New West Symphony Will Perform Beethoven & Copland in Thousand Oaks in October

New West Symphony will present "Beethoven & Copland" on Saturday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m. at the Fred Kavli Theatre at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center in Thousand Oaks. The concert is part of the orchestra's 2026 Masterpiece Series, which celebrates the 250th anniversary of the United States through programs featuring American classics alongside major works from the classical repertoire.

The Thousand Oaks program will open with Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21, followed by Aaron Copland's "Old American Songs" and "Appalachian Spring." The program brings together orchestral music, vocal performance and dance, with Pacific Festival Ballet performing as part of the presentation of "Appalachian Spring."

Francesco Lecce-Chong will conduct the concert. Pacific Festival Ballet will appear under the direction of Kim Maselli, while the Los Robles Children's Choir will be led by Emma Roche. The program and artists are subject to change. 

"Appalachian Spring" was originally composed by Copland as a ballet for choreographer Martha Graham and premiered in 1944. The work, which later became widely known in its orchestral suite form, is among Copland's best-known compositions. The New West Symphony program will pair it with "Old American Songs," a collection of arrangements of American folk songs, and Beethoven's First Symphony.