Berkeley Symphony Opens 2024-25 Symphonic Series With STORIES FROM HOME

Berkeley Symphony, led by Music Director Joseph Young, will open the 2024–25 Symphonic Series with Stories From Home on Sunday, November 10 at 4 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall.

The first of four Symphonic Series performances this season, Stories From Home will showcase soprano Lisa Delan in Samuel Barber's wistful Knoxville: Summer of 1915, and Grammy-winning violinist Charles Yang in the Bay Area premiere of For A Younger Self by Kris Bowers (The Color Purple, Bridgerton). Leonard Bernstein's lively Symphonic Dances from West Side Story and Silvestre Revueltas's stirring Redes Suite round out this exploration of North America's multifaceted cultural heritage.

“What does a story sound like? The opening program of Berkeley Symphony's 53rd season answers that question,” says Music Director Joseph Young. “It sounds like Leonard Bernstein's jazzy, syncopated Symphonic Dances from West Side Story: you can hear the streets of New York and feel the longing of star-crossed lovers. It sounds like the whispering breeze of Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915, or like the crashing of waves in Silvestre Revueltas's Redes Suite, or the violin soaring over the orchestra, as it does in Kris Bowers' concerto For A Younger Self.”

Soprano Lisa Delan is recognized for her versatility and breadth of accomplishment as an interpreter of a vast range of repertoire. She has enriched and enlivened the field of contemporary American art song, premiering close to eighty new works. She has performed, commissioned, and recorded music by Philip Glass, Jake Heggie, John Corigliano, and Gordon Getty, among others.

Violinist Charles Yang has performed as a soloist throughout the United States, Europe, Brazil, Russia, China, and Taiwan. In 2016 he became the violinist and lead singer of the multi-genre string band Time for Three, which won the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. On June 9, 2005, the mayor of Austin presented Mr. Yang with his own “Charles Yang Day.”  

“This is music that takes you somewhere, that grabs hold, and puts you in a specific time and place,” said Young of the evening's program. 

Berkeley Symphony's Chamber Series launched with Advocates and Influencers on Sunday, September 29 at the Piedmont Center for the Arts. Curated by violist Darcy Rindt, the program featured Joaquín Turina's Spanish-shaded Piano Quartet in A minor, Concerto for Harpsichord (Piano) and Strings by Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw, and Clara Schumann's Piano Trio, hailed by many music historians as her finest work. The encore performance of Advocates and Influencers took place at Berkeley's Freight and Salvage on Monday, September 30.