“Just a few years ago the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra was fighting for its life,” writes Paul Conley on Thursday (5/26) at Capital Public Radio (Sacramento, CA). “When the re-named Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera re-emerged last year, it wasn’t just alive, it was thriving. Attendance started at about 1,600 [per event] in the fall, increased with each concert and finished with two consecutive sold-out (2,300+) concerts this spring…. At Stockton Symphony concerts during the 2015-16 season it wasn’t just the audiences that were becoming more diverse. The stage looked a little different too. At least on March 12 it did when huge stacks of amplified speakers flanked electric violinist Tracy Silverman as he performed the California premiere of Nico Muhly’s ‘Seeing is Believing.’ Stockton Symphony executive director Don Nelson cites that as one of many highlights from the just-concluded season…. There was similar positive news in Modesto. ‘This was a good year,’ reports Caroline Nickel, president and CEO of the Modesto Symphony Orchestra [which] was forced to cut back in the wake of the Great Recession. But Nickel says her organization is on solid fiscal ground with a balanced budget and has seen positive results in recent years, including this one.”
Posted May 31, 2016
Pictured: Andrew Grams leads the Sacramento Philharmonic in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (“Resurrection”), June 2015.
