Peninsula Symphony: Jon Nakamatsu March 2025 Program Book
MARCH 22 & 23
SAT / San Mateo Performing Arts Center
SUN / Heritage Theatre, Campbell
Mitchell Sardou Klein Music Director & Conductor
RISING
ADOPT-A-MUSICIAN
SUPPORTERS BOARD,
JANUARY2026
Welcome from PSO Board of Directors
Dear Friends and Supporters of the Peninsula Symphony,
We are excited to welcome you to our upcoming March concerts, where we will present a program brimming with powerful and expressive music, featuring works by Rachmaninoff, Sibelius, and Carlos Simon. These performances promise to be an extraordinary experience, blending the emotional depth of classical music with the vibrant voices of contemporary composers.
A special privilege for us and for the orchestra is the opportunity to collaborate once again with the renowned pianist, San Jose native, and Van Cliburn Competition winner, Jon Nakamatsu. We are delighted that he will join us as the soloist for Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, one of the most beloved and celebrated works in the piano concerto repertoire. With his remarkable artistry, Jon Nakamatsu will bring a unique interpretation to this masterpiece, and we cannot wait to share this experience with you.
Alongside the Rachmaninoff, we will perform Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2, a majestic and sweeping work that has captured the imagination of audiences for over a century. The symphony’s soaring melodies and bold, dramatic moments make it a cornerstone of the orchestral repertoire. Completing our program will be Amen! by Carlos Simon, whose contemporary work has been celebrated for its rich textures and profound storytelling imbued with themes of social justice.
We are grateful for your continued support, which enables us to bring these exceptional pieces to life. Your presence at our concerts means the world to us, and we look forward to sharing the magic of these works with you.
Thank you for being such an integral part of the Peninsula Symphony community. We hope to see you at the concert and share this incredible music together!
Warmest regards,
Ben Hollin, Co-Chair
Jeff Wachtel, Co-Chair Peninsula Symphony
Ben Hollin, Co-Chair
Jeff Wachtel, Co-Chair
Mitchell Sardou Klein, Music Director & Conductor
JON NAKAMATSU PLAYS RACHMANINOFF
MARCH 22, 2025 at 7:30pm / San Mateo Performing Arts Center
MARCH 23, 2025 at 2:30pm / Heritage Theatre, Campbell
Mitchell Sardou Klein, Music Director & Conductor
Nathaniel Berman, Resident Conductor
Carlos Simon, Amen!
Nathaniel Berman, conducting
Jean Sibelius, Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43
I. Allegretto
II. Tempo andante, ma rubato
III. Vivacissimo
IV. Finale: Allegro moderato
- Intermission -
Sergei Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18
I. Moderato
II. Adagio sostenuto
III. Allegro scherzando
Jon Nakamatsu, piano
* THESE CONCERTS ARE GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY *
Diana Lloyd & a Friend of Peninsula Symphony
PROGRAM NOTES
PROGRAM NOTES BY MITCHELL SARDOU KLEIN
CARLOS SIMON, AMEN!
Carlos Simon’s (1986- ) career has grown remarkably since we first worked with him almost a decade ago as the composer for the commissioned works for the Irving M. Klein International String Competition at the San Francisco Conservatory. His music is wonderfully varied, intelligent, compelling, and beautiful. He recently renewed his engagement as composer in residence at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and he serves as the inaugural Composer Chair for the Boston Symphony, as well as Associate Professor at Georgetown University. Here is his program note for his buoyant and brilliant 2017 work, Amen!:
AMEN! (2017) was commissioned by the University of Michigan Symphony Band and is an homage to my family’s four generational affiliation with the Pentecostal church. My intent is to re-create the musical experience of an African American Pentecostal church service that I enjoyed being a part of while growing up in this denomination. Pentecostal denominations, such as: Church of God in Christ (C.O.G.IC.), Pentecostal Assemblies of God, Apostolic, Holiness Church, among many others, are known for their exuberant outward expressions of worship. The worship services in these churches will often have joyous dancing, spontaneous shouting, and soulful singing. The music in these worship services is a vital vehicle in fostering a genuine spiritual experience for the congregation.
The three movements in AMEN! are performed without break to depict how the different parts of a worship service flows into the next. In the first movement, I’ve imagined the sound of an exuberant choir and congregation singing harmoniously together in a call and response fashion. The soulful second movement quotes a gospel song, “I’ll Take Jesus For Mine” that I frequently heard in many services. The title, AMEN!, refers to the plagal cadence or “Amen” cadence (IV-I), which is the focal point of the climax in the final movement. Along with heavily syncopated rhythms and interjecting contrapuntal lines, this cadence modulates up by half step until we reach a frenzied state, emulating a spiritually heightened state of worship.
