Good Times Best Classical Music Group: Vote for Santa Cruz Symphony!

We did it last year. Let’s do it again! 

Good Times is asking for us to vote for the Best Classical Music Group of 2025. Santa Cruz Symphony won the award last year, and we know we can do a repeat with your help. Submit your online ballot by SUNDAY, JANUARY 19 to be counted!

Here are just some of the benefits Santa Cruz Symphony has brought to our community for 67 years:

• Outstanding professional orchestra performances

• Valuable music education for our county’s students

• Free youth concerts for 4th and 5th grade students

• Coveted music scholarships for student musicians

• Professional musician visits to classrooms for in-person education

• Musician role models for underrepresented students

• Insightful pre-concert discussions for our audiences

• Guest performances with world-renowned soloists and musicians

• A season-ending Pops Concert and street party each June

• A home in Santa Cruz County for fine classical music

We all appreciate the superb quality of music and guest artists that Maestro Danny Stewart has brought to our community. Now let’s show our love for Santa Cruz Symphony! Click the button below to cast your vote.

A few Good Times voting rules ensure that your vote is valid:

• If you didn’t do this last year, you must register to vote by submitting your name and email. Good Times will send an email with a verification code.

• Vote in at least 20 categories for your ballot to be counted. This helps to prevent ballot box stuffing.

• Include your name and email address on the ballot to ensure you’re not submitting multiple ballots.

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

• Multiple ballots from a single IP address or sender may disqualify a winner.

• Submit your online ballot by Sunday, January 19 to be counted!

Happy new year! Expand your musical horizons in 2025

Welcome to 2025! We’re looking forward to all the good things this year will bring. That includes powerfully transformative performances, new discoveries, and the joy of connecting with each other through the shared language of music. Together, we will make this a year to remember.

Our 2024-25 concert season continues with offerings to delight all ages: a Family Concert, a collaboration with Santa Cruz Shakespeare, one-of-a-kind Musician Series events, and much more. Here's what's coming up in the next few months. We can't wait to experience these musical treats with you!

Santa Cruz Symphony League's Annual Gala 

Gather your friends and kick up your heels for a night of fun at the Symphony League’s Annual Gala! Don your favorite rustic-chic attire and enjoy country hospitality with a delicious farm-to-table dinner, live music, and exciting auctions at UCSC’s Cowell Hay Barn. All proceeds will benefit Santa Cruz Symphony. Learn more and buy tickets here.

Annual Family Concert: Peter and the Wolf  

Take the kids away from their screens and bring them to a live concert! Our annual Family Concert on March 2 will present Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf plus a diverse selection of music performed with community partner groups. This is the perfect way to enjoy a vibrant, fun, affordably priced musical event with entertainment for all ages. Learn more and buy tickets here.

Classical Series Concert: Symphonic Shakespeare 

This highly anticipated collaboration with Santa Cruz Shakespeare will feature Director Charles Pasternak alongside the immortal melodies of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet and Felix Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, plus Anna Clyne’s breathtaking portrayal of the sound and fury contained in the world of Macbeth. Learn more and buy tickets here.

Auditions are Coming – Apply by Monday, December 30!

On January 13–14, 2025, Santa Cruz Symphony will be holding blind auditions for multiple positions in our orchestra. Qualified candidates of all backgrounds are welcome to apply for open positions. The deadline to apply to audition is THIS MONDAY, December 30.

Auditions are held to elevate the artistic standards of the orchestra and increase the roster of permanent musicians. We strive for strong continuity and a cohesive ensemble, allowing Music Director Daniel Stewart to develop the unique sound of Santa Cruz Symphony.

We celebrate our musicians’ interpretive contributions, their technical skills and discipline, and their scholarship of styles and contexts. We are committed to achieving the highest artistic and professional standards in our art and operations. We seek to create a culture of inclusion and a work environment that values dedication, professionalism, and creativity, and we’re committed to diversity and equal opportunity in our recruitment and hiring.

Happy Holidays from Santa Cruz Symphony!

As we near the end of another year, we find ourselves in a time of reflection and anticipation. From groundbreaking musical collaborations to transformative educational experiences, this year was a defining time for Santa Cruz Symphony.

Our successes aren’t ours alone—they belong to every patron, donor, musician, and community member who believes in our mission to educate, engage, and inspire through artistic excellence. Your presence, feedback, and unwavering support have been the cornerstone of our endeavors. Thank you for an incredible year!

We will be taking a break and closing our office for the holidays, beginning December 23, 2024 and returning December 30, 2024. All year-end gifts received by December 31 will still be counted as 2024 donations.

May your holidays be full of celebration, love, and music!

Support Your Symphony with a year-end gift!

As 2024 draws to a close, I reflect with gratitude how strongly our Symphony family has committed to keeping classical music alive in our community! Here at Santa Cruz Symphony, we are grateful for our wonderful patrons, who are coming back to live performances in the aftermath of the pandemic. We’re grateful to our visionary Maestro and to our talented musicians who bring the joy of symphonic music to our lives. And we are deeply grateful to our generous donors and sponsors for their belief in the value of the Symphony. Your gifts make the music happen.

As we end the calendar year, we have many more events to look forward to in our season: three Musician Series recitals, two Classical Series concerts, a Family concert and a Spring Pops concert! Tickets to any of these events would make a wonderful gift for family and friends, especially if you’d rather give an “experience” rather than material gifts.

We are pleased to offer Gift Vouchers that you can wrap up in a bow and give to your family, friends, or co-workers. These Gift Vouchers can be exchanged for tickets to the events of their choosing. Giving the gift of music is a wonderfully meaningful way to support the Symphony. Call our office staff at 831-458-0553 X10 to order your Gift Vouchers.

We are also thrilled to offer a large selection of Symphony-branded merchandise that will make wonderful gifts while advertising your support of Santa Cruz Symphony. You can find the online store at santacruzsymphony.org/symphonystore check us out!

There’s yet another way to support the Symphony: if you believe in the Symphony’s mission to inspire, educate and engage our community, please consider a tax-deductible donation to our nonprofit organization. We are grateful for whatever donation you can make, and you’ll know that YOU are helping to keep the music alive in Santa Cruz County.

Wishing you all health, happiness and peace for 2025. We can’t wait to see you at our concerts! 

Deborah Bronstein

Board President