopold Mozart, “Toy” Symphony
Joana Carneiro, the final guest conductor in Berkeley Symphony's Music Director search, closes the season's Zellerbach Hall series with Beethoven's unforgettable Fifth Symphony, plus works by Magnus Lindberg and Berkeley's own John Adams. Ms. Carneiro is the Assistant Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Magnus Lindberg,Chorale
(Bay Area Premiere) John Adams,Shaker Loops Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 5 Complete Program Notes
Pre-concert talk at 7:10 PM hosted by KALW's Alan Farley with conductor Joana Carneiro and composer John Adams
Berkeley Symphony's new music series concludes with four new works inspired by the longest night of the year. It's like open mic night...with full orchestra! More info.
Jean Ahn: Lu-lu, Lu-lu David Graves: Festival of the Dark Patricio da Silva:Berkeley III Clark Suprynowicz:Moral Hazard
Saturday
December 6, 2008
9:45 am & 11:15 am
Malcolm X Elementary School Auditorium 1731 Prince St.
Berkeley Symphony Family Concert
Ming Luke, conductor
Berkeley Symphony's first family concert is an exploration of sound and the physics of sound. Your family will learn about differences that affect the timbre and color of an instrument. Explore why the orchestra has so many different instruments and how composers have used these instruments to create music!
Paul Haas, the San Francisco-born Artistic Director of New York's cutting-edge Sympho concerts, presents a new work inspired by songs of the Amazon, the 2008 Sphinx Competition winning violinist, plus "one of the most thrilling finales in all of music!"
Joshua Penman, Songs the Plants Taught Us
(California Premiere) Samuel Barber, Violin Concerto Danielle Belen Nesmith, violin Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 4 Complete program notes
Berkeley Symphony new music series continues with four selections inspired by autumn harvest festivals. Watch and listen as new works come alive with an immediacy unmatched anywhere else! More info.
Berkeley Symphony's new music series opens with the first-ever performances of new works by this season's four Emerging Composers-in-Residence. More info.
William Eddins, Music Director of Canada's Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, opens with a trio of short selections from Paris before the War. Program also includes Canadian composer Allan Gilliland's Rhapsody with Mr. Eddins on the piano, written as a companion piece to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.
Germaine Tailleferre,Valse des Depeches
(Waltz of the Dispatches) Claude Debussy,La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin
(Girl with Flaxen Hair) Lili Boulanger,D'un Matin du Printemps
(Of a Spring Morning) Allan Gilliland,Rhapsody GEB Listen in its entirety!
(U.S. Premiere)
William Eddins, Piano Bohuslav Martinu, Symphony No. 1 Read the complete program notes.
Mozart's final symphony and Bruckner's Seventh mark a fitting close to one of classical music's most remarkable tenures, as Maestro Nagano leads Berkeley Symphony in his final performance as Music Director!
Wolfgang A. Mozart, Symphony No. 41, "Jupiter" Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 7 Kurt Rohde,Bis Bald (World Premiere)
St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 1111 O'Farrell St., San Francisco (Directions)
Berkeley Akademie at St. Mark's
This repeat performance of this Berkeley Akademie Ensemble program with conductor Kent Nagano and concertmaster Stuart Canin is sponsored by the German Consulate on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift.
C.P.E. Bach, Symphony in C Major Igor Stravinsky, Apollon musagète Wolfgang A. Mozart, “Posthorn” Serenade
Thursday
May 1, 2008
8 PM
First Congregational Church of Berkeley
Berkeley Akademie
Kent Nagano and Stuart Canin, Co-Artistic Directors
The final program of Berkeley Akademie Ensemble's debut season features Berkeley Symphony musicians alongside guests musicians from Junge Deutsche Philharmonie.
C.P.E. Bach, Symphony in C Major Igor Stravinsky, Apollon musagète Wolfgang A. Mozart, “Posthorn” Serenade
Laura Jackson, most recently Assistant Conductor with the Atlanta Symphony, closes the season's Zellerbach Hall series with three lyrical works inspired by ideas from myth and literature.