~Carlos Oliver Simon, Jr. (2017)
PROGRAM NOTES
JEAN SIBELIUS, SYMPHONY NO. 2 IN D MAJOR, OP. 43
Several of Jean Sibelius’ (1885-1957) most beloved orchestral works were written during the time when his native Finland was struggling for independence from Russia. Finlandia and the Second Symphony are the most prominent of these freedom-seeking powerhouse masterworks, which contributed to a blossoming of Finnish national identity at the end of the 19th Century. But Sibelius began composing the Second Symphony in 1901 away from home during a stay in Italy, where Tchaikovsky and Richard Strauss had both previously found inspiration. It was premiered by the Helsinki Orchestral Society a year later, with Sibelius conducting, and was popularly dubbed the “Symphony of Independence” by the concert-going public. The composer never explicitly stated this intention, though the thread of music has a distinct nationalistic flavor, culminating in a heroic march of triumph. Sibelius merely said: “The Second Symphony is a confession of the soul.”
The four movements of Symphony No. 2 combine an organic feeling for Finnish folk song, majestic tone-painting of the vast northern wilderness, and a powerful mastery of orchestral forces. The first movement is tightly constructed around a rising three-note theme, which morphs into a light-hearted composed “folk song.” These building blocks develop extensively and ultimately blossom into a heart-felt full melodic outburst near the end of the movement, before ending in a fading whisper.
The second movement opens with the basses and cellos playing a rhapsodic pizzicato “walking bass,” on top of which the bassoons introduce a sweeping vision of vastness and pathos. Sibelius connected this melody to reflections on death, and the themes which follow later seem to embody rebirth and renewal. In any case, the immensely dramatic episodes of this titanic movement take us to a place of deep reflection and emotion.
The third movement breaks that mood as it explodes in a restless, blistering outburst of propulsive string rhythmic figures. A languorous, gorgeous trio section interrupts, featuring oboe and other woodwind strains, before the brass section shocks us back to the angry mood of the beginning of the movement.
Segueing directly from a second statement of the tender trio melody, Sibelius masterfully threads the essences of these first three movements into a majestic and triumphal culmination in the final movement. Beginning with an urgent reworking of the first three-note motive from the first movement, he builds a series of dramatic melodies and fanfares that embody the passions and ideals of the Finnish spirit. Later sections feature sweeping lyrical themes, alternating with returns of the opening heroic music. Finally, this all comes together in an epic and regal hymn of freedom.
PROGRAM NOTES
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF, PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2 IN C MINOR, OP. 18
At virtually the same time as Sibelius’ ground-breaking work on his Second Symphony, Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was at an even more critical moment in his compositional and personal life. The disastrous failure of his First Symphony in 1897 had left him adrift with a nervous breakdown that derailed his composing for three years. He consulted unsuccessfully with Leo Tolstoy about addressing writer’s block, but eventually found relief with three months of daily visits with neurologist Nicolai Dahl in early 1900.
The Second Piano Concerto was the project that returned him to productive compositional vitality, and he dedicated the piece to Dahl. A brief stay in Italy was also restorative in this period (like Sibelius’). Rachmaninoff performed the final version in October 1901 in one of the most stunningly triumphant premieres in musical history, a musical vindication and psychological renewal that restored his fragile sense of well-being. It brought him instant acclaim that catapulted him into the front ranks of turn-of-the-century musical artists, both as pianist and composer. And this iconic masterwork has reigned as one of the most loved musical favorites worldwide ever since.
The bell-tone tollings of the opening piano chords build irresistibly into the first of many unforgettable melodies, bursting forth urgently in the orchestra, with piano accompaniment. The piano takes the lead in the heartfelt second theme, which leads into a complex development section, using both themes, with many shifts of mood and tonality. This grows irresistibly into a return of the first theme, even bigger and more pulsating than before. The lovely second theme returns in the piano, and then in a dream-like horn solo. The coda begins with light rhythmic grit, intensifying rapidly into a resounding bravura final piano flourish.
In a meditative mood, the second movement is a touching conversation between piano and orchestra. A middle section delves into more passionate moods, with the piano indulging in a brief cadenza, at first flashy, but then calming and tranquil enough to bring us back to the opening dialogue, this time between piano and first violins.
The third movement opens with a brilliant splash of orchestral color, introducing a brief piano cadenza that takes us to an agitated first theme with a powerful ending cadence. The solo piano then transports us to the ravishing second theme, played at first by the violas and oboe, a melody that has come to loom large in popular music and film. The development section focuses primarily on the first theme, with a spiky fugue and increasing intensity, with only a brief return of the first theme in the recapitulation. Now the rhapsodic second theme returns in its most dramatic and fervent form, before yielding to the brilliant virtuoso piano passage that brings the coda to a thrilling conclusion.
It’s a measure of the universality of Rachmaninoff’s melodic gift that each movement of this concerto has inspired hit popular songs: “I Think of You” (Sinatra); “Full Moon and Empty Arms” (also Sinatra), and “All by Myself” (Eric Carmen). Rachmaninoff’s magical mastery of expressing deep emotion in musical lyricism remains untouched by time, most especially in the Second Piano Concerto.
