2023–2024 Season

 
Brilliance at the Bankhead
Gala with Jason Alexander
Sat. September 9, 2023 at 5:30 p.m.

The Livermore Valley Performing Arts center presented a glamorous and playful evening of entertainment with Jason Alexander! The highlight of the evening was a whimsical salute to Broadway musicals live on the Bankhead stage, accompanied by the Livermore-Amador Symphony. See livermorearts.org for more info.

general scene at Pops outdoors
Pops 2022
photo: Lara Webber

Pops 2023 concert
POPS, Celebrating our 60th Anniversary!
September 30, 2023 at 3 p.m.


For the third year in a row, our annual Pops concert was al fresco on the Shea Stage in the Bankhead Plaza on an autumn afternoon. Free, but donations were very welcome! The Symphony Guild sponsors our outdoor Pops concert, with all donations going to support the Symphony. Both LAS and the Element 116 youth jazz band performed. We celebrated our 60th anniversary by playing music from all six decades.

Family Concert
December 2, 2023 at 3 p.m.

In coordination with the Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center and in partnership with Valley Dance Theatre, the Symphony Association presented its annual free family concert inside Livermore’s Bankhead Theater. A fun-filled celebration of the holiday season!

Winter Taleswitch house
December 2, 2023 at 8 p.m.

(no preconcert talk)

Sibelius: Karelia Overture
Respighi: Trittico Botticelliano
Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel Suite

We celebrated the season with magical music and fairy tales. Sibelius’s “Karelia Overture” depicts a grand castle built in the Middle Ages. Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel Suite takes us back to our childhood adventures, fears, and fantasies. Respighi’s shimmering Trittico Botticelliano brings a warm glow to the dark days of winter and features music familiar in Christmas carols. The holidays got off to a festive start with the sounds of the symphony!
Read the concert program booklet, including program notes (1.5MB pdf).

Cara Wang
Cara Wang
Connor Roham
Connor Roham

 
colorful swirling dancer skirt Vibrant Variations
February 10, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.

(Inside the Music, 7–7:15 p.m.)

Huang: Saibei Dance (from Saibei Suite No. 2)
Moncayo: Huapango
Britten: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra

Plus solos by the winners of the 2023–2024 Competition for Young Musicians

Cara Wang was the soloist in Elgar’s Cello Concerto (movements 1 and 2)
Connor Roham was the soloist in Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (movement 3)

We welcomed great young musical talent to the stage from our own area in performances featuring the winners of our annual Competition for Young Musicians. In addition, the orchestra celebrated the Lunar New Year with the joyous “Saibei Dance” by An-lun Huang. Benjamin Britten’s fantastic “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra,” an audience favorite, is a set of thrilling variations full of energy and humor. The colorful sounds of Mexican composer José Moncayo’s “Huapango” infused the evening with traditional Mexican folk dance. And the youth jazz band Element 116 performed in the lobby during intermission. This concert was a grand community event.
Listen to the Inside the Music preconcert talk by Lara Webber (1.7MB mp3).
Read the concert program booklet, including program notes (1.7MB pdf).

Chase Spruill
Chase Spruill

 
Butterflies and Brahms
Sat. April 13, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.

(Inside the Music, 7–7:15 p.m.)

Boulanger: D’un matin de printemps
He Zhanhao and Chen Gang: Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto
Chase Spruill, soloist
Brahms: Symphony No. 4

Springtime is for lovers and romantics. We asked people to open their hearts to beautiful music inspired by a timeless Chinese folk tale as Bay Area violin soloist Chase Spruill joined LAS to perform the beloved Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto. The evening opened with D’un matin de printemps (“Of a Spring Morning”), brilliant music of Lili Boulanger. And the lush and passionate Symphony No. 4 by Johannes Brahms was not to be missed as we celebrated springtime with the Symphony.
Listen to the Inside the Music preconcert talk by Lara Webber and Chase Spruill (7.2MB mp3).
Read the concert program booklet, including program notes (1.8MB pdf).

Chad Somers
Chad Somers

 
Delightful Dvořák
Sat. June 1, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.

(Inside the Music, 7–7:15 p.m.)

Strauss, R.: Serenade in E-flat
Laitman: Becoming a Redwood
Chad Somers, tenor
Dvořák: Songs My Mother Taught Me
Chad Somers
Dvořák: Symphony No. 6

Our season finale included a new work by American composer Lori Laitman. Her beautiful piece Becoming a Redwood featured tenor Chad Somers, singing the poetry of Dana Gioia. The marvelous woodwinds of LAS were front and center in Richard Strauss’s youthful Serenade in E-flat. The wonderful voice of Somers was again featured the gentle “Songs My Mother Taught Me” by Dvořák. And the tunes of Dvořák’s sunny and sumptuous Symphony No. 6 led to a rousing end of the season.
Listen to the Inside the Music preconcert talk by Lara Webber (13.6MB mp3), her introduction to Becoming a Redwood (2.9MB mp3), and Chad Somers’s introduction to “Songs My Mother Taught Me” (1.6MB mp3).
Read the concert program booklet, including program notes (770KB pdf).

Back to Top

© Livermore-Amador Symphony Association