2024-25 Season
The Stanford orchestras conclude their 2024-25 season with two weekends of spring concerts in May 2025 conducted by Paul Phillips:
STANFORD PHILHARMONIA CLASSICAL SHOWCASE
Saturday, 10 May 2025 • 7:30 PM • Bing Concert Hall
CHEVALIER DE SAINT-GEORGES Overture to L’Amant Anonyme
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN Symphony No. 82 in C major , “L’Ours” (The Bear)
W. A. MOZART Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K. 453
Charles Li ’25, piano – 2025 Concerto Competition winner
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 2 in D major, op. 36
SSO SPRING CONCERTS
Saturday, 17 May 2025 • 7:30 PM • Bing Concert Hall
Sunday, 18 May 2025 • 2:30 PM • Bing Concert Hall
CAMERON CAMP ’25 composer & conductor
Il viaggio dell’anima world premiere
GUSTAV MAHLER Symphony No. 6 in A minor
In previous concerts this season, Stanford Philharmonia has celebrated the Charles Ives sesquicentennial, featured a pair of Concerto Competition winners in the performance of a new double percussion concerto, performed the US premiere of Anthony Burgess’s Concerto Grosso for Guitar Quartet and Orchestra, and performed additional works by Mozart, Rossini, Bloch, and Sibelius. This season, the Stanford Symphony Orchestra has performed The Firebird (complete), Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor Concerto Competition winner Spencer Cha ’26, and celebrated Maurice Ravel’s sesquicentennial with performances of his Daphnis et Chloé Suites I & II. SSO has also performed The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Paul Dukas, Atmosphères by Györgi Ligeti, the West Coast premiere of Battle-Pieces by SSO music director Paul Phillips, and, with the Stanford Symphonic Chorus, Stabat Mater by Francis Poulenc.
Students and community members interested in joining the 2025 Stanford Summer Symphony are asked to fill out this Participation Form. Auditions will take place in May and June. Rehearsals will take place on Tuesday and Thursday evenings beginning June 24. The concert, which will include music by Respighi and Brahms, will take place on Saturday evening, July 26, in Bing Concerto Hall. Use this link to sign up for an audition.
Here’s a post about SSO’s June 2024 tour of France and Monaco.
STANFORD PHILHARMONIA FALL CONCERT
Saturday, 9 November 2024 • 7:30 PM • Bing Concert Hall
WOLFGANG A. MOZART Symphony No. 31 in D major, K. 297, “Paris”
JOHN PSATHAS The All-Seeing Sky West Coast premiere Ireh Kim ’25 & Andrew Chen ’26, percussion – 2024 Concerto Competition winners
GIOACCHINO ROSSINI Overture to L’Italiana in Algeri
CHARLES IVES Symphony No. 3, “The Camp Meeting” celebrating the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth
STANFORD PHILHARMONIA WINTER CONCERT
Friday, 28 February 2025 • 7:30 PM • Bing Concert Hall
ERNEST BLOCH Concerto Grosso for String Orchestra with Piano Obligato
ANTHONY BURGESS Concerto Grosso for Guitar Quartet and Orchestra in A minor US premiere Mēla Guitar Quartet
JEAN SIBELIUS Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op. 52
It’s always extra special when the Stanford Symphony Orchestra’s annual Halloween Concert falls on Halloween, as it did this year. All SSO and SWS members dressed in costume for the concert, which culminated with the annual Costume Competition, with the winner guest conducting the Stanford Wind Symphony.
SSO HALLOWEEN CONCERT with the STANFORD WIND SYMPHONY
Thursday, 31 October 2024 • 7:30 PM • Dinkelspiel Auditorium
JOHN WILLIAMS Harry Potter Symphonic Suite
PAUL DUKAS The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
IGOR STRAVINSKY Khorovod, Infernal Dance, Berceuse, and Finale from “The Firebird”
plus selections by the Stanford Wind Symphony
The Hungarian composer György Ligeti was a good friend of John Chowning, the founder of CCRMA, Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, and played an important role in the creation of this world-renowned center. This year marks CCRMA’s 50th anniversary, which was celebrated with an all-Ligeti concert that featured the SSO and Stanford New Ensemble.
HOMAGE TO LIGETI/CCRMA 50th ANNIVERSARY CONCERT
Sunday, 3 November 2024 • 7:30 PM • Dinkelspiel Auditorium
Music of Györgi Ligeti
Atmosphères (1961) Stanford Symphony Orchestra
Musica Ricercata (1951-53) Roger Xia ’24, pianist
Artikulation (1958) four-channel electronic composition
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1990/1992) Tanja Becker-Bender, violin, with Stanford New Ensemble
SSO FALL CONCERTS
Friday, 15 November 2024 • 7:30 PM • Bing Concert Hall
Sunday, 17 November 2024 • 2:30 PM • Bing Concert Hall
PAUL DUKAS The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Sean Tan ’27, conductor
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 Spencer Cha ’26, piano – 2024 Concerto Competition winner
GYÖRGY LIGETI Atmosphères celebrating the 50th anniversary of CCRMA
IGOR STRAVINSKY The Firebird (complete ballet 1910)
SSO WINTER CONCERTS with the STANFORD SYMPHONIC CHORUS
Friday, 7 March 2025 • 7:30 PM • Bing Concert Hall
Saturday, 8 March 2025 • 7:30 PM • Bing Concert Hall
PAUL PHILLIPS Battle-Pieces (texts by Herman Melville) West Coast premiere Ashraf Sewailam, bass-baritone
MAURICE RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé, Suites 1 & 2 celebrating the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth
FRANCIS POULENC Stabat Mater Mikayla Sager, soprano
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
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.