MARCH2026
MUSIC DIRECTOR & CONDUCTOR
Mitchell Sardou Klein
Music Director & Conductor
Music Director and Conductor Mitchell Sardou Klein brings extensive conducting experience in the US, Europe, Australia and Japan to his leadership of the Peninsula Symphony. This year marks his 40th season on the Symphony’s podium. Over the past four decades, he has guest-conducted the Seattle Symphony, New Polish Philharmonic, Suddetic Philharmonic, Richmond Symphony, Eastern Philharmonic, and numerous other orchestras across the US and Europe. In California he has led Symphony San José (formerly Symphony Silicon Valley), the San José Symphony, the Santa Rosa Symphony, the Inland Empire/Riverside Philharmonic, Ballet San José, the California Riverside Ballet and the Livermore-Amador Philharmonic and others. He co-founded and is Music Director of the Peninsula Youth Orchestra, which he has taken on concert tours of England, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Belgium, Holland, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Latvia, and Estonia.
Maestro Klein directed over a hundred concerts as Associate Conductor of the Kansas City Philharmonic (where he was also Principal Pops Conductor and Principal Conductor of Starlight Theater, the Philharmonic’s summer home), and also served as Music Director of the Santa Cruz Symphony. He also has extensive experience in conducting ballet orchestras, including the Kansas City, Lone Star, Oakland, and Westport Ballets, as well as the Theater Ballet of San Francisco and les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. Before turning to the podium, he performed as a cellist for many years. Known to most everyone as Mitch, he enjoys travel, photography, jazz and visual arts in his spare time.
Since 1984, he has been Director of the Irving M. Klein International String Competition. Held in San Francisco each June, the Competition has become one of the most prominent in the world, featuring prizes totaling over $35,000, attracting applicants from more than twenty nations annually, and launching numerous major international concert careers.
Critics have consistently praised his work. The San José Mercury described his performance with Symphony Silicon Valley in 2012 as a “gorgeous performance; big, enveloping and wonderfully luxuriant.” The San Mateo County Times described him in 2007 as “Super Conductor: Mitchell Sardou Klein, music director of the Peninsula Symphony, led his musicians through another triumphant concert. The Peninsula Symphony just keeps getting better and better. Great works and great performances by all.” The Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza proclaimed, “The American conductor quickly established a fine rapport with his orchestra. Klein is a musician who has the musical score in his head, rather than his head in the score, which he demonstrated ably. The creative conception and artistic shape which he brings to his work comes from deep inside him.”
MUSIC DIRECTOR & CONDUCTOR
Maestro Klein is a winner of many prestigious awards, including the 2008 Diamond Award for Best Individual Artist, the Silver Lei Award from the 2009 Honolulu Film Festival (for the World Premiere of Giancarlo Aquilanti’s La Poverta), the 2000 ASCAP Award for Programming of American Music on Foreign Tour, the 2001 Jullie Billiart Award from the College of Notre Dame for Outstanding Community Service, a 1996 award for the year’s best television performance program in the Western States (for the one-hour PBS program about him and the Peninsula Symphony) as well as the 1993 Bravo Award for his contribution to the Bay Area’s cultural life.
Mr. Klein was born in New York City, into a musical family that included members of the Claremont and Budapest String Quartets. He began cello studies at age four with his father, Irving Klein, founder of the Claremont Quartet. His mother, Elaine Hartong Klein, danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet.
Cited for his “keen judgment, tight orchestral discipline, feeling for tempo, and unerring control,” Maestro Klein has conducted many significant world, American, and West Coast premieres, including works by Bohuslav Martinu, Meyer Kupferman, Joan Tower, Hans Kox, George Barati, Benjamin Lees, Giancarlo Aquilanti, Melissa Hui, Rodion Shchedrin, Brian Holmes, Ron Miller, Lee Actor, Michael Thurber, Jonathan Russell, Alvin Brehm, and Margaret Garwood. He has appeared frequently on national and international broadcasts, including National Public Radio, the Voice of America, the WFMT Fine Arts Network, PBS Television, and KQED television. He lives in Oakland, California with his wife, violist Patricia Whaley. Their daughter, Elizabeth, lives and works in Washington D.C.
RESIDENT CONDUCTOR
Nathaniel Berman Resident Conductor
Conductor Nathaniel Berman maintains a diverse range of activities as a performer and educator in the San Francisco Bay Area. A faculty member at UC Santa Cruz since 2007, he is conductor of the UCSC Concert Choir and Wind Ensemble, and has appeared as guest conductor of UCSC Orchestra. He has frequently participated as conductor in the April in Santa Cruz Festival of New Music at UCSC, and on various performances with UCSC Opera Theater.
