2023-24 Season
2023-24 Season
Fall Quarter 2023-24 opened with a very special event: a performance in Frost Amphitheater by Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros featuring the Wolf Pack with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Phillips. This 3 1/2-hour performance, for 6000 cheering Deadheads on 29 October 2023, featured arrangements by Giancarlo Aquilanti of favorite Grateful Dead songs, including the premieres of several new Aquilanti arrangements, and is described in the new book Origins of the Grateful Dead Orchestration Project.
On 11 November, Stanford Philharmonia presented the West Coast premiere of Dedication by the great American composer William Bolcom (Stanford DMA 1964) as part of the California Festival, “A Celebration of New Music”. The entire program was:
MOZART Symphony No. 34 in C major, K. 338 BOLCOM Dedication (2022)
West Coast premiere
J. STRAUSS The Beautiful Blue Danube
SCHUBERT Symphony No. 2 in B♭ major
On 1 and 2 December, the Stanford Symphony Orchestra performed its Fall Concerts, which featured two winners of the 2023 Concerto Competition:
R. STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks
BRAHMS Violin Concerto in D major
Richard Cheung ’24, violin
GRIFFES Poem for Flute and Orchestra
Laura Futamura ’24, flute
PISTON The Incredible Flutist Ballet Suite
SP’s Winter Concert on 24 February 2024 featured renowned pianist Stephen Prutsman performing Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto:
BEETHOVEN Coriolan Overture
Sean Tan ’27, conductor
STRAVINSKY Suites Nos. 1 & 2 for Small Orchestra
RAVEL Ma mère l’oye (Mother Goose Suite)
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5 in E♭ major, “Emperor”
Stephen Prutsman, piano
The Winter Concerts on 8 & 9 March 2024 featured the Stanford Symphonic Chorus in collaboration with SSO:
MAHLER Symphony No. 4
Maya Kherani, soprano
Paul Phillips, conductor
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Dona Nobis Pacem
Maya Kherani, soprano
Kenneth Goodson, baritone
Stephen Sano, conductor
The program of the SP Spring Concert on 11 May 2024 is:
MENDELSSOHN Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream
FAURÉ Pelléas et Mélisande Suite, Op. 80
Sean Tan ’27, conductor
BRUCH Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor
Sean Mori ’24, violin / 2024 Concerto Competition Winner
POULENC Sinfonietta
The SSO Spring Concerts on 17 & 18 May 2024 featured cellist Christopher Costanza as soloist. The program included works to be performed on the SSO’s two-week concert tour of France from 16-30 June 2024, which commenced in Paris/Versailles and concluded in Monte Carlo. This was the first international tour by the SSO since 2017!
WILLIAMS Olympic Fanfare and Theme
HAILSTORK Three Spirituals
BERLIOZ Hungarian March
BURGESS In memoriam Princess Grace
SAINT-SAËNS Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor
Christopher Costanza, violoncello
GERSHWIN An American in Paris
The 2024 Stanford Summer Symphony performed works by Arturo Márquez, Richard Strauss, Edvard Grieg, and Aaron Copland on Friday, 2 August 2024 in Bing Concert Hall. Laura Griffiths, Principal Oboe of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, was the soloist in Strauss’s Oboe Concerto.
Videos of most SSO, SP, and SSS concerts from 2017-2023 are posted on the Stanford Orchestras YouTube channel. We hope that you enjoy these videos and invite you to subscribe to our channel and share your comments.