Vote for your symphony in the “best classical music group” category!

For the first time ever, there is a "Best Classical Music Group" category for the Good Times Best of Santa Cruz 2023!

We would be delighted if you would vote for Santa Cruz Symphony. For 65 years, Your Symphony has kept the magic of classical music alive in Santa Cruz. Here are some reasons we deserve your vote for Best Classical Music Group:

You've appreciated the superb quality of music and guest artists that Maestro Daniel Stewart brings to our community. Show your love for Santa Cruz Symphony by clicking the button below to cast your vote!

A few Good Times voting rules to make sure your vote counts:

  • Vote in at least 20 ballot categories for your ballot to be counted

  • Include your name and a valid email address

  • Ballots are confidential, but you may be called to confirm your vote

  • Multiple ballots from a single IP address or sender may result in a winner's disqualification

Deadline for online ballots is January 31, 2023

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

LAST CHANCE FOR THE EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT!

Friday, January 13 is the last day to buy tickets for the Translations concert using the Early Bird Special pricing. Don't miss this chance to get a big discount on tickets for these incredible performances on January 28–29!

Click here to learn more about the Early Bird Special

BUY TICKETS

Early Bird Special! Discount on Translations tickets until January 13!

EARLY BIRD SPECIAL ON TRANSLATIONS TICKETS!

If you don’t have tickets for Translations yet, now is the time to get them! From now until January 13, you can buy tickets to this concert at the same discounted price subscribers pay. To purchase tickets call the Civic Box Office at 831-420-5260, Tuesday–Friday, 12pm–4pm, or visit santacruztickets.com.

TRANSLATIONS: CONNECTIONS BETWEEN TIMES, PLACES, AND CULTURES

Our Translations concert on January 28 and 29, 2023 will be unique and breathtaking! It features the world premiere of a new piano concerto by Turkish composer and pianist Hakan Ali Toker, commissioned specifically for the Santa Cruz Symphony. The program also features vivid translations of Point Reyes wildlife by Northern California native Gabriella Smith, and Ravel’s homage to the Parisian Baroque à la François Couperin.

The program starts with Gabriella Smith’s Tumblebird Contrails. Smith grew up in the San Francisco Bay area with a love for the environment and for composing. Many of her works deal with the climate crisis; her calls for action are made through the kind of music that attaches the listener emotionally to the natural world. Smith wrote: “Tumblebird Contrails is inspired by a single moment I experienced while backpacking in Point Reyes, sitting in the sand at the edge of the ocean, and listening to the hallucinatory sounds of the Pacific.”

Next we’ll have Maurice Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin, written in 1917 for solo piano and orchestrated in 1919. Ravel experienced the horror of World War I as well as tremendous personal losses before composing this piece. The tragedy of his life is barely disguised by the upbeat Baroque forms used in this suite. He dedicated each movement to a friend who died in the war. Despite the background of tragedy in its composition, Le Tombeau de Couperin is a lighthearted and sometimes reflective work rather than a sombre one, a tribute to 18th-century French music.

Finally, Turkish composer Hakan Ali Toker will offer us Civilization. His stirring world premiere concerto fuses elements of Western classical music with Turkish and other traditional themes, along with jazz. It requires the soloist to use two separate pianos, each tuned slightly differently, while he and the orchestra improvise particular passages. This means that each performance has its own distinctive variations. Toker is both the composer and the featured piano soloist for this standout piece!

We are particularly proud that Maestro Daniel Stewart, on behalf of the Santa Cruz Symphony, commissioned this inspiring piano concerto. Our special thanks go to the commission sponsors, Richard Klevins and Gay Nichols, and Lee and Emily Duffus. Co-commission sponsors are Bob Edmund, and Dr. Roger Knacke. We also thank our concert co-sponsors, Ralph and DeAnne Boroff, and Melanie LeBlanc, along with our artist sponsors Vance Landis-Carey and Robert Carey.

Translations will be a show of creativity and virtuosity. Don’t miss out!

Celebrating 65 YEARS OF MUSIC!