Nathaniel is Music Director of the Santa Cruz County Youth Symphony, a position he has held since 2011, and has appeared as guest conductor of the Santa Cruz County Symphony in annual collaborative concerts with the Youth Symphony. Nathaniel also holds the position of Resident Conductor with Peninsula Symphony, where he conducts the annual Family Concert and appears regularly on the podium at subscription concerts.
A strong advocate for new music, Nathaniel is the resident conductor of the San Franciscobased new music ensemble Ninth Planet, with whom he has led premieres of dozens of commissioned works as well as numerous works by celebrated contemporary composers. In 2023, Ninth Planet and guest singers premiered Alan Shearer’s opera Prospero’s Island at Herbst Theater in San Francisco.
As a singer, Nathaniel has been a member of the professional new-music chorus Volti, where he also served as Assistant Conductor, and has sung with early music ensembles Pacific Collegium and EUOUAE. Nathaniel received his Master’s degree in conducting from UC Santa Cruz, where he studied with Nicole Paiement. His first instrument was trumpet, and he grew up playing duets with his dad, a jazz pianist and singer.
FEATURED ARTIST
Jon Nakamatsu Piano
Now in his third decade of touring worldwide, American pianist Jon Nakamatsu continues to draw critical and public acclaim for his intensity, elegance and electrifying solo, concerto and chamber music performances. Catapulted to international attention in 1997 as the Gold Medalist of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition—the only American to achieve this distinction since 1981— Mr. Nakamatsu subsequently developed a multi-faceted career that encompasses recording, education, arts administration and public speaking in addition to his vast concert schedule.
This season, Mr. Nakamatsu returns to live performances throughout the United States and in Europe. Between 2020 and the spring of 2021, he was engaged in a myriad of online events including recording, masterclasses and virtual interviews and lectures for organizations such as the Chautauqua Institution Piano Festival, Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute, the Van Cliburn Foundation and the Chopin Foundation of the United States. In collaboration with clarinetist Jon Manasse, Mr. Nakamatsu also produced and curated an online series of interviews and historical performances taken from the archives of the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, where he and Mr. Manasse have served as Artistic Directors since 2007.
Mr. Nakamatsu has been guest soloist with over 150 orchestras worldwide, including those of Baltimore, Berlin, Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Florence, Los Angeles, Milan, San Francisco, Seattle, Tokyo and Vancouver. He has worked with such esteemed conductors as Marin Alsop, Sergiu Comissiona, James Conlon, Philippe Entremont, Hans Graf, Marek Janowski, Raymond Leppard, Gerard Schwarz, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Michael Tilson Thomas and Osmo Vänskä.
As a recitalist, Mr. Nakamatsu has appeared in New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Washington DC’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Musée d’Orsay and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and in major centers such as Boston, Chicago, Houston, London, Milan, Munich, Prague, Singapore, Warsaw and Zurich. In Beijing he has been heard at the Theater of the Forbidden City, the Great Hall of the People, China Conservatory, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts. His numerous summer engagements included appearances at the Aspen, Tanglewood, Ravinia, Caramoor, Vail, Wolftrap, Colorado, Brevard, Britt, Colorado College, Evian, Interlochen, Klavierfestival Ruhr, Santa Fe and Sun Valley festivals. In 2022 he participated in an extended residency at the Bowdoin Festival in Maine and returned to the Chautauqua Institution in New York where he has served as Artist in Residence since the summer of 2018.
FEATURED ARTIST
With clarinetist Jon Manasse, Mr. Nakamatsu tours as a member of the Manasse/Nakamatsu Duo. Following its Boston debut in 2004, the Duo released its first CD for harmonia mundi usa (Brahms Sonatas for Clarinet and Piano) which received the highest praise from The New York Times Classical Music Editor James Oestreich, who named it among the “Best of the Year” for 2008. A frequent chamber musician, Mr. Nakamatsu has collaborated repeatedly with ensembles such as the Emerson, Escher, Jupiter, Miró, Modigliani, Prazak, St. Lawrence, Tokyo and Ying string quartets, the Imani Winds and the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet with whom he made multiple tours beginning in 2000.
Mr. Nakamatsu’s 13 CDs recorded for harmonia mundi usa have garnered extraordinary critical praise. An all-Gershwin recording with Jeff Tyzik and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra featuring Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F remained in the top echelons of Billboard’s classical charts for over six months. Other acclaimed discs include the recording premiere of Lukas Foss’ first Piano Concerto with Carl St. Clair and the Pacific Symphony, the Brahms Piano Quintet with the Tokyo String Quartet in the quartet’s final recording as an ensemble, and a solo recording including Robert Schumann’s Second Piano Sonata whose YouTube posting has garnered over 800K hits.
Mr. Nakamatsu has been profiled extensively in print, radio, television and online. He has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, in Readers Digest magazine, and on Live from Here! with Chris Thile. In 1999, Mr. Nakamatsu performed at the White House at the special invitation of President and Mrs. Clinton. He has also performed for the United States Mayor’s Convention in San Francisco, and in 2001 was the featured guest artist during the opening and dedication of the Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism During World War II in Washington DC.
