Campus Stories - Stanford Symphony Orchestra

Campus Stories

Stanford students play leading role in first U.S. performances of Elfman’s “Concerto for Violin and Orchestra”

“Great concentration, great job and great work,” composer Danny Elfman said, complimenting Stanford student musicians after a run-through of his Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: Eleven Eleven. Caption: Members of the Stanford Symphony Orchestra were the first musicians in the United States to play Elfman’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. In anticipation of Stanford Symphony Orchestra’s March…

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Leadership

New conductor appointed for Stanford Symphony Orchestra and Stanford Philharmonia

Paul Phillips has been named the new director of orchestral studies at Stanford and will take over the baton as music director and conductor of the Stanford Symphony Orchestra and Stanford Philharmonia. Phillips is currently director of orchestras and chamber music and distinguished senior lecturer in music at Brown University. “We’re absolutely thrilled to welcome…

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Campus Stories

Stanford Symphony Orchestra tours Catalina Island

In an annual tradition, 18 members of the Stanford Symphony Orchestra traveled down the California coast and then 26 miles across the sea to arrive at Catalina Island last month. This is the fourth year that the ensemble has made the trip to perform at the Catalina Island Museum’s Annual Holiday Symphony Concert at the…

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Campus Stories

Stanford Symphony Orchestra’s crowning jewel concerts

May 21 and 22, the Stanford Symphony Orchestra presents a program of late romantic music by two Jewish composers: Gustav Mahler and Ernest Bloch. While both wrote music for spectacular orchestral forces with complex colors and textures, Mahler and Bloch chose divergent paths to express Jewish identity in art and life. Mahler, an assimilated artist…

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Actor, author and former Stanford faculty member Anna Deavere Smith introduces the St. Lawrence String Quartet on Friday.
Campus Stories

Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall opens to rave reviews

Early reviews of Bing Concert Hall from the press, performers and patrons are in, and they are glowing. The best of the bon mots include: “The sound popped like champagne,” “The hall exudes a serenely majestic air,”  “The acoustics in the room and the intimacy of the space made performing an incredibly personal musical experience,”…

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Mark & Tracy Photography
Campus Stories

Students from across campus bring Beethoven to Bing

Alessandra Aquilanti is a fourth year PhD student in Italian whose thesis explores the humorist authors and magazines of fascist Italy. This is her fourth year as principal of the viola section of the Stanford Symphony Orchestra and she also plays in the Stanford Philharmonia Orchestra.  Student musicians representing nearly every academic major will perform…

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