

The Gallo Center has adopted the use of digital programs meant to be viewed on cell phones or other computer devices. This change has important public health, environmental and economic benefits: reducing close contacts between patrons and ushers, cutting our use of paper, and eliminating substantial printing costs. View the program only before shows begin or during intermissions. Please be considerate of other patrons and artists on stage by not viewing it during performances. Patrons who do not observe this courtesy and create distractions may be asked to leave. Thank you!
The Gallo Center for the Arts is a non-profit performing arts center with a deep commitment to enriching the people and communities of California’s vast San Joaquin Valley. From the scintillating performances of its wonderful resident companies, to the great variety of world-class entertainment presented by the Center each season, to robust arts education programs for the region’s youth, this is where the magic happens.
From the beginning, the Center’s mission has been clearly defined: to provide an inspirational civic gathering place where regional, national, and international cultural activities illuminate, educate, and entertain. Since revenue from ticket sales and facility rentals only covers a portion of the costs associated with fulfilling this mission, the Center is dependent on the generous annual financial support from donors and program sponsors within our community.
LEARN MORE AT
In Person: 1000 I Street, downtown Modesto
Online: 24/7/365 at GalloArts.org
By Phone: (209) 338-2100
Monday – Friday: 10 am – 6 pm, Saturday: Noon – 6 pm Closed Sundays
Ticket Office opens two hours prior to all events
Sign up at GalloArts.org and receive e-news about events, added performances, and special offers!
The mission of the Gallo Center for the Arts is to enrich the quality of life in the San Joaquin Valley by providing an inspirational civic gathering place where regional, national and international cultural activities illuminate, educate and entertain. The Gallo Center for the Arts celebrates the diversity of the San Joaquin Valley by offering an array of affordable cultural opportunities designed to appeal, and be accessible, to all.
The Center opened in September, 2007 and consists of the 440-seat Foster Family Theater, the 1,248-seat Mary Stuart Rogers Theater, the Marie Damrell Gallo Grand Lobby and a plaza serving both theaters, and the Modesto Rotary Music Garden.
As a regional non-profit performing arts center, the Gallo Center for the Arts presents internationally recognized touring artists in all disciplines, and also is home to four resident companies: Central West Ballet, Modesto Performing Arts, Modesto Symphony Orchestra and Opera Modesto. The Gallo Center for the Arts is a unique public/private partnership. Construction was funded jointly by the County of Stanislaus, which owns the facility, and contributions from more than 4,000 individuals and businesses given to a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization which today operates the Center.
• Emergency exits are indicated by green exit signs located above each exit. For your safety, please check for the location of the exit nearest to your seat.
• The Gallo Center for the Arts is accessible to disabled patrons. Wheelchair seating is available in both theaters. Portable wireless listening devices are available at the Coat Check room at no charge. Please inform the Ticket Office of any special needs when ordering tickets.
• Food and beverages are not allowed in the theaters. (with the exception of bottled water and beverages served in theater cups.)
• Smoking is prohibited inside the building and within 20 feet of all entrances.
• Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of the Gallo Center for the Arts’ house managers.
• The use of recording equipment and the taking of photographs in Gallo Center for the Arts theaters is strictly forbidden. The Gallo Center for the Arts reserves the right to confiscate any such equipment and/or require offending customers to exit the premises.
• As a courtesy to artists and to your fellow patrons,
please turn off or silence any mobile device on your person. No texting, please!
• Restrooms are located on all three levels of the Center.
• Lost items will be held in the Coat Check room on the main level until the end of the performance. Thereafter, please contact Ticket Office at (209) 338-2100.
• All patrons MUST have a ticket to enter a performance regardless of age.
• Out of courtesy to other patrons, the Gallo Center for the Arts requests that no infants or toddlers attend any performance.
Groups qualify for discounts up to 15% on ticket prices to the many exciting performances offered by the Gallo Center for the Arts and its resident companies.
Secure your group reservation today for just 10% down of your total price!
EMPLOYEE PARTIES/REWARDS CHURCH OUTINGS
CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS
BUS TOURS
CORPORATE ENTERTAINMENT
SENIOR CENTER OUTINGS
HOLIDAY, ANNIVERSARY & BIRTHDAY PARTIES
…AND MORE!
ONE CALL DOES IT ALL!
Our group sales manager, Jesica Sanchez, is at your service. Call her at (209) 338-5064, or send an email to jsanchez@galloarts.org.
03, 2024
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In 1994, in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, Thomas Lauderdale was working in politics, thinking he would run for mayor one day. Like other eager politicians-intraining, he went to every political fundraiser under the sun… but was dismayed to find the music at these events underwhelming, lackluster, loud, and un-neighborly. Drawing inspiration from music from all over the world— crossing genres of classical, jazz and old-fashioned pop— and hoping to appeal to conservatives and liberals alike, he founded the “little orchestra” Pink Martini in 1994. His aim? To provide more beautiful and inclusive musical soundtracks for political fundraisers supporting causes such as civil rights, affordable housing, the environment, libraries, public broadcasting, education, and parks.