A former high school teacher of German with no formal conservatory training, Mr. Nakamatsu studied privately with Marina Derryberry for over 20 years beginning at the age of six; worked with Karl Ulrich Schnabel since the age of 9; and trained for 10 years in composition, theory and orchestration with Dr. Leonard Stein of the University of Southern California’s Schoenberg Institute. Mr. Nakamatsu holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford University in German Studies and secondary education. In 2015, he joined the piano faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and lives in the Bay Area with his wife Kathy and young son Gavin.
When everyone comes together, the opportunities open. The goals become focused, the path to success gets wider. This event is made possible by the tireless work of many selfless, talented individuals, moving forward with intention toward a strong and powerful future.
Alan Russell Private Mortgage Banker 408-887-5141
homeloans.wellsfargo.com/Alan-W-Russell alan.w.russell@wellsfargo.com NMLSR ID 280182
Canadian violist Emad Zolfaghari has recently come to international attention after winning the first prize and audience prize at the 2024 Primrose International Viola Competition. Emad was accepted into the Curtis Institute of Music at age 16, where he currently studies with Hsin-Yun Huang. He is the first prize winner of the Irving M. Klein International String Competition, first prize winner of the International Morningside Music Bridge Competition, second prize winner of the Johansen International String Competition and third prize winner of the OSM String Competition.
Emad has appeared as a soloist with several major symphony orchestras, including l’Orchestre Métropolitain under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Montreal Symphony, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the National Philharmonic, the Oakville Chamber Orchestra and the National Metropolitan Philharmonic.
Emad has attended several festivals such as Morningside Music Bridge, the Center Stage Strings festival as a junior faculty member, the Perlman Music Program, Music from Angel Fire, ChamberFest Cleveland, ChamberFest West, the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, and the Music in the Vineyards Festival. Emad currently plays on a fine 1700 Matteo Goffriller viola on generous loan from the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation, and a Sartory Copy bow from CANIMEX, inc. *
Don’t miss our season finale on Saturday, May 17 at the Heritage Theatre in Campbell, and Sunday, May 18 at the Capuchino Performing Arts Center.
Jessie Montgomery, Soul Force
Carl Philipp Stamitz, Viola Concerto in D, Op. 1 / Emad Zolfaghari, viola Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Capriccio Italien, Op. 47
Ottorino Respighi, Pines of Rome, P. 141
TICKETS: peninsulasymphony.org
LIFETIME ADOPTED MUSICIANS
Mitchell Sardou Klein
Deborah Passanisi
Dr. Lauren Speeth
MUSICIAN
Debra Fong
Conductor
Violin II
Violin I
INSTRUMENT
Concertmaster
Dave Allmon Trombone
Abraham Aragundi Cello
Lianne Araki
Mark Beyer
Kim Bonnett
Mike Bresler
Oboe
Clarinet/Saxophone
Violin I
Timpani/Percussion
Katherine Bukstein Viola
Dane Carlson
Daniel Cher
Oboe/English Horn
Violin I
Garth Cummings Cello
David Dufour
Bob Fitt
Nicole Galisatus
Bradley Gibson
Audrey Gore
Joel Greene
Horn
Trumpet
Clarinet
Violin II
Oboe
Oboe/Music Librarian
Juliet Hamak Bassoon
Yukoh Hammura Flute
Patricia Harrell
David Herberg
Flute/Piccolo
Bass
Rami Hindiyeh Trombone
Brian Holmes Horn
Johnathan Hsu
Tetsu Ishihara
Rahul Iyer
Tara Iyer
Kristin Kunzelman
Tuba
Cello
Bass
Violin I
Flute/Piccolo
Susan Magrini Cello
Mike Marmarou Trumpet
Vineet Mehta
Ron Miller
Violin II
Clarinet
Bruce Moyer Bass
Randy Nickel Horn
Kristin Chesnutt Oro
Frank Rahn
Violin II
Violin II
Paula Uccelli
Frank & Annette Rahn
Elfenworks Foundation
ADOPTED BY
Katherine & Roy Bukstein
Jacqueline Smith
Friend of PSO
Patricia L. Griffin
Raymond Smith
Bradley Gibson
Celeste Everson Misfeldt & Todd Misfeldt
Margrit Rinderknecht & Richard Siemon
Kirt & Kelly Minor
Laura & David Francis
Sheri & Michael Frumkin
Hannelore Draper
Don & Cathy Draper
Penny Barrows in memory of John Barrows
