Hope, despair, and redemption: presenting Mozart's Requiem on May 3/4

Mozart’s Requiem in D minor is one of the most popular and well-known pieces of classical music ever written. On May 3 and 4, Santa Cruz Symphony will join forces with Cabrillo Symphonic Chorus and four stellar vocalists to bring you the brilliance and emotional impact of this magnum opus.

Our program will also feature a new arrangement of Björk's Overture to Dancer in the Dark by our very own Maestro Daniel Stewart, and a stunning world premiere of Daniel Stewart's Lux Perpetua.

These masterworks offer a perfect showcase for the vocal power and harmonic expression of Cabrillo Symphonic Chorus, under the direction of Cheryl Anderson (who will be making her final appearance as Director in this concert).

Prepare to be transported, both spiritually and emotionally, in this thrilling conclusion to our 2024-25 classical concert series. We invite you to share this unforgettable performance with us!

PROGRAM:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem in D Minor
Björk/arr. Stewart: Overture to Dancer in the Dark
Daniel Patrick Stewart: Lux Perpetua

Free open rehearsal of Mozart's Requiem:
THURSDAY, May 1 at 7:30 PM at the Civic Auditorium in Santa Cruz
No reservations required | Doors open at 7 PM

 Evening performance of Mozart's Requiem:
Saturday, May 3 at 7:30 PM at the Civic Auditorium in Santa Cruz
Pre-concert talk at 6:30 PM | Doors open at 6:15 PM

 Matinee performance of Mozart's Requiem:
Sunday, May 4 at 2:00 PM at the Henry J. Mello Center in Watsonville
Pre-concert talk at 1:00 PM | Doors open at 12:45 PM

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Danny and Friends: a star-studded afternoon of music at Samper Hall

This Sunday, join us for an afternoon of an afternoon of shimmering, yearning, profoundly heart-centered music performed by a star-studded cast of artists! At 2 PM on Sunday, April 13, our Musician Series will present a truly special "friends recital" at Cabrillo College's Samper Hall.

Featuring:

Jon Nakamatsu, piano
Sara Couden, contralto
In Sun Jang, violin
Jonah Kim, cello
Daniel Stewart, viola/piano
And a special guest appearance by multi-instrumentalist Jaron Lanier

In a program of:

Two Songs for Alto voice, Viola, & Piano by Johannes Brahms
Duet for Heart & Breath by Richard Reed Parry
Improvisation by Jaron Lanier & Daniel Stewart
Tribeca Triptych for String Trio by Daniel Stewart
Quartet for Piano & Strings in G minor by Johannes Brahms

WHEN: Sunday, April 13 at 2 PM
WHERE: Samper Recital Hall at Cabrillo College
TICKETS: 831-479-6154 or cabrillo.edu/vapa

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Jon Nakamatsu, piano

Now in his third decade of touring worldwide, Jon Nakamatsu continues to draw critical and public acclaim for his intensity, elegance, and electrifying performances. The 1997 Gold Medalist of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition—the only American to achieve this distinction since 1981—Mr. Nakamatsu's career encompasses recording, education, arts administration, and public speaking in addition to his vast concert schedule. Click here to learn more.

Sara Couden, contralto

Praised by Opera News for her “unusually rich and resonant” voice, contralto Sara Couden is a premiere interpreter of operatic, chamber, and song repertoire. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Opera, the Seattle Symphony, St. Petersburg Opera, and many more venues around the world. As one reviewer said, "Sara Couden possesses an uncommonly powerful instrument that absolutely fills a theater. Each time she sang, the audience was rapt in awe.” Click here to learn more.

In Sun Jang, violin

A violinist with the San Francisco Symphony and a graduate of Julliard School and the New England Conservatory, In Sun Jang was the top prize winner at the International Henryk Szeryng Violin Competition. She made her sold-out Japanese recital debut in 2004, and has featured as a soloist with several leading orchestras and a concertmaster with New World Symphony. Isaac Stern invited her to perform at Carnegie Hall in the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Workshop. Click here to learn more.

Jaron Lanier, multi-instrumentalist

A visionary and tech guru who coined the term "virtual reality," Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, visual artist, computer philosopher, technologist, futurist—and a composer of contemporary classical music. He is obsessed with musical instruments and has collected about 2000, which he likes to play, including a Taiwanese harp, a Japanese flute, a Turkish clarinet, and many others. Click here to learn more.