One year later, Lauderdale called China Forbes, a Harvard classmate living in New York City, and asked her to join Pink Martini. They began to write songs together. Their first, “Sympathique,” was an overnight sensation in France and nominated for Song of the Year at the Victoires de la Musique Awards. To this day, it remains a mantra for striking workers: “Je ne veux pas travailler (I don’t want to work)”.
Pink Martini has sold well over 3 million albums worldwide on their own independent label Heinz Records (named after Lauderdale’s dog). In 2016, Pink Martini released its ninth studio album, Je dis oui!, which features vocals from China Forbes, Storm Large, Ari Shapiro, fashion guru Ikram Goldman, civil rights activist Kathleen Saadat, and Rufus Wainwright. The album’s 15 tracks span eight languages (French, Farsi, Armenian, Portuguese, Arabic, Turkish, Xhosa and English), and affirm the band’s history of global inclusivity and collaborative spirit. In 2019, Pink Martini collaborated on a new release with the international singing sensation Meow Meow, entitled Hotel Amour, and also released two 5-song EPs, Besame Mucho, featuring regular guest singer Edna Vazquez, and Tomorrow, featuring regular guest singer Jimmie Herrod, a finalist on 2021’s season of NBC’s America’s Got Talent. During their pandemic hiatus, the band released two new digital singles written by Thomas Lauderdale, China Forbes, and producer Jim Bianco, “Let’s Be Friends,” and “The Lemonade Song,” which has over 10 million streams on Spotify alone.
Featuring more than a dozen musicians, Pink Martini performs its multilingual repertoire throughout the world. Says Lauderdale, “We’re very much an American band, but we spend a lot of time abroad and therefore have the
incredible diplomatic opportunity to represent a broader, more inclusive America… the America which remains the most heterogeneously populated country in the world… composed of people of every country, every language, every religion.”
The band made its European debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 and its orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony the following year. Since then, Pink Martini has played with more than 50 orchestras internationally, including Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Pops, National Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and the BBC Concert Orchestra at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Other appearances include a performance at the official post-Oscars celebration Governors Ball, four soldout concerts at Carnegie Hall, the opening party of the remodeled Museum of Modern Art in New York, multiple sellouts and a festival opening at Montreal Jazz Festival, and multiple appearances, including sellouts, at the Hollywood Ball and Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. In its 20th year, Pink Martini was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame and the Oregon Music Hall of Fame. In 2023, the band is celebrating its 29th year of performing.
China Forbes was born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts and graduated cum laude from Harvard, majoring in Visual Arts and English, with a minor in Theater. After graduation, and before being lured West to sing with Pink Martini by Harvard friend and classmate Thomas Lauderdale, China lived performed off Broadway, in New York regional theatre and as a singer/songwriter in NYC clubs. China because the lead singer for Pink Martini in 1995 and has co-written many of the bands most beloved songs with Lauderdale, starting with “Sympathique”, and continuing to the most recent singles “Lemonade Song” and “Let’s Be Friends”. Her original song “Northern Line” plays over the end credits of sister Maya Forbes’ directorial debut film Infinitely Polar Bear (Sony Pictures Classics). Last year Chin Forbes released her post-pandemic anthem “Full Circle” followed by her suicide song “Rise”, both singles for the forthcoming third solo album, slated for release in early 2024. She is the recipient of the 2022 Ella Fitzgerald Award at the Montreal International Jaz Festival; previous winners include Diana Ross, Etta James, and Liza Minelli.
Thomas M. Lauderdale
Raised on a plant nursery in rural Indiana, Pink Martini bandleader Thomas M. Lauderdale began piano lessons at age six with Patricia Garrison. When his family moved to Portland in 1982, he began studying with Sylvia Killman, who to this day continues to serve as his coach and mentor. He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras and ensembles, including the Oregon Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, Portland Youth Philharmonic, Chamber Music Northwest and several collaborations with Oregon Ballet Theatre. In 2008, he played Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F with the Oregon Symphony under the direction of Christoph Campestrini.
Active in Oregon politics since a student at U.S. Grant High School (where he was student body president), Thomas served under Portland Mayor Bud Clark and Oregon governor Neil Goldschmidt. In 1991, he worked under Portland City Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury on the drafting and passage of the city’s civil rights ordinance. He graduated with honors from Harvard with a degree in History and Literature in 1992. He spent most of his collegiate years, however, in cocktail dresses, taking on the role of “cruise director” … throwing waltzes with live orchestras and ice sculptures, disco masquerades with gigantic pineapples on wheels, midnight swimming parties, and operating a Tuesday night coffeehouse called Café Mardi.
Instead of running for political office, Lauderdale founded Pink Martini in 1994 to play political fundraisers for progressive causes such as civil rights, the environment, affordable housing and public broadcasting. In addition to his work with Pink Martini, Lauderdale has most recently completed two long awaited collaborations with dear friends. In 2018 he completed Love for Sale, an album of jazz standards with singer/civil rights leader Kathleen Saadat, that began as a gift to a few friends and ended up being a Billboard Jazz charts-ranking album the month it was released.
