Dance Dance Evolution Program Book

Mitchell Sardou Klein Music Director & Conductor

Sunday, April 12, 2026 at 3PM Aragon High School Theater Featuring 2026 Marilyn Mindell Piano Competition Winner Special recitals by the winners of the Marilyn Mindell Piano Competition Junior Division 2026 at 2:15PM - Sponsored by a Friend of PSO -

Mitchell Sardou Klein

Music Director & Conductor

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Sunday, April 12, 2026 at 3PM Aragon High School Theater Samantha Burgess, guest conductor Meining Wu, piano

2026 Marilyn Mindell Piano Competition Senior Division winner

Alex Burgess, dancer and vocalist Daniel Le and Jazlyn Quezada, dancers, courtesy of New Ballet George Gershwin, I Got Rhythm from Girl Crazy Sergei Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 2, Mvt 3 Cole Porter and George Gershwin, Anything Goes from Anything Goes Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Waltz of the Flowers from Nutcracker Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Pas de deux from Nutcracker Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Minuet k. 409 Arturo Márquez, Danzon no. 2 Johannes Brahms, Hungarian Dance no. 5

SPECIAL RECITALS AT 2:15PM 2026 Marilyn Mindell Piano Competition Junior Division winners Hiroshi Corro Jiayin Liang Paxton Radityo

Since moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2022, Samantha Burgess has quickly become an in-demand conductor. In the 2024 – 25 season she began her tenure as Music Director of the Community Women’s Orchestra, and she joins the Peninsula Symphony as their Assistant Conductor in the 2025 – 26 season. Also in the 2025 – 26 season, Samantha will be the first Music Director of Symphony Tierra, a semiprofessional orchestra formed as the ensemble in residence at Napa Valley College. Samantha continues to work with the Berkeley Symphony as their regular Assistant Conductor, and will be Assistant Conductor for Dima Slobodeniouk at the San Francisco Symphony in May 2026. Read more about Samantha here: peninsulasymphony.org/assistant-conductor

Meining Wu is a junior and Conservatory Honors Fellow at Valley Christian High School, studying piano with Hans Boepple. A two-time U.S. Chopin Foundation Young Pianists Scholarship recipient, she was inducted into the 2026 MTAC Young Artist Guild. She debuted with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra at 13 and has since performed with multiple orchestras. Meining has earned top prizes at major international competitions and was selected for the live rounds of the 2026 Gina Bachauer International Young Artists Piano Competition. She has attended elite festivals such as Aspen and Tanglewood and studied with renowned pianists. She is also an award-winning visual artist and founder of Equal Keys for All. Find Meining on YouTube: @MeiningWu and website at www.equalkeys.org

Alex Burgess is a Manhattan based actor, singer, and dancer who has a passion for performance and storytelling through art. She received her BFA in Musical Theatre from Montclair State University in 2023 and has studied with many acclaimed theatre professionals including Peter Flynn, Stefanie Pope Lofgren, and Ashley Rodbro. Alex is so excited to make her orchestral debut with the Peninsula Symphony!

MAY 16,17

Pearl de la Motte

ballet NEW

Giselle May 16 & 17

Including My Very First Ballet: A special shortened performance for our youngest audiences

newballet.com/spring