Darius Milhaud, La Création du Monde Susan Botti, The Exchange Thomas Glenn, tenor; Wendy Tamis, harp Susan Botti, Translucence
(West Coast Premiere) Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade Complete program notes
Sunday
March 30, 2008
7 PM
First Congregational Church of Berkeley
Under Construction III
Laura Jackson, conductor
Berkeley Symphony's new music series concludes with three new works inspired by spring. It's like open mic night... with full orchestra! More info
David Graves, Deep Green Dream Sue-Hye Kim, Bom Elizabeth Lim, Vesper / Serenade
Berkeley Symphony's new music series continues with three selections inspired by dance. Watch and listen as new works come alive with an immediacy unmatched anywhere else! More info
David Graves, The Spectator Sue-Hye Kim, Heung Elizabeth Lim, Shadow Dances
Thursday
March 13, 2008
8 PM
UC Berkeley Zellerbach Hall
Classical Puerto Rico
Guillermo Figueroa, conductor
Guillermo Figueroa, Music Director of the Puerto Rico and New Mexico Symphony Orchestras, presents two of the Caribbean island's classical talents: composer Roberto Sierra with a folk-inspired opener and mezzo-soprano Gabriela García in a Berlioz song cycle.
Roberto Sierra, Borikén (U.S. Premiere) Hector Berlioz, Les Nuits d'été Gabriela García, mezzo-soprano Antonín Dvorák, Symphony No. 7 Complete program notes
Berkeley Symphony's new music series opens with the first-ever readings/performances of the winning entries by this season's three Emerging Composers-in-Residence. More info
David Graves, Insecurities (and Other Agencies of Government) Sue-Hye Kim, Creatio Elizabeth Lim, Windfall
Thursday
February 21, 2008
8 PM
UC Berkeley Zellerbach Hall
Berkeley Symphony
Hugh Wolff, conductor
Hugh Wolff returns to the U.S., following a decade as head of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. He introduces works by Pulitzer Prize winner Aaron Jay Kernis and Grammy Award winner Osvaldo Golijov, followed by a Shostakovich song cycle performed in Yiddish, as he is convinced was the composer's intent. A Beethoven symphony—welcomed by Austrians emerging from years of turmoil—completes this fascinating program.
Aaron Jay Kernis, Overture in Feet and Meters (West Coast Premiere) Osvaldo Golijov, Night of the Flying Horses Heidi Melton, soprano Dmitri Shostakovich, From Jewish Poetry Heidi Melton, soprano
Katharine Tier, mezzo-soprano
Thomas Glenn, tenor Beethoven, Symphony No. 7 Complete program notes
Maestro Nagano opens the Berkeley Symphony season, including a piano concerto depicting a lotus flower floating in water, dreaming of Mozart.
Mozart, Symphony No. 26 in E-flat Major Toshio Hosokawa, Lotus under the moonlight
Momo Kodama, piano (U.S. Premiere) Schubert, Symphony No. 9, “The Great” Complete program notes
Wednesday
December 19, 2007
8 PM
First Congregational Church of Berkeley
Berkeley Akademie Ensemble
Kent Nagano, conductor
Maestro Nagano brings the rich "Akademie" concert tradition from his post in Munich to the Bay Area, featuring Berkeley Symphony musicians with guest artists from Junge Deutsche Philharmonie.
It’s a cello revolution as Matt Haimovitz joins Maestro Nagano for two world premieres combining big band and dance floor sounds!
Johannes Brahms, Symphony No. 4
Tod Machover, VinylCello
for HyperCello, DJ, and live electronics
Matt Haimovitz, hypercello
DJ Olive, turntables
David Sanford, Scherzo Grosso
for cello and orchestra
Matt Haimovitz, cello
Listen Up Talk, 7:15 PM
KALW 91.7 FM host Alan Farley talks with cellist Matt Haimovitz and composers David Sanford and Tod Machover.
Nagano pairs yesterday’s innovators with today’s voices, including two from Berlin: a Korean-born composer and the longtime principal clarinetist from the Berlin Philharmonic.
George Benjamin, Olicantus
Wolfgang A. Mozart, Clarinet Concerto in A Karl Leister, clarinet
Unsuk Chin, Cantatrix Sopranica Marnie Breckenridge, soprano
Nikki Einfeld, soprano
Paul Flight, countertenor
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 8
Join us as George Thomson returns to sample the many styles of the modern orchestra: Chamber music, from a composer known for his large-scale fireworks. Virtuoso music, at the hands of a 22-year-old Oakland native. Theater music, as could be heard in Shakespeare’s time. And music of conscience, as one of Berkeley’s own expresses how the African American spiritual tradition of the past speaks to perseverance in the face of injustice today.
