December 5, 2018
Bow a violin or a cello, pucker up to a trumpet, clack a castanet, or see if you can get a note out of the clarinet that doesn’t summon a flock of Canada Geese: The California Symphony’s Instrument Petting Zoo offers the chance to get up close and personal with instruments you can see on…
November 20, 2018
An animated holiday classic, a Grammy-winning choir, mulled wine & cocoa to sip at your seat… Get the scoop on what to expect when you come to one of the California Symphony’s holiday concerts. There’s nothing quite like the buzzing atmosphere of the California Symphony’s holiday concerts, with the aroma of mulled wine in the…
November 20, 2018
From Sesame Street to the Simpsons and rubber chickens, Tchaikovsky’s classic has been given some interesting treatments through the years. Here’s our pick of 11 of the best (and the worst.) 1. The Simpsons — Cause Christmas Eve is Here “Why should I care it’s all humbug.” — Montgomery Burns 2. Sesame Street Elmo gets down with Jamie…
November 20, 2018
Cadence Strange, 12, gets up at 5:30 a.m. to make the two-hour commute from Pittsburg by bus and BART to Oakland, where he attends the Pacific Boychoir Academy. In addition to taking regular classes, Cadence spends three hours a day studying music theory, learning to sight-read, and rehearsing choral works in Latin and German. California Symphony…
November 20, 2018
Tavian Roberts, 12, is a student at the Pacific Boychoir Academy in Oakland, the only full-time boys’ chorus school on the west coast of North America. The choir school integrates a full academic curriculum with daily musical instruction for boys in grades 4–8. Tavian sings with the choir for the California Symphony’s ’Tis the Symphony…
November 20, 2018
Kim Rooker is the Bay Area’s go-to expert in productions featuring movies with the soundtrack played by a live orchestra for over a decade. We go behind the scenes with Kim to learn how the orchestral, live movie magic comes together—so the images you see on screen stay in time with the music. Walking in the…