Teri Quick
Monte Mansir & Susanne Stevens
Al & Liz Dossa
John Givens
Nina Brody
Krista & Jerry Terstiege
Suesan Taylor
John & Christine Sanguinetti
Mary Gundelach
Yvonne Hampton; Teri Quick
Marcia Leonhardt in honor of Judy & David Anderson
Suesan Taylor
Pauline Roothman
Jennifer & Tim Kardos
Monte Mansir & Susanne Stevens
Ronald S. Miller
Sheree Kajiwara
Jacqueline Smith
Monte Mansir & Susanne Stevens
Diana Lloyd
Dorothy Fahlman & Karin Chesnutt
Nichole Edraos & Jim Augustus
ADOPT-A-MUSICIAN
MUSICIAN
INSTRUMENT
Jerry Saliman Viola
Paul Schneider Horn
Kay Saito Shafi Flute/Piccolo
Kirsten Shallenberg Cello
Matt Springer Violin I/Timpani
Mia Stormer Contrabassoon
Judy Streger Violin I
Suesan Taylor Bass
Jshon Thomas Violin II
Nicholas Toscan Trumpet
Renée Toscan Viola
Jolynda Tresner Viola
Jeff Wachtel Bass
Kate Wahl Violin I
Alex Wang Violin I
David Williams Violin II
Carolyn Worthington Viola
Sarah Wu Violin I
Kyoko Yamamoto Bassoon
Hanna Yoshimoto Violin II
Jane Zhang Violin II
EMERITUS MEMBERS
ADOPTED BY
Dorothy Saxe
Sheri & Michael Frumkin
Ronald S. Miller
Jacqueline Smith
Monte Mansir & Susanne Stevens
Joel Greene
Alan & Spike Russell
Martin Chai & Gray Clossman
Sheri & Michael Frumkin
Bob & Karen Fitt
Bob & Karen Fitt
Brian Holmes, Maureen Thrush, and Roy & Victoria Sasselli
The Wachtel Pronovost Family
Sheri & Michael Frumkin
Bichen Wang
Family and Friends
Richard Izmirian
Alan & Spike Russell
John Givens
Hironari & Yoshihiro Yoshimoto
Gayle Flanagan
John Givens, Principal Bassoon, adopted by Juliet Hamak & George Yefchak
Would you like to adopt a musician? It is our goal to have the entire orchestra adopted as a special way of supporting us. For information on this meaningful program, please reach out to Chelsea Chambers, Executive Director at chelsea@peninsulasymphony.org or (650) 941-5291.
We are grateful to the following contributors who support live symphonic music and education on the Peninsula. Our donor listing below is a compilation of total giving received between November 1, 2023 and February 25, 2025. If you see an error in this listing or would like more information on ways you can contribute to Peninsula Symphony, please reach out to Executive Director Chelsea Chambers by emailing chelsea@peninsulasymphony.org.
Risoluto ($50k +)
Janice Boelke
Lorraine Smith
The David & Lucile Packard Foundation
Maestoso al fine ($25k - $49,999)
Sheri & Michael Frumkin in honor of Paula Uccelli
Fortissimo ($10k - $24,999)
Mervyn L. Brenner Foundation
Katherine & Roy Bukstein
David Cone
Joel Greene in honor of The Monkeyman of Burlingame
Mary Gundelach in memory of Charles M. Gundelach
Monte Mansir & Susanne Stevens
Krista & Jerry Terstiege
Paula Uccelli in memory of Pete Uccelli
Friend of PSO in memory of Pieter Smith Friend of PSO
Crescendo ($5k-$9,999)
Erika Crowley in honor of Cary Kimler & in memory of Margot Haygood
Rika & Shawn Ellis
Pamela Ferris
Brad Gibson
John Givens
Diana Lloyd in memory of Cliff Lloyd
Celeste E. & Todd M. Misfeldt in appreciation of Mitchell Sardou Klein
Nvidia
Deborah Passanisi
Jeff & Gwyn Wachtel
Friends of PSO (2)
Presto ($2,500 - $4,999)
Kathryn Barnard & Kenneth Shirriff
Nathan Brookwood & Patricia Hendriks
Howard Crittenden
Meiying Forney & Steve Shatas in appreciation of Sheri Frumkin
Ben & Kaoru Hollin
Russell Hurley
Alex Kurosawa
Bill Malmstrom in memory of Linda
Ronald S. Miller
Teri Quick in honor of Brad Gibson
Redwood City Arts Commission
William & Diane Reuland
Hilary Benton & David Williams
John & Rachel Youmans
Scherzo ($1,000-$2,499)
David & Michelle Allmon
Barbara & Robert Brandriff in memory of
Dorothy Lunn
Janet & David Cain
Martin Chai & Gray Clossman
Daniel Cher & Laura Wolfe
Tom Cooper & Mary Hom
Stanley Dirks
Al & Liz Dossa in honor of Mitchell Sardou Klein
Hannelore Draper
Barbara Erickson
Anne Esparza
Gene Esswein
Bob & Karen Fitt
Gayle Flanagan
Laura & David Francis in honor of
Daniel Cher
Mariam S. Galvarin
Norma Grench
Patricia Harrell
Sheree Kajiwara & Richard Izmirian
Mitchell Sardou Klein & Patricia Whaley
James Kleinrath & Melody Singleton
Susan Magrini
Joe & Mollie Marshall
Vineet Mehta & Karishma Sharma
Randy & Janie Nickel
Craig & Wendy Nishizaki
Kristin Oro Prudential
Caroline & Chris Rackowski
