Festival Orchestra 1, with soloist James D’León

In the opening classical concert, Allan Pollack will lead the musicians in Igor Stravinsky’s 1922 Pulcinella Suite, one of the ballets commissioned by Diaghilev. We’ll catch our breaths when the orchestra and pianist James D’León transport us to Nights in the Gardens of Spain, Manuel de Falla’s set of nocturnes for piano and orchestra. The evening will end on very high notes with Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony. Ever since its 1888 premiere, it has been a hit with audiences for its soaring melodies and dramatic composition.

2025 Featured Composer: Igor Stravinsky

For 2025, Susan Waterfall’s composer series will feature the innovative and influential Igor Stravinsky. Immerse yourself in his world and his music, and understand how his music evolved over his lifetime with narrated chamber recitals featuring exciting guest artists, and various other settings of Stravinsky’s work across the Festival.

Explore the Series

Waterfall’s productions always present exciting, absorbing playing of great music, but are also rare, distinctive examples of what can be called music education, though they’re more conversational, truly a sharing of perspective, interest, anecdote. There’s a sense of immediacy to her delivery, weaving in and out of the playing, an intimately conceived present awareness of this heritage. It’s something unique that needs to be experienced.” -Ken Bullock, Berkeley Daily Planet