2022-23 Season
The 2023 Stanford Summer Symphony concert was sold out! The SSS played to a full house in Bing Concert Hall on Saturday, 29 July 2023, performing:
STILL Afro-American Symphony (No. 1)
PERRY The Silent Years West Coast premiere Michael Chertock, piano
DVORAK Symphony No. 9 in E major, op. 95, “From the New World”
Guest composer William Perry attended the concert, which included his composition The Silent Years, presented with film and featuring piano soloist Michael Chertock.
On Friday, 19 May, and Saturday, 20 May 2023, the Stanford Symphony Orchestra under the direction of conductor Paul Phillips presented the California premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain Suite on its Spring Concerts in Bing Concert Hall. The program also featured Roger Xia ’24, a winner of the 2023 Concerto Competition, as soloist in Serge Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, and concluded with Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.
On Saturday, 13 May 2023, Stanford Philharmonia performed Robert Schumann’s Manfred Overture, Franz Doppler’s Concerto for Two Flutes in D minor, André Waignein’s Rhapsody for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra, and Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 7 on its Spring Concert in Bing Concert Hall. The concert featured three winners of the 2023 Concerto Competition, flutists Jenny Xiong ’24 and Daniel Sun ’25 and alto saxophonist Zachary Lin ’26.
Less than a week after classes began in Fall 2022, the SSO performed a joint concert with the University of Stuttgart Academic Orchestra on 1 October. The concert, which concluded USAO’s North American tour, presented both orchestras performing three works together – Tragic Overture and Academic Festival Overture by Johannes Brahms and Theme from Jurassic Park by John Williams – with a combined total of 180 musicians performing together on the stage of Bing Concert Hall. The Stuttgart Orchestra also performed Béla Bartók’s Viola Concerto and Symphony No. 4 by Robert Schumann. USAO music director Mihály Zeke and SSO music director Paul Phillips shared the conducting duties.
On Friday, 28 October, the Stanford Symphony Orchestra and Stanford Wind Symphony presented the annual Halloween Concert in Dinkelspiel Auditorium, with SSO performing Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from Toy Story; Aaron Copland’s Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo, led by four conducting students of Professor Phillips; and Global Warming by Michael Abels.
On 12 November, Stanford Philharmonia performed its Fall Concert in Bing Concert Hall, performing Symphony No. 95 in C Minor by Franz Joseph Haydn, Pavane for a Dead Princess by Maurice Ravel, Finding Rothko by Adam Schoenberg, and Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and Strings with soloist Elizabeth Schumann, Lecturer in Piano at Stanford.
The SSO’s Fall Concerts took place on 2 & 4 December in Bing Concert Hall. The program included the Overture to La Forza del Destino by Giuseppe Verdi, Global Warming by Michael Abels, Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto featuring 2022 Concerto Competition winner Jessica Lee ’24, and Lukas Foss’s Symphony No. 1 celebrating the centenary of the composer’s birth. As a tribute to Geoff Nuttall (1965-2022), Go Perfect Into Peace, a short work by Paul Phillips, was added to the program.
SP and the Stanford Chamber Chorale performed the annual Friends of Music Holiday Musicale in Memorial Church on 3 December 2022. The program included music by Rameau, Debussy, Handel, Rutter, and MacKinnon, plus additional choral works sung by the SCC.
SP performed Siegfried Idyll by Richard Wagner, Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor by Camille Saint-Saëns, and Symphony No. 6 in F major, “Pastorale”, by Ludwig van Beethoven on its Winter Concert, which was conducted by Paul Phillips and took place on Friday, 24 February 2023 in Bing Concert Hall. Internationally famed violinist Francisco Fullana was the concerto soloist.
On 10 March 2023, the Stanford Symphony Orchestra and Stanford Symphonic Chorus presented the West Coast premiere of A Knee on the Neck, a new requiem with text by Herbert Martin and music by Adolphus Hailstork, with a repeat performance on Sunday, 12 March. Martin and Hailstork attended both performances in person and also met with groups of Stanford students during their visits. The concerts, conducted by Paul Phillips, began with Maurice Ravel’s Alborada del gracioso and Richard Strauss’s Don Quixote with cello soloist Christopher Costanza. The mezzo soprano soloist in A Knee on the Neck was Stanford alumna Samantha Williams; the tenor and baritone soloists were Alexander Taite and Wilford Kelly, both of whom are members of the San Francisco Opera Chorus.
The Stanford Orchestras are proud members of the League of American Orchestras and the Association of California Symphony Orchestras.
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