In 2019, Thomas Lauderdale and members of Pink Martini collaborated on a new release with the international singing sensation Meow Meow. The album Hotel Amour - the culmination of almost a decade of work- features guest appearances by Rufus Wainwright, The von Trapps, Barry Humphries (of
Dame Edna fame), and the inimitable late French pianist and composer, Michel Legrand. Currently, Thomas is collaborating with the iconic Iranian singer Googoosh, on her forthcoming album. Spring of 2023 sees the long awaited release of Thomas Lauderdale Meets The Pilgrims, hi scollaboration with Portland’s own surf-rock indie icons, Satan’s Pilgrims.
Lauderdale currently serves on the boards of the Oregon Symphony, Pioneer Courthouse Square, the Oregon Historical Society, and the Confluence Project with Maya Lin. He lives in Portland with his partner Hunter Noack.
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CENTER CIRCLES
As
As of November 15,
The
Katy & Ken Menges
Yogurt Mill
Downtown Modesto Partnership
CORPORATE PATRONS
As of November 15, 2024
The Mayol Family & Team PSC
Daniel Del Real – Del Real Group
The Graspointner Family
The Pirrone Family
Stanislaus Food Products Gianelli | Friedman | Jeffries
Sodhi Law Group
Winton-Ireland, Strom & Green Insurance Agency
Wille Electric Supply Company, Inc.
Mistlin Honda
Arts Education
As of November 15, 2024
$25,000+ Alfred Matthews
California Arts Council
Education Foundation of Stanislaus County
U.S. Bank
$10,000+ Make Dreams Real Foundation
Modesto Subaru
Porges Family Foundation Fund
Silva Injury Law, Inc.
$5,000+
Kaiser Permanente
Ella Webb & Shelley Dameron
$2,500+
Beard Land & Investment Co.
Enterprise Mobility Foundation
Jeff Gaudio & Karen Freeborn
Jason, Beki, & Stephen Rush
$1,000+
Carl A and Margaret A Johnson
Family Foundation
Modesto Rotary Club Foundation
Modesto Sunrise Rotary
The Save Mart Companies CARES Foundation
$500+
USS Balthasar
Cortney Hurst
Anonymous (1)
$150+
Debra Brady & Stephen Veglia
Grace Lutheran Church
Jerry & Diane Hougland
Alice Renfroe
John & Mary Ann Sanders
FOUNDATION GIVING
Bob and Marie Gallo Foundation
California Arts Council
Costa Family Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
Stanislaus Community Foundation
The Ernest Gallo Foundation
The Julio R. Gallo Foundation
Porges Family Foundation Fund
Raymus Foundation
U.S. Bank Foundation
Creative West
PERPETUAL MEMORIAL GIFTS HAVE BEEN MADE FOR Thomas K. Beard
Randall Stanley Behr
Carl Boyett
Robert J. Cardoza
Gallo Center for the a r t s
Christina Gomez, ChairoftheBoard
Marie D. Gallo, PresidentEmerita† June Rogers, Director Emerita
Alex Mari, M.D., ImmediatePastChair
Ginger Johnson, ChairElect
Mel Bradley Fallon Ferris
Sarah Grover
Chad Hilligus
Michael Krausnick
Jay Krishnaswamy
Michelle Lewis
Katy Menges
Todd Aaronson
Angelica Anguiano
Victor Barraza
John C. Bellizzi
Jennifer Coehlo
Kathryn Davis
Daniel Del Real
Paul Michael Eger
Robert Fantazia
Stacey Filippi
Robert Fores Julian Gallo
Irene Angelo†
Lilly Banisadre
Carl Boyett†
Joan Cardoza
Sheila Carroll
Suzanne Casazza
Paul Draper
Ron Emerzian
Ann Endsley
Kenni Friedman
Juan Sánchez Muñoz, Ph.D.
Duncan Reno
Tina Rocha
Michael Joe Silva
Stephanie Gallo Tyler
Ann M. Veneman
Geoff Wong
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Ryan Roth Gallo
Virginia Madueno
Roberto Martinez
Ivey Mayol
Yolanda Meraz
Sharilyn Nelson
Linda Hischier Ronald Hoffmann
Jose Ibarra
Jaime Jimenez
Brian Kline
Kevin Luttenegger
Ogle, Ph.D.
Johann Ramirez
Rose Marie Reavill Jeffrey Reed
FOUNDING TRUSTEES
Louis Friedman
Dianne Gagos
Barry Highiet† Randy Jalli
Roy Levin, M.D.
Alexandra Loew
Bill Mattos
Tony Mistlin† Kate Nyegaard Ruthann Olsen
Jeanne Perry
John C. Pfeffer, M.D.
Norm Porges
Chris Reed James Reed
Ellen Ritchey Delsie Schrimp
Catherine Rhee
Christine Roberts
Rosalee Rush
John Schneider
Kate Trompetter
Philip Trompetter, Ph.D.
Aaron Valencia
Colleen F. Van Egmond
Doug Vilas
Sue Zwahlen
Fred A. Silva
Ray Simon
Delmar R. Tonge, M.D.†
Tom Van Groningen, Ph.D.
Carol Whiteside†
Jeremiah Williams
Alice Yip
†In Memoriam