Stanford Philharmonia
The Stanford Philharmonia is a select chamber orchestra of about 55 musicians that rehearses on Tuesday evenings and performs concerts in Bing Concert Hall and venues throughout the Palo Alto vicinity, usually presenting 5-8 performances each year. Most members of SP are undergraduate and graduate students plus some staff members, alumni, and community members. The orchestra performs repertoire from the Baroque to the present, frequently with outstanding student and faculty soloists as well as renowned visiting artists, and often performs on the annual Holiday Musicale in Memorial Church. In addition to Concerto Competition winners, who perform annually with SP, guest soloists have included violinist Francisco Fullana, violist Meena Bhasin, flutist Carol Wincenc, and numerous Stanford faculty artists, including violinists Owen Dalby and Robin Sharp, cellists Christopher Costanza and Stephen Harrison, and pianists Elizabeth Schumann and Stephen Prutsman.
In March 2022, Stanford Philharmonia traveled to Bermuda to perform three concerts at the Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts, including one that featured the renowned violinist and Stanford alumna Caroline Campbell as soloist. Other highlights of recent seasons include a live performance of John Corigliano's score for the film "The Red Violin" in collaboration with Stanford Live, a lecture/recital titled "The Brilliance of Bach" on the "Stanford in Redwood City Speaker Series" at the Fox Theater in Redwood City, and playing for a gala Viennese Ball in Menlo Park in December 2023.
Programs in 2024-25 will include Rossini's Overture to "L'Italiana in Algeri", Mozart's Symphony No. 31 in D, K. 297, "Paris", and Sibelius's Symphony No. 3 in C. SP will perform Charles Ives's Symphony No. 3, "The Camp Meeting", to commemorate the composer's sesquicentennial and, in February 2025, will perform the US premiere of Anthony Burgess's "Concerto Grosso for Guitar Quartet and Orchestra" featuring the award-winning Mela Guitar Quartet from England. This fall, SP will travel to southern California for a joint concert with the Pasadena Symphony Youth Orchestra Philharmonic at the Ambassador Auditorium on 7 December 2024. The program will include Verdi's Overture to "Nabucco", Ravel's "Rapsodie Espagnole", and John Psathas's "The All-Seeing Sky" for two solo percussionists and orchestra, featuring Concerto Competition winners Ireh Kim and Andrew Chen.
Like its sister organization the Stanford Symphony Orchestra, Stanford Philharmonia is supported by the Department of Music and the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU). Membership is open to all Stanford undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff, and members of the community. Anyone with questions or comments about Stanford's orchestral program, or who wishes to audition for Stanford Philharmonia, or the Stanford Symphony Orchestra or Stanford Summer Symphony, is encouraged to express their interest by contacting Dr. SunYoung Park, Orchestra Studies Program Administrator, Orchestral Studies Program Administrator, by emailing her at <orchestra@stanford.edu>, or calling her at (650) 725-2694.
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