Peace, tranquility, silence, and harmonies.
It’s everything and anything to allow people to quietly slip away into a dream-like state.
The Stockton Symphony held an orchestra performance on April 2 at Delta College’s Warren Atherton Auditorium.
At 2:30 p.m.conductor Peter Jaffe began leading the musicians with movements and gestures.
The symphony had an itinerary that included Wolfgang Amadè Mozart’s “Overture to “The Marriage of Figaro,” K. 942 and Victoria Bond’s “Ruth Bader Ginsburg: In Tune” with Justice, which included Stockton Poet Laureate Tama Brisbane as the narrator for the first half of the performance.
“The process was involved. We had the music from the creator Victoria Bond first, we involved Tama Brisbane to help with the spoken word and involve students to make it a broader production,” said Lisa Blount, one of the members of Stockton Symphony’s board of directors.
In the first part, the symphony included messages about female empowerment and fighting like a girl. To not allow society’s injustice hinder one’s ability to pursue their dream.
“When the kids came out, and gave out their quotes and plays, that was my favorite,” said Kayla Horne, a life enrichment coordinator.
The second half involved Pietro Mascagni’s piece Intermezzo from “Cavalleria Rusticana” and Igor Stravinsky’s “The Firebird Suite.”
Cavalleria rusticana was a perfect opening number for the second half, it soothed the crowd after the intermission. It was a melody that was pleasing to the ears, similar to flower petals scattering as one lays alone in a green pasture coated with a nice breezy wind.
Right after was the Firebird Suite that had a series of mini-numbers from: the introduction, round dance of the princesses, infernal dance of King Kastchei, Berceuse, and the Finale.
“It was such a creative program to have the spoken word piece to sort of warm us up with ‘Marriage of Figaro,’ only to find out it was one of Ginsburg’s favorite pieces,” said Melissa Tidwell, one of the attendees, “We heard echoes of that in Victoria Bond’s piece; there was just a lot of call and response poetically and musically.”
This number incorporated fast paced beats that juxtaposed to Pietro Mascagni’s piece. “Firebird Suite” invoked a feeling of uneasiness and quick-paced music that involved quick piercing instruments and loud ringings.
Overall, this symphony was a dedication to Ginsburg that involved elements of formidable instruments to calming and endearing numbers.
“Music inspires people, music can change and touch people, music is something that can bring all of us together,” said Blount.