Igor Stravinsky, Concertino for 12 Instruments
Jean Sibelius, Violin Concerto | Margot Schwartz, soloist
Matthew Locke, “Curtain Tune” from The Tempest (1674)
Olly Wilson, Hold On: Symphony No. 3
Superstar soprano Jane Eaglen sings Berg and Mozart
Edmund Campion, Practice*
Alban Berg, Seven Early Songs Jane Eaglen, soprano
Wolfgang A. Mozart, Arias from Don Giovanni Jane Eaglen, soprano
Robert Schumann, Symphony No. 2
The 2005-06 season comes to a glorious close with Kent Nagano's first-ever appearance with one of the world's most heralded sopranos, Jane Eaglen. Of a recent performance at the Metropolitan Opera, The New York Times wrote “Ms. Eaglen’s voice remains a natural wonder…a gleaming sound that shimmered throughout the house.”
The season's “Europe meets America” theme comes to a close with a new work for orchestra and integrated electronics by Edmund Campion, fresh from its debut in Carnegie Hall's Orchestra Underground series. Kent Nagano's year-long cycle of the Schumann symphonies concludes with his most popular work in the genre, the poignant and triumphant Symphony No. 2.
* Edmund Campion's Practice performed in conjunction with UC Berkeley Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT)
Thursday
April 6, 2006
8 pm
St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Berkeley
George Thomson, Conductor; Kent Nagano, Host
Under Construction
Entering its 12th year, the Berkeley Symphony's Under Construction is unique combination of open-rehearsal and performance that selects works-in-progress or recently completed works by local composers and brings them to life for the first time. BSO Associate Conductor George Thomson conducts the orchestra, and Maestro Nagano hosts and interviews the composers during the insightful question and answer period. Your exclusive opportunity to hear new music in progress before the World Premiere!
Wednesday
March 29, 2006
8 pm
Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley
Kent Nagano, Conductor
Nagano and Ohlsson Together!
Garrick Ohlsson plays the Schumann Piano Concerto
John Chowning, Voices, in association with CNMAT (U.S. Premiere) Maureen Chowning, soprano
Robert Schumann, Piano Concerto Garrick Ohlsson, piano
Robert Schumann, Fantasia for violin and orchestra Stuart Canin, violin
Robert Schumann, Symphony No. 4
Robert Schumann – German romanticism at its best. Revel in the rare opportunity to explore three varied works as Kent Nagano is joined by two remarkable artists: pianistGarrick Ohlsson and violinist Stuart Canin. Composer-in-residence John Chowning conjures ancient oracles to open a musical evening both fresh and familiar.
"Schumann's Brain:
Music and the Mind" Pre-concert talk with Dr. Bruce Miller, Professor of Neurology, UCSF March 29, 7pm, Zellerbach Hall
"Electronic Music Appreciation 101" With John Chowning and David Wessel March 23, 6pm, UC Berkeley CNMAT, 1750 Arch St.
Saturday
January 28, 2006
8 pm
Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley
George Thomson, Conductor
From Bach to Carter
Thomson conducts Bach, Carter, Varèse and Stravinsky
Johann Sebastian Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
Elliott Carter, Piano Concerto Jerry Kuderna, piano Edgard Varèse, Octandre Igor Stravinsky, Suite from The Firebird
BSO Associate Conductor George Thomson’s subscription debut last season was called “one of the orchestra’s finest, most cohesive performances in recent memory” by the Contra Costa Times. Maestro Thomson continues our “Europe meets America” season as he leads Bach’s glorious Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 and is joined by pianist Jerry Kuderna for Elliot Carter’s Piano Concerto. Carter, one of the preeminent American composers of our time, celebrates his 97th birthday this season. Edgar Varèse’s Octandre is a testament to the composer’s dynamic concept of sound and his colorful use of wind instruments. The concert ends with Stravinsky’s rousing Suite from The Firebird.
Bitter Harvest, an American farmer's oratorio (commissioned by the Berkeley Symphony)
Kurt Rohde, composer
Amanda Moody, librettist
Melissa Weaver, director and dramaturge
The Agape Performance Group:
Henrietta Davis, soprano
John Duykers, tenor
Troy Cook, baritone
Robert Schumann, Symphony No. 1, Spring
‘Europe meets America’ continues with the world premiere performance of Bitter Harvest by Kurt Rohde, commissioned by the Berkeley Symphony. Kurt Rohde is a young Bay Area composer familiar to BSO audiences as a longtime violist in the orchestra. Kurt and the members of Agape Performance Group have come together to create the oratorio Bitter Harvest, a work that will challenge the audience to investigate the roots of hatred and what drives an individual to destructive behavior. It will use music to explore the economic, social, spiritual and psychological effects of corporate agribusiness on the small family farmer. Paired with this groundbreaking oratorio will be Schumann’s Symphony No. 1, an ode to spring.