Rita’s Rainbows
David Sacarelos & Yvette Lanza
Jerry & Ellen Saliman
Sara & Phillip Salsbury
John & Christine Sanguinetti
Dorothy Saxe
Paul Schneider
Margrit Rinderknecht & Dick Siemon
Marianne Silva & John Oba
Suesan W. Taylor in memory of C. Barr Taylor and in honor of David Herberg & Michael Tong
The Trade Desk
Todd & Andrea Weinman
Wells Fargo Foundation
Carolyn Worthington
Y&H Soda Foundation
Hanna & Yoshihiro Yoshimoto
Friends of PSO (2)
Vivace ($500-$999)
Maryam Aghamirzadeh
Apple Inc
Jim Augustus & Nichole Edraos
Wate & Johanna Bakker in honor of Mitchell Sardou Klein
Nina Brody
Kathleen Brown
Geoffrey W Burr
Dorothy Fahlman & Karin Chesnutt
John DeLong & Sharon Peters
Don & Cathy Draper
Nicholas & Renee Toscan
Alexandra Gillen & Hartmut Koeppen
Alice Graham in memory of Dorothy Graham Givens
David Greene in honor of Monkey Greene
Dawn Grench & Family in honor of Herb Grench
Patricia L. Griffin
Linda Hagarty
Yukoh Hammura in appreciation of Kay, Patti, and Kristin from Flute section
Mela & Peter Hwang
Jennifer & Tim Kardos
Ann & Ben Kong in honor of Linda Dunn, most dedicated volunteer
Marcia Lowell Leonhardt in honor of Judy and David Anderson
Susan R Lin in appreciation of Maestro Klein, Chelsea Chambers, Jim Fung, and Everyone at PSO
Richard & Beverly Marconi
Linelle Marshall
Kirt & Kelly Minor in appreciation of Dane Carlson
Pamela Moore in memory of Bill Moore
Liz Nyberg in memory of Paul Nyberg
Michelle Oberman & Lawrence Marshall in honor of Maestro Mitchell Klein
Mary & Neil Panton
Farrell May Podgorsek in memory of Ken Podgorsek
Roland Feller Violin Makers
Pauline Roothman
Alison & Ken Ross in honor of Maestro Mitchell Klein
Alan & Spike Russell
Kay Saito & Sayed Shafi
Ruth A. Short
Ray Smith
Matt Springer & Weiyun Ai in honor of Magnificent Maestro Mitch
Anita Stewart & Kaj Rekola
Sue Larson Family Fund
The Wachtel Pronovost Family in honor of Jeff Wachtel
William Warren Weisenfeld
Anne Wharton
Warren R Williams in memory of Sarah Williams
Friend of PSO in honor of Hanna Yoshimoto
Friends of PSO (3)
Allegro ($250-$499)
Michael & Merrie Asimow
Charlotte & David Biegelsen
Michael & Adrienne Bresler
Sylvia & Fun Pang Chau
Helen Cockrum
Joseph Coha
Tom Driscoll & Nancy Quinn
Ruth Evans
Delbert & Susan Fillmore
Robert Goldware
Google, Inc.
Elke & Chris Groves
Marycliff Foundation
Juliet Hamak & George Yefchak
Steven Hibshman
Brian Holmes & Jolynda Tresner
Johnathan Hsu
IBM International Foundation
Intel Corporation
Sandra Krakowski
Kristin Kunzelman
Harvey Lynch
Marcia & John Mehl
Joyce Monda
Beth Morris
Noni Naughton
Grant Parker
Karen & Douglas Perry in appreciation of Chelsea Chambers
Charles Polanski
Frank & Annette Rahn
Amy & Daniel Schiff in honor of Sheri Frumkin
Karen & John Scorsur in appreciation of Chelsea Chambers, Jacqueline Smith, and the hard working staff
Michael Tong & Luna Wang
Teri & Robert Whitehair
Friend of PSO in appreciation of Maestro Mitchell Sardou Klein’s 40th
Friends of PSO (4)
Dolce ($100-$249)
John & Barbara Adams
Sue Alvarez
Lianne M Araki
AssetMark, Inc
Jo Anne Bailey in memory of June Wisecarver
Doron Bardas
Marilyn Barlow in memory of Rachel Ann Youmans
Barbara Barth
Israel & Sari Beinglass
Berger Family in honor of Jerry Saliman
Nathaniel Berman
Jeanne Bertini
Jill Biegenzahn
Lorraine Bodie
Juliette Bryson
Les & Nancy Burger in appreciation of Jeff Wachtel
Frank & Charlotte Cevasco in honor of Debbie Passanisi
Thom & Carol Chivers
Sharon J. Chortack
Mary Clarity
Judy & Philip Davis in memory of Marilyn and Harold Mindell
Tanya Dubinsky
Bill Enloe
Michele & Andy Epstein in honor of Sheri Frumkin
Suzanne & Allan Epstein
Fredrika & Joel Felt in honor of Jeff Wachtel
David Fernandez & Lori Krauss
Moira Fordyce
Ann & Stan Forman in honor of Sheri Frumkin
Ruth Freeman & David Stoner
Michael & Cindy Galisatus
Lisa L. Gruman in honor of Maestro Mitchell Sardou Klein
Ann Guerra
Hillel Hachlili
Ann & Salek Hamer in memory of Tom Perry
Charles Hanes
Matthias Hausner
Joan Hebert
Nancy Heffner
Kathie Hillier & Bob Boen
Joseph & Bette Hirsch
Norma J Hoch
Deborah & Craig Hoffman in appreciation of Jerry Saliman
Marshall & Roberta Hollimon
Perry Hopkins
Robert & Ana Johnson
Howard & Elizabeth Klein
Peter Klein
Lorrin Koran, M.D.
