Symphony Surround Special Event Returns with 'Classical Rock Star' Cellist Joshua Roman

California Symphony and Music Director Donato Cabrera celebrate the Orchestra's 31st season with Symphony Surround, a special event and fundraiser Saturday, June 16, 2018, at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, featuring star cellist Joshua Roman. Roman returns to perform with the California Symphony for the first time since his 2012 debut, when he was 29.

Symphony Surround is the latest in the Orchestra's new kind of annual benefit events, designed to combine the best in entertainment, spectacle, and artistry. It offers a uniquely immersive experience, with Roman and the Orchestra performing literally surrounding dinner guests. In addition to a full program of music, the evening-long extravaganza includes a cocktail reception and hors d'oeuvres with Music Director Donato Cabrera and members of the Orchestra; a gourmet three-course meal prepared by Claremont chefs; unlimited wine during dinner; a hosted bar, plus silent and live auctions to benefit the Orchestra's education programs. Valet parking is also included.

This is the second outing for the Symphony Surround concept after its well-received debut last year, which featured violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. It's the latest in a series of large-scale, live performance benefit events, as reimagined by the California Symphony. In 2016, the California Symphony accompanied a live performance of the circus artists of Cirque du Soleil in Cirque du Symphonie, and in 2015 they hosted a Speakeasy Symphony with Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox, the band's first collaboration with a professional orchestra. Since then, other orchestras have followed suit, including the L.A. Philharmonic, who booked Bradlee and Postmodern Jukebox to headline their recent New Year's Eve concerts with the orchestra.

Symphony Surround is a format that no other orchestra uses to engage its patrons, and which guests love:

"I felt I was whisked off to a highly technical sound studio with thousands and thousands of speakers surrounding me," said Fred Smith, 2017 Surroundattendee and CSO Board Member.

Bill Lueth, President of KDFC Radio, described it as "a very fun and unique event," while according to table host Janet Welter, it was "Spectacular! ... My guests are GUSHING still!!!"

"Over the last three years, the California Symphony has grown its audience by 70% and nearly quadrupled its donor base," says Executive Director Aubrey Bergauer, "and having a special events strategy that's fun, entertaining, and differentiated from other performing arts organizations has been a part of that success."

This year's venue is the Claremont Club and Spa (A Fairmont Hotel), a California landmark and iconic luxury hotel nestled in the Oakland Hills, with sweeping views out across to San Francisco, 12 miles away. The Claremont was extensively renovated for its 100th anniversary in 2015, and its special event space renovation will be complete this spring, making Symphony Surround one of the first events in the updated historic banquet facilities.

Proceeds from Symphony Surround benefit the Orchestra's nationally-recognized education programs, including Sound Minds and its Young American Composer-in-Residence program.

ABOUT JOSHUA ROMAN
Dubbed a "Classical Rock Star" by the press, cellist Joshua Roman has earned a national reputation for performing a wide range of repertoire with an absolute commitment to communicating the essence of the music at its most organic level. Before embarking on a solo career, he was for two seasons principal cellist of the Seattle Symphony, a position he won in 2006 at the age of 22. Since that time he has appeared as a soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, and many others. For his ongoing creative initiatives on behalf of classical music, he was selected as a 2011 TED Fellow and a TED Senior Fellow in 2015, joining a select group of next generation innovators who have shown unusual accomplishments and the potential to positively affect the world. Roman first performed with the California Symphony at the age of 29 when he began his solo career. Three composers have written solo works especially for Roman: Aaron Jay Kernis, Mason Bates, and Dan Visconti, the later two of whom are alumni of the California Symphony's Composer-in-Residence program.

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