This season Stockton Symphony will be ushering in a new wave of exciting performances at Delta College’s Atherton theater and Lodi’s Hutchins Street Square Auditorium. The season kicked off Jan. 20 with “Explore!” A mix of Czech musical influences to African and Indian fusions. “It’s a real gem that doesn’t get heard very often,” Stockton Symphony Director and Composer Peter Jaffe.
Stockton Symphony’s Box Office Manager Dan McCabe mentioned the show’s success and told us that despite the show competing with the 49er’s game, “Explore!” still had over 800 people in attendance throughout the weekend. Then the symphony returns on Jan. 30 with “Stepping out,” an educational program for children.
“We reach thousands of kids, it’s all about the increasing time signatures, it helps them with fractions,” said Jaffe.
The music will focus on familiar tunes such as Lizzo’s “It’s about damn time,” and ending with a theme from the film “Mission Impossible.”
By Feb. 10 the orchestra will put on “Gospel Inspirations,” where the orchestra will celebrate the classic gospel sounds that have been an inspiration to many different genres. “Gospel Inspirations” will feature guest conductor Damien Sneed alongside a performance by multiple Emmy award Winning composer John Wineglass who has written a piece exclusively for Stockton Symphony.
As time’s arrow marches into spring the symphony will have a seasonal inspired concert “Spring Forward” on March 9. This concert will have a party an hour before the event starts and will feature teenage prodigy violinist Ava Pakima.
“It’s a wonderful American ballet,” said Jaffe.
“Ports of Call” April 6 and 7 featuring Scottish fantasy and multi-cultural pieces with Roman influences. The piano march included in this concert was written for the Port of Stockton.
“It’s a lot of fun, a huge orchestra, a really epic piece of work that ends in a huge blade of glory,” said Jaffe.
On May 12 the season will come to an end Mother’s Day weekend with “Pops: Whodunit?!,” A fun loving event that invites the audience to participate by including a mysterious guest conductor who will be killed in the middle of the show. Various musical tones will give the audience clues along the way so they can guess who committed the murder.
Stockton Symphony is also proud to announce that all shows will be $10 for all local public-school students elementary to college age.
Presale for all tickets this season are available online at stocktonsymphony.org.
Upcoming Performances
The Stockton Symphony performs across San Joaquin County for its next four performances:
Gospel Inspirations, Atherton Auditorium, Stockton, Feb. 10 7:30 p.m.
Spring Forward, Hutchins Street Square, March 9, 7:30 p.m., Grand Theatre, March 10, 2:30 p.m.
Ports of Call, Atherton Auditrium, April 6 7:30 p.m. and April 7 2:30 p.m.
Pops: Whodunit? Atherton Auditorum, May 12 2:30 p.m.