Jeffrey Koseff & Thalia Anagnos
Marianne Kruze
Ancilla Kwok in memory of Dr. Sam Chan
Joseph & Sharon Kwok in memory of Dr. Sam Chan
Sandra & Brandon Martinez-Larragoiti
Richard Leder & Cherrill Spencer
William & Lucille Lee
Stanley Levine
Janet Louie
Catherine Lozano-Wilcox
Ann Marotta
Melody Marshall
Janice McKim
Judi McManigal
Diane C. Merchant, RN, PhD
Joann & Ronald Miller
Vonya Morris
Bruce Moyer
Carol Muller
Margaret Nalbach
Joan Norton
Chuck & Patty Ortenberg in honor of Jeff Wachtel
Alan Pattison
Wayne Phillips
J. Richard & Karen S. Recht
Cheryl & John Ritchie
Robert Roth & Cynthia Robbins-Roth
Stephen & Joanne Rovno
Bill & Sherrean Rundberg
Heather Sanders
Dave Sargent in honor of Brian Holmes & Jolynda Tresner
Victoria & Roy Sasselli
Doris Sayon
Marian Schmidt
Marvin & Ellen Schwartz
Dana Scoby
Marilyn Sefchovich
Marcyl Seidscher
Noel Shirley
Tom Silva
Lynne Simpson
Dr. Patrick L. Smith
Lisa & Bruce Steinback
Alan Stern & Thomas Whatley
Laura Sternberg
Grant Takamoto
Jshon Thomas & Gary Carson
Maureen Thrush
Carolyn Tucher
Raymond & Cecilia Wong
Wilton & Kathy Wong
Friend of PSO in appreciation of PSO
bassoon section
Friends of PSO (4)
“Sostenuto” Legacy Society
The future of Peninsula Symphony is sustained by the generosity of individuals who choose to give during or after their lifetimes. Their contributions safeguard the presence of symphonic music on the Peninsula for this and future generations to come. To find out more about how to join this special group of cherished supporters, please reach out to Executive Director Chelsea Chambers, chelsea@peninsulasymphony.org.
Sostenuto Legacy Society Members as of March 2025:
Ellis Alden
Anonymous
Janice Boelke
David Cone
The Elfenworks Foundation
Mitchell Sardou Klein & Patricia Whaley
Judi McManigal
Frank & Annette Rahn
Genny Hall Smith
Lorraine Smith
Marguerite Szekeley
William Warren Wiesenfeld Trust
Terms & Conditions: All rates are per person in USO for cruise only, inclusive of port charges, based on double occupancy in Category E stateroom, and reflects Complimentary Land Package Offer. Complimentary Land Package offer is only valid on new reservations made by March 31, 2025. Offer is combinable with AirPlus Rates, Combination Cruise Savings, Loyalty Benefits and Future Cruise Benefit Program. Visas, airfares and gratuities are additional. Offer is not combinable with any other promotions/discounts, limited to availability, capacity controlled and subject to change or termination without notice. AmaWaterways reserves the right to correct any errors or omissions at any time. Other restrictions apply. Registration as a seller of travel does not constitute approval by the State of California. For full terms and conditions, please visit www.amawaterways.com/terms-conditions CST#2065452-20. V25JAN3AH
Amelia Yee , Front of House & Volunteer Coordinator
Aleena Mehdi , Intern
The mission of the Peninsula Symphony is to enrich the lives of people in our community with inspiring, innovative, high-quality musical presentations at affordable prices, and to promote music education through engaging programs for children and adults.
The Peninsula Symphony Association of Northern California is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Corporation, Federal Tax ID 94-6106974.
Peninsula Symphony
146 Main Street, Suite 102 Los Altos, CA 94022 (650) 941-5291 / info@peninsulasymphony.org PeninsulaSymphony.org
