Hundreds of musicians in six Bay Area youth orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, come together on one stage to perform a benefit for homeless children Sunday, January 16 at 3 p.m. The Bay Area Youth Orchestra Festival at Davies Symphony Hall benefits six organizations, one within each orchestra’s local community, that provide help and resources to underserved and homeless youth.
In addition to the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, the young musicians’ orchestras are the California Youth Symphony, based in Palo Alto; Oakland Youth Orchestra; Peninsula Youth Orchestra, based in San Mateo County; Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra; and Young People’s Symphony Orchestra, in Berkeley.
Proceeds from the concert will benefit Bay Area homeless youth organizations including Covenant House of Oakland; DrawBridge, in seven Bay Area counties; Students Rising Above in San Francisco; Sunday Friends in San Jose; Valley of the Moon Children’s Foundation in Sonoma County; and YEAH! in Berkeley. Longtime former KPIX-TV/CBS 5 anchor Wendy Tokuda will act as Master of Ceremonies.
Each of the orchestras will perform one work, and then members of each of the six orchestras will perform together in selections from Respighi’s Pines of Rome, conducted by David Ramadanoff, the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra music director and conductor.
The works to be performed are the final movement of Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1, by the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra; Richard Strauss’ Dance of the Seven Veils from Salome, by the California Youth Symphony; the first movement of Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8, by the Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra; Arturo Márquez’ Danzon No. 2, by the Oakland Youth Orchestra; Ginastera’s Estancia Suite by the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra; and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sadko, Opus 5 by Peninsula Youth Orchestra.
BAY AREA YOUTH ORCHESTRA FESTIVAL
PROGRAM:
Dvořák/ Symphony No. 8, Opus 88, Allegro con brio
Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Orchestra
Richard Loheyde, conductor
Rimsky-Korsakov / Sadko, Opus 5
Peninsula Youth Orchestra
Mitchell Sardou Klein, music director and conductor
Arturo Márquez / Danzon No. 2
Oakland Youth Orchestra
Michael Morgan, artistic director; Bryan Nies, principal conductor
Ginastera / Estancia Suite
San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra
Donato Cabrera, music director and conductor
Sibelius / Symphony No. 1, Opus 39, Finale (4th movement)
Young People’s Symphony Orchestra
David Ramadanoff, music director and conductor
R. Strauss / Dance of the Seven Veils from Salome
California Youth Symphony
Leo Eylar, music director
Respighi / selections from Pines of Rome
Festival Orchestra (members from all six orchestras)
David Ramadanoff, conductorWHEN: Sunday, January 16 at 3:00 p.m.
WHERE: Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco
TICKETS: $30-$60. Half price for youth ages 18 and under and those 65 and older.
Tickets are available at www, by phone at 415-864-6000, and at the Davies Symphony Hall Box Office on Grove Street between Van Ness Avenue and Franklin Street in San Francisco.