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)

Spotlight on Education: Musicians in Schools

What are musician school visits?

They're an annual Symphony tradition — and a fun, engaging way to connect young people with the orchestra! During the past few weeks, Santa Cruz Symphony musicians have been making special trips to local elementary schools participating in our Link Up program. These professional musicians visit classrooms to demonstrate their instruments, talk about their careers in the world of music, and preview samples of the music students will hear at the Youth Concerts next week. Students have the chance to ask questions and even try out the instrument. The kids enjoy it, and so do our musicians!

What do students learn?

There's nothing quite like seeing a real, live musician in their classroom to inspire students to think about music in a whole new way. Many of these kids are at a pivotal age when they are choosing their preferred instrument to study. Interacting with a professional orchestra member helps them discover the magic of playing music, often encouraging them to become musicians themselves. The hands-on demonstration of basic music principles also enhances their understanding of the material they've been learning through the Link Up program, preparing them to fully appreciate musical performances for years to come.

How does our community benefit?

Evidence shows that music adds vibrancy to communities by creating meaningful interactions, engaging our brains, and strengthening our sense of belonging and connection with one another. By sparking curiosity in our youngest community members and fostering an early appreciation of music and the people who play it, these musician school visits help build a strong foundation for future adventures and collaborations in the arts — adding richness to the fabric of community life for all of us.

And as arts education funding becomes increasingly limited, being able to offer schools high-quality, no-cost opportunities to teach students about music is more important than ever!

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

Family Concert: Peter and the Wolf

Sunday, March 2 at 2 PM

Civic Auditorium in Santa Cruz

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

Santa Cruz Symphony and Santa Cruz Shakespeare...a match made in heaven!

Like Romeo and Juliet, they were destined to be together. Get your tickets now and save the date for March 29/30, when Santa Cruz Symphony will join with Santa Cruz Shakespeare for an artistic collaboration that will have you applauding for more. This will be a program of orchestral compositions combined with Shakespeare readings. It's a brilliant pairing!

We'll hear the Symphony perform Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet Overture-Fantasy, Mendelssohn's Overture for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Anna Clyne's Sound and Fury (based on Macbeth), 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!

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