Robert Schumann, Manfred Overture
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Major
John Chowning, Stria, in conjunction with UC Berkeley Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT)
Robert Schumann, Symphony No. 3, Rhenish
“Europe meets America” in the BSO’s 2005-06 season, as Kent Nagano pairs each of the four Schumann symphonies with a work by a contemporary American composer. The BSO begins its Schumann exploration with the most joyous of the symphonies, the Rhenish. Schumann’s tribute to the mighty Rhine River is a boisterous, glorious tour de force for the orchestra, and demonstrates Schumann’s romantic lyricism at its peak. The Schumann Symphony is paired with Stria, a work by John Chowning, the BSO’s 2005-06 resident composer. Chowning is widely considered the “dean” of digital music, and Stria is regarded as one of his seminal works. Seventeen year-old Canadian violinist Caitlin Tully performs Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4, as the BSO joins in the worldwide celebration of Mozart’s 250th birthday. Upon hearing Caitlin Tully, legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin said, “she plays with more integrity than any young violinist I have ever heard.”
Tuesday
June 14, 2005
8 pm
Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley
Kent Nagano, Conductor
Season Finale
Featuring the Bay Area debut of soprano Linda Watson
Franz Schubert, Symphony No. 4
Arnold Schoenberg, Friede auf Erden (instrumental version)
Richard Strauss, Four Last Songs Linda Watson, soprano
Richard Wagner, excerpts from Tristan and Isolde
Tuesday
May 10, 2005
8 pm
Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley
Kent Nagano, Conductor
Season Concert #4
Featuring the premiere of Manzanar
Charles Ives, Unanswered Question Ludwig van Beethoven, Fidelio, Act II Introduction
Ludwig van Beethoven, Leonore, Overture No. 3
Naomi Sekiya, Jean-Pascal Beintus, and David Benoit, composers; text by Philip Kan Gotanda: Manzanar: An American Story
Tuesday
April 12, 2005
6:00 PM
UC Berkeley Art Museum
Ticket prices $250-$500
The Berkeley Symphony 2005 Spring Gala
Celebrating the Art of Music
Join the Berkeley Symphony as we celebrate three decades of bringing new works to life and put the spotlight on the latest BSO premiere, Manzanar. The evening will include an energetic live and silent auction with all proceeds benefiting the BSO and our award-winning Music Education Program.
Thursday
April 7, 2005
8 pm
St. John's Presbyterian Church, Berkeley
Conducted by George Thomson; hosted by Kent Nagano
Under Construction
Entering its 11th year, Under Construction is a unique combination of open rehearsal and performance that selects works-in-progress by local composers and brings them to life for the first time.
Dylan Mattingly, Overture to Orestia Michael Zbyszynski, Labirynt
Naomi Sekiya, Manzanar:An American Story
Kurt Rohde, Bitter Harvest
Wednesday
March 2, 2005
8 pm
Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley
Vance George, Conductor
Berkeley Choral Festival
Benefiting the Musicians' Pension Fund
Returning for a 4th sensational year, this concert has become a "must attend" community event for the whole family.
Program highlights:
Brahms, Schicksalslied Brahms, Academic Festival Overture Mendelssohn, Ave Maria
Wednesday
January 26, 2005
8 pm
Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley
George Thomson, Conductor
Season Concert #3
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Bachianas Brasileiras No. 9 Charles Wuorinen, Symphony Seven Felix Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto in E Minor Nigel Armstrong, violin Carlos Chávez, Symphony No. 2 (Sinfonia India)
Tuesday, November 30, and Wednesday, December 1, 2004
8 pm
Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley
Kent Nagano, Conductor
Season Concert #2
Béla Bartók, Rhapsody No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra Stuart Canin, violin David Wessel, Singularities In association with the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT), UC Berkeley Ludwig van Beethoven, Grosse Fuge (for string orchestra)
Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 1 Mari Kodama, piano Jörg Widmann, Chor f ür Orchester (U.S. Premiere)
Monday
September 13, 2004
8 pm
Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley
Kent Nagano, Conductor
Season Concert #1
J.S. Bach orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg, Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, heiliger Geist George Benjamin, Viola Viola Ellen Ruth Rose & Kurt Rohde, violas Unsuk Chin, Violin Concerto (U.S. Premiere) Viviane Hagner, violin
Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 5 in C minor
.