A rare concert bringing together orchestra, ballet and children's voices under a guest conductor with deep ties to California symphonic music.
(CLAIR | Simi Valley, CA) — New West Symphony will combine three performing arts companies on one stage this October when guest conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong leads a program pairing Beethoven and Copland with live dance and choral performance.
"A Dream Come True" is set for October 3 at the Bank of America Performing Arts Center in Thousand Oaks and October 4 at the Rancho Campana Performing Arts Center in Camarillo. The Saturday performance begins at 7 p.m. and the Sunday show at 3 p.m.
Lecce-Chong, who serves as music director of the Santa Rosa Symphony, said the collaboration reflects what he values most in his work. "One of my favorite things as a conductor is the idea of collaborating and bringing together so many people working in different areas in the arts," he said in a video posted on the symphony's social media. "To have a program that involves both a children's chorus and a ballet company is sort of a dream come true for me."
The concert opens with Beethoven's Symphony No. 1, a piece that rarely appears in orchestral programming because of the composer's eight later symphonies. Lecce-Chong said the work captures Beethoven stepping into public view for the first time, with the drama and personality that would define his later output already present in different form.
Next, the Los Robles Children's Choir will perform Copland's Old American Songs. Lecce-Chong has conducted the collection many times with a solo singer but never with a full children's chorus. He said the format may be closer to how Copland intended the music, capturing both the humor and the emotional weight of the American songbook.
The program closes with Copland's Appalachian Spring, danced by the Pacific Festival Ballet with new choreography created for the company. Lecce-Chong said pairing the score with movement restores the piece to how it was meant to be experienced, giving audiences the visual drama that goes with the music.
Ticket holders can attend "Hear & Now Live" with David Ravetch, a 30-minute pre-concert talk included with admission that begins an hour before each performance.
The concert is part of the New West Symphony's America 250 programming. Founded in 1995, the orchestra draws its musicians from the Los Angeles professional talent pool and is led by music director Michael Christie, a GRAMMY winner appointed to the post in December 2018. The symphony is the resident company of the Bank of America Performing Arts Center and also performs at the Rancho Campana Performing Arts Center, presenting six Masterpiece Series concerts each season alongside youth and community education programs including its Symphonic Adventures series, traveling Music Van and the Laby Harmony Project.
The season continues in November and December with two more Masterpiece Series concerts. "Symphony Goes to Cirque" brings Troupe Vertigo to the stage on November 7 in Thousand Oaks and November 8 in Camarillo for a mix of orchestral music and circus performance. In December, "Too Hot to Handel: The Gospel Messiah" reworks Handel's classic with gospel, jazz and R&B, with performances December 5 in Thousand Oaks and December 6 in Camarillo.
For those who have not tried it, a night of live symphonic music offers an easy entry point into a new genre. Classical music has been shown to lower stress, improve focus and engage the brain through its complex acoustic structures, according to the Pacific Symphony.
Tickets for "A Dream Come True" are available at newwestsymphony.org.