Jonah Kim, cello

Jonah Kim is an artist of great charisma and originality whose beauty of tone is immediately distinguishable by its signature sweetness. Born in South Korea, Jonah Kim taught himself to play the cello watching VHS tapes of Pablo Casals. He “dives into the music with courage underpinned by formidable technical prowess, with which he achieves a dazzling performance” (All About the Arts) and has been described as "one of the very finest American cellists" (Art Music Lounge). Click here to learn more.

Daniel Stewart, viola/piano

We know him as Maestro of our Santa Cruz Symphony, but Daniel Stewart’s history is impressive. He was the Metropolitan Opera’s assistant conductor, winner of the Conlon Conducting Prize, and guest conductor in Boston, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, Houston, and more. He has performed with renowned symphonies as conductor, composer, and violist. As Performing Arts Monterey Bay described it: "Clearly, he’s the real deal…the quality of great music here is almost beyond belief." Click here to learn more.

Symphonic Shakespeare Featuring Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s Charles Pasternak and Allie Pratt

It's a match made in heaven!

What happens when you combine Shakespeare with the Symphony? You end up with something divine! Santa Cruz Symphony will join with Santa Cruz Shakespeare on March 29/30 for an artistic collaboration that will have you applauding for more. We're delighted to bring you two acclaimed actors, Charles Pasternak and Allie Pratt, whose Shakespeare recitations will add depth and resonance to symphonic works by Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, and Anna Clyne.

Come be swept away by the drama, romance, and whimsy of Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, Mendelssohn's Overture for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Anna Clyne's Sound and Fury. You'll be enthralled by this fusion of music and theater. Buy your tickets today to reserve your preferred seats!

Charles Pasternak

Charles Pasternak is known nationally as a dynamic, compelling actor and director. He is the Artistic Director of Santa Cruz Shakespeare, and his recent roles with the company include the title role in Hamlet; Oliver in As You Like It; the Gentleman Caller in The Glass Menagerie (which he also directed); and the adaptor and director of A Christmas Carol. In 2025, he will be directing Pericles, which will play alongside A Midsummer Night's Dream, Into the Woods, and "Master Harold" ... and the Boys, and in December, A Christmas Carol.

Before assuming the role at Santa Cruz Shakespeare, Charles was the Founding Artistic Director of The Porters of Hellsgate in Los Angeles, CA for over fifteen years. Selected regional credits include American Players Theatre, Shakespeare Center LA, three seasons at Shakespeare Festival, St. Louis and four seasons with Shakespeare Santa Cruz.

Allie Pratt

Allie Pratt has been on stage and dazzling audiences with Santa Cruz Shakespeare since 2019. Most recently Santa Cruzans saw her in The Glass Menagerie, Hamlet, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Other SCS credits include The Book of Will, King Lear, The Formula, Pride and Prejudice, and Winter's Tale. Regional credits include The Play That Goes Wrong, The Graduate (Sierra Repertory), Arms and the Man (Jewel Theatre Company), The Tempest (Thin Air Shakespeare), Twelfth Night, Love's Labour's Lost (Seattle Shakespeare), The Winter's Tale (Shakespeare by the Sea), Alice in Wonderland, She's Come Undone (Book-It Repertory), Mr. Pim Passes By (Taproot Theatre), and Betty's Summer Vacation (Defunkt Theatre).

Allie is also a motion capture actor with 2K Games, a director, and a well-respected educator. She trained at PCPA Theaterfest, earned her BFA from Cornish College of the Arts, and holds an MA in Theater Arts from UCSC.

Free open rehearsal of Symphonic Shakespeare:
Friday, March 28 at 7:30 PM at the Civic Auditorium in Santa Cruz
No reservations required

 Evening performance of Symphonic Shakespeare:
Saturday, March 29 at 7:30 PM at the Civic Auditorium in Santa Cruz
Pre-concert talk at 6:30 PM

Matinee performance of Symphonic Shakespeare:
Sunday, March 30 at 2:00 PM at the Henry J. Mello Center in Watsonville
Pre-concert talk at 1:00 PM

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Symphonic Shakespeare: an enthralling fusion of music and theater

Santa Cruz Symphony will join with Santa Cruz Shakespeare on March 29/30 for an artistic collaboration that will have you applauding for more. We'll hear the Symphony perform Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, Mendelssohn's Overture for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Anna Clyne's Sound and Fury, as well as recitations by Santa Cruz Shakespeare's highly respected Artistic Director Charles Pasternak and powerhouse actor Allie Pratt.

