California Symphony to Join Cirque de la Symphonie for Special Event, Today

WALNUT CREEK, CA (February 9, 2016) - The aerialists, contortionists, dancers, jugglers, strongmen and acrobats of Cirque de la Symphonie join the California Symphony and Music Director Donato Cabrera in the Orchestra's annual fundraising special event, Cirque du Symphonie Presented by Steadauto.com, Saturday, June 18 at 7:30 pm at the historic and beautiful Scottish Rite Center in Oakland. For this performance, the Cirque production team and California Symphony have developed a unique program specifically for the Orchestra and the special characteristics of the Scottish Rite Center. The artists of Cirque de la Symphonie will execute their spectacular feats to music ranging from Bizet's Carmen to John Williams (music from Indiana Jones and Superman), Leonard Bernstein's Candide Overture, Arturo Marquez's Danzon No. 2, Debussy's Clair du lune, Offenbach's Can-Can No. 4, and Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 6, and the orchestra plays music from Aaron Copland (Rodeo from Hoe-Down), Richard Rodgers (Carousel Waltz), and Strauss (Emperor Waltz). All proceeds from the event, presented by steadauto.com, support the California Symphony and its music education programs, including Sound Minds, Music in the Schools, and the organization's respected Young American Composer-in-Residence Program.

The lauded circus artists of Cirque de la Symphonie include Cirque du Soleil artists, Olympic athletes, world record holders, and gold-medal winners of international competitions. Classically trained dancer and contortionist Sarah Sporich and dancer/acrobat/contortionist Autumn Crockett perform a "contortion ballet" to music from Debussy's Clair du lune, and acro-gymnast, actor and dancer Marco Balestracci is featured in "Spinning Shapes" set to Bizet's Suite No. 1, Les Toreadors, from Carmen. A trio of acrobats performs to A Whirl Through Academe from John Williams' music for Indiana Jones. Acrobat Denys Tolstov (Cirque du Soleil's Alegria, Circus Circus) hand balances through John Williams' march from Superman and juggles as the orchestra plays Suite No. 2 from Bizet's Carmen, Danse Boheme (Gypsy Song, Act II). Aerial acrobats Aloysia Gavre and Andrey Moraru perform as a balance duo to Arturo Marquez's Danzon No. 2, and Sagiv Ben Binyamin (Teatro ZinZanni, Cirque Productions, Velocity Circus), Sarah Sporich, and Marco Balestracci perform to Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 6.

The Scottish Rite Center lobby will be transformed with carnival games, roaming performers, a silent auction, and cocktail and hors d'oeuvres service before the performance. During intermission and after the show, attendees can browse a photo display, with each photo representing an aspect of California Symphony's programs and initiatives, and choose to contribute to support music teachers in the Sound Minds music education program, California Symphony's acclaimed and long-standing Young American Composer-in-Residence Program, and other projects. Supporters can keep the representative photo as a memento of the event and their contribution.

Following 2015's Speakeasy Symphony with Postmodern Jukebox at the Roof Garden at Kaiser Center in Oakland, California Symphony's Cirque du Symphonie Presented by Steadauto.com is the second in the orchestra's newly reimagined series of annual special events, incorporating theatrical and visual elements, pre-performance games and entertainment, and creating an evening-long experience designed to appeal to a wide audience.

Tickets for the California Symphony's special event fundraiser Cirque du Symphonie Presented by Steadauto.com at Oakland's Scottish Rite Center are $149 and $500 and can be purchased through the California Symphony's website at www.californiasymphony.org/symphonie and at 925-280-2490. The $149 tickets include the performance, pre-show hors d'oeuvres, two drink tickets, preconcert entertainment with carnival games, roaming performers, and photo booth, silent auction, and dessert after the show. Cocktail ticket prices are subject to change afterApril 1. The $500 tickets include prime table seating front and center at the performance, valet parking, pre-concert hors d'oeuvres, hosted bar throughout the evening, pre-concert entertainment with carnival games, roaming performers, and photo booth, silent auction, and a three-course meal during the performance with wine included, as well as a private meet-and-greet with circus performers after the show. Tickets are on presale to California Symphony subscribers and donors on Thursday, February 11, and go on sale Thursday, February 18 at 10 am to the general public.

ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA SYMPHONY

The California Symphony is distinguished for its concert programs that combine classics alongside American repertoire and lesser-known works, its pioneering Young American Composer in Residence program, its nationally recognized education programs, and for bringing music to people in new and unconventional settings. The orchestra is in its third season with Music Director Donato Cabrera, and recently announced the signing of new, three-year contracts with Cabrera and the California Symphony musicians. The orchestra is comprised of musicians who have performed with the orchestras of the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet, and others. California Symphony has launched the careers of some of today's most-performed composers and soloists, including violinist Sarah Chang, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and composers such as Mason Bates, Christopher Theofanidis, and Kevin Puts. The orchestra is expanding its regional base in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, performing concerts in three new venues in its regular 2015-16 season, in addition to the Scottish Rite Center in Oakland for Cirque du Symphonie Presented by Steadauto.com. The orchestra performs