Dear Symphony friends,

It’s that time of year when, if you’re like me, you’re struggling to find the perfect gift for your friends and family. How about sharing the gift of classical music? You could attend concerts together and perhaps enjoy dinner before or afterward. There is nothing more special than sharing experiences with loved ones – something you can all remember fondly for years to come.

You can purchase vouchers for a single concert or for a mini-series for our remaining three concerts. With the terrific choices this season, you definitely will find something they will love and cherish.

Call Amanda at 831-462-0553 X10 to order vouchers or for more information. In fact, do it now, while it’s on your mind. If it’s after office hours, leave a message and she’ll return your call. It’s that easy.

Also, please consider the Santa Cruz Symphony while making your year-end tax deductible contributions. For 65 years, donor support has been the foundation for Your Symphony’s success and high quality. Our entire organization, including Maestro Daniel Stewart and our musicians, are so grateful for your kindness and generosity.

Thank you and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a New Year filled with love, happiness, good health, and beautiful music.

Sincerely,

Linda Burroughs

Board President

This is our best year ever!

You already know that Your Symphony’s season started off with a rousing performance featuring the music of several traditions. Weren’t the folk dances breathtaking?

As we start into 2023 with our Translations concert, we’re featuring a world premiere concerto by Turkish composer Hakan Ali Toker. He’s woven together the emotions of humanity as we evolve from chaos to harmony and from conflict to love. This concert will be a winner!

The first weekend of April will feature Hero’s Journey, highlighting the evolutions of Gandhi and Beethoven. The final weekend that month, Grand Finale, will present the popular Cabrillo Symphonic Chorus, along with selections from Wagner’s operas.

Our annual Pops Concert brings a rousing program in June with A Night at the Movies. Many of your favorite movie themes are on the playlist. And of course, we have recitals in March and May – Nigel and Friends, plus Songs that Make Us Dance.

Purchase tickets now for the best seats. And remember to bring your favorite friends and family. Visit our website, santacruzsymphony.org, for information. Or call Amanda in our office at 831-463-0553 X10.

Support Your Symphony on #GIVINGTUESDAY

Why is classical music still relevant today? 

We’re glad you asked. There are many reasons, and they are different for everyone. For some, it’s the display of individual technique and artistry in an orchestral performance. For others, it’s watching and hearing diverse musicians working together to create a collective harmony on stage.

One of our dedicated subscribers beautifully expressed why he values classical music. We were so inspired by his words that we wanted to share them with you: 

“To heal the struggles and wounds and craziness going on all around us in this world of duality, we need to first connect with the silence. Beneath all the pleasure and pain, joy and sadness, good and evil, love and hate, creativity and destruction is who we are on the deepest levels… That place of stillness and silence. From that deep place, we connect with the rest of everything with love.

“Classical music is perfect for going on that inner journey into oneself, since the ideal way to listen to it is in complete stillness and silence. All other forms of music, I dance to and experience on a more physical level. But this music that you are creating is so perfect for closing the eyes and completely being absorbed by the music and becoming the music. The pure sound of winds, strings, and percussion merging together on such a perfect vibrational level helps connect us all to the music with our whole being… After moments of struggle and healing, we are given moments of such magnificence and such love that are absolute and all-encompassing.” –Michael Santa Cruz

Doesn’t that express it all so perfectly? In fact, there is nothing quite like classical music to inspire the spirit this way.

This Giving Tuesday, November 29, help us share the transformative power of classical music with everyone. Please send your tax-deductible contribution to the Santa Cruz Symphony today.

Thank you for your continued support!

Give them a gift voucher for the Santa Cruz Symphony!

Everyone will think you're brilliant when you share the world-class artistry of Maestro Daniel Stewart and the Santa Cruz Symphony

We all know people who love music. In fact, you love music yourself! Share that joy with the special people in your life. Give them a gift voucher for the Santa Cruz Symphony!

 Purchase a gift voucher for tickets to single concerts (the recipient can choose any concert in the season to attend) or for a three-concert mini-subscription. The holidays are upon us, and these vouchers are perfect for those people who are impossible to shop for. Great experiences make the best gifts!

 To purchase gift vouchers, email office@santacruzsymphony.org or call 831-462-0553 x10.