You'll be enthralled by this fusion of music and theater. Buy your tickets today to reserve your preferred seats! 

Shakespeare and Music

“Here will we sit and let the sounds of music/ Creep in our ears./ Soft stillness and the night/ Become the touches of sweet harmony.” ―Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

Shakespeare has been associated with music since the earliest days of his theatrical career. Music makes frequent appearances in his plays, which include more than 90 poems intended as lyrics. He often used songs to evoke a mood, make a political statement, or convey the character of the singer, imitating real-life musical styles found in his current time and place of Renaissance England.

Shakespeare’s plays have gone on to inspire hundreds of musical works over the past four centuries. Many famous composers have found his work irresistible, creating a wide variety of music to depict his stories—perhaps because his dramatic and enduring tales so richly express what it means to be human.

Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, and Clyne

Like many of his 19th-century contemporaries, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky found inspiration in Shakespeare. His Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy uses the orchestra to summon the world of the play in a breathtaking blend of romantic passion, dramatic conflict, and lyrical beauty.

Tchaikovsky was a master of melody, and Romeo and Juliet showcases some of his most memorable themes.

Felix Mendelssohn was yet another 19th-century composer who was enchanted by Shakespeare, creating the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream when he was just 16 years old.

It was immediately popular, and is still considered a work of effervescent genius—a lithe yet romantic piece featuring special effects made by the instruments to evoke aspects of Shakespeare’s play such as the scuttling feet of fairies and the braying of a donkey.

Anna Clyne’s Sound and Fury premiered in 2019, inspired by Shakespeare’s imagery, metaphor, and rhythmic use of language in Macbeth. Clyne seeks to take the listener on a journey that is both invigorating and reflective.

San Francisco Classical Voice described this work as “a study in contrasts, with sometimes skittish outbursts of the music against the serenity of the poetry... It deserves a second and third hearing.”

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Free open rehearsal of Symphonic Shakespeare:

Friday, March 28 at 7:30 PM at the Civic Auditorium in Santa Cruz
Doors open at 7:00 PM | No reservations required

Evening performance of Symphonic Shakespeare:

Saturday, March 29 at 7:30 PM at the Civic Auditorium in Santa Cruz
Doors open at 6:00 PM | Pre-concert talk at 6:30 PM

Matinee performance of Symphonic Shakespeare:

Sunday, March 30 at 2:00 PM at the Henry J. Mello Center in Watsonville
Doors open at 12:45 PM | Pre-concert talk at 1:00 PM 

Spotlight on education: weekday Youth Concerts!

What are the Youth Concerts?

Students from local schools participating in the Link Up program bring their instruments and voices to perform with Santa Cruz Symphony from their seats at a series of rousing weekday Youth Concerts. Through Carnegie Hall's Link Up partnership with the Symphony, fourth and fifth grade students have spent weeks learning to read music, sing, clap to rhythms, and play recorders while in their classrooms. The compositions they have been studying are the same pieces being performed at our Youth Concerts. When they attend these concerts, they engage and participate in the concert program. For many students, this is their first exposure to live orchestral music!  

What do students learn?

Santa Cruz Symphony’s commitment to music education goes far beyond "Do-Re-Mi." Our educational programs include movement, rhythm, dancing, instruments, group participation, cultural arts traditions, and so much more. At our Youth Concerts, we invite some of the best music and dance artists in the county—including many young performers—to help us inspire students. In addition to acquiring new music skills and knowledge through Link Up, students learn how to listen and appreciate music in a concert setting, how to be expert audience members, and what it's like to come together with others to appreciate the arts. 

How does our community benefit?

Communities that embrace music are culturally rich and vibrant in spirit. Giving young people the chance to interact with orchestral music, even briefly, can have a huge impact on how they participate in the arts in the future—both as audience members and as performers on the stage. Music also has the power to unite people. Participating in musical activities together with students from other backgrounds develops social cohesion and an awareness of how much we can learn from one another.

See and hear what students have been learning. Come to our Family Concert on Sunday, March 2!

Want to learn more about how your school can participate in our educational programs for 4th and 5th graders? Email education@santacruzsymphony.org for more information! 

Santa Cruz Symphony Family Concert:

Link Up's “The Orchestra Rocks” and
Peter and the Wolf

Sunday, March 2 at 2 PM | Civic Auditorium in Santa Cruz

Adults: $26 | Kids: $13 (ages 3-17)