“Symphony Silicon Valley—which is changing its name to Symphony San José, to honor the city where it actually performs—began its 2021–2022 season on Saturday, Oct. 2, with a full blast of charging ahead,” writes David Bratman in last Monday’s (10/4) San Francisco Classical Voice. “President Andrew Bales explained from the stage of the California Theatre before the concert that management wants a local orchestra for a local audience, and declared that it was time to resume that live relationship. Accordingly, vaccinations were required and … everyone … wore masks…. This was a full two-hour concert with intermission…. Audience seating was not spaced out but packed as usual…. The one other change was the installation of video screens by the side of the stage…. The concert’s centerpiece was the world premiere of a flute concerto by the noted Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz,” featuring Los Angeles Philharmonic Principal Flute Denis Bouriakov. “Guest conductor JoAnn Falletta surrounded this premiere with some of the best-known music from the 19th-century repertory: Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture and Scherzo, and Dvořák’s Symphony ‘From the New World.’ … The orchestra’s skill is worthy of any name that management wants to give it.”
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