Santa Rosa Symphony presents SRS @ Home with Beethoven’s First Symphony

Santa Rosa Symphony presents the first virtual concert in its new and dynamic SRS @ Home series on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2020 at 3 PM. At a time when many California regional orchestras are going dark, the Santa Rosa Symphony presents a virtual series, featuring the largest number of musicians on stage for an orchestral concert in the state, with up to 32 socially- distanced musicians for some of the works.

Music Director Francesco Lecce- Chong conducts unique configurations of the orchestra, recorded live on the Weill Hall stage. This free, virt ua l event, feat u r in g Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1, will stream on the Symphony’s YouTube channel. This historic concert will be preceded by a live preconcert talk at 2 p.m. and immediately followed by a live post- concert Q& A session with Lecce- Chong—all on YouTube. All three elements of this event will be free, though donations to support the ongoing music and outreach programs of the Symphony will be gratefully received, during the event.

“I am thrilled and grateful for the opportunity to be back on stage with my colleagues,” added LecceChong. “Being able to share the hope, joy, and comfort of music is vital in times like this and these free virtual events will reach more people in our community than ever before.”

T he prog ram opens with Lyric for Strings by George Walker (1922-2018), a highly successful pianist, composer and teacher with a dizzying list of “firsts.”

The brass section will then will have their due as they perform two canzoni by 16th century Venitian composer Giovanni Gabrieli, arranged by the Santa Rosa Symphony’s principal trombone, Bruce Chrisp. The program continues with Escaramuza for percussion, harp, piano, and strings by Gabriela Lena Frank, which draws on Peruvian influences for a lively tribute to the kachampa dance of the Incan warrior.

The program concludes w ith Beethoven’s First Symphony, written when he was 29.