California Symphony

The California Symphony is a professional orchestra based in Walnut Creek, California, in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The orchestra, which "may be the most forward looking music organization around",

Executive Director Stacey Street was hired in 2001, replacing Millie Mitchell. According to Jekowsky, "She will bring such a breath of fresh air to what we’re doing, and I think that we’ll do the same for her." At the end of 2009, Executive Director Stacey Street left the California Symphony. In October 2010, after 24 years with the California Symphony, Jekowsky left the orchestra and the search for a new music director began.

Asher Raboy was the first guest conductor to lead the orchestra. In particular, the guest conductors "garnered the symphony some of the best reviews and most enthusiastic audiences of its quarter century history." After the success of the 2011–2012 season, the symphony added 3 concerts to the next year's program to bring the grand total to 7. Over the course of the 2012–2013 season, the California Symphony auditioned 7 conductors for the position of music director, each conductor leading the ensemble in one of the season's concerts.

After multiple appearances as a guest conductor for the California Symphony and succeeding in the audition process, Donato Cabrera was appointed the position of Music Director in 2013. When Donato Cabrera was chosen to become the next music director, member Chuck Scanlan said about the conductor, "He had ideas, plans, programs, [and] he was the most focused on the future." The orchestra, which had been contemplating closure before Bergauer came aboard, has experienced a remarkable turn of fortunes during her five year tenure. She, along with partners Music Director Donato Cabrera and Symphony Board President Bill Armstrong, has been credited with "saving the orchestra" from near imminent financial collapse in 2014. Bergauer restructured the California Symphony's marketing and development campaigns as well as revolutionizing the concert setting. In addition, she focused on engaging younger and more diverse audiences using data driven research gained from the "Orchestra X" project. By 2019, the California Symphony had doubled their audience, increased the number of donor households by 180%, more than doubled the number of performances offered per year, increased budget by 50%, and secured the largest endowment gift in the orchestra's history, at $1 million.

The current concertmaster Jennifer Cho, was appointed in August 2017. Also in 2017, the California Symphony released a public statement of its commitment to diversity. The orchestra achieved greater than 20% programming by women and people of color in 2019. Symphony Board President Bill Armstrong stated, "We are grateful for the extraordinary growth we’ve experienced under her leadership."

California Symphony's Young American Composer in Residence program has been called "a model for residency programs across the country." The program began in 1991 and each composer is with the Symphony for three years. The first composer to participate in the Young American Composer in Residence program was Kamran Ince. "The idea for the program came out of [Barry] Jekowsky's long standing advocacy of both young musicians and American composers." The program allows young American composers, selected through an application process, to workshop their music with the full orchestra. The ensemble then performs the world premiere of the new pieces composed, and on occasion the symphony has commissioned works from previous participants after their terms have ended. The first woman composer in the program's history, Katherine Balch, was selected for the 2017–2020 term. She commented that "smaller organizations like the California Symphony often lead the way."

The "Orchestra X" project drew attention in the arts administration and non profit business fields. The call for participants went out in August 2016, asking for volunteers to attend two California Symphony concerts and then attend a discussion about the experience in October, over pizza and beers. Executive Director Aubrey Bergauer detailed the process and the findings on her blog. Results were posted in November 2016, including main takeaways and what California Symphony staff have done to address the concerns that were brought to light. Some of the main findings of the project included the fact that "the music is not the problem." Instead, items listed as specifically needing help were the organization's website, the seat selection process, and questions such as "What do I wear?" and "When do I clap?"

"Inspired by the El Sistema program of Venezuela, California Symphony began Sound Minds as a pilot program at Downer Elementary in San Pablo in 2012. Now serving all second through sixth grade students at Downer Elementary who wish to participate, the program remains completely free of charge to students and families." Sound Minds provides music instruction to elementary school pupils in addition to other academic work, three days a week. Downer Elementary is in a low income neighborhood. NPR states that "the school serves mainly struggling Latino families, many of them immigrants from Mexico. More than 95 percent of its students receive free and reduced price lunch." Downer's previous principal, Marco Gonzales, is especially encouraging of the program. He states that it "gives kids a place to belong" and is "one of the most exciting things I've ever done in a school setting." The symphony tracks Sound Minds students throughout their experience in the program. Even just one year in the program shows increase in a student's academic scores.

In 2018 and 2019, the Symphony ran a summer adult education program called Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed. The program ran for four weeks and was led by instructor Scott Foglesong. The slides from the 2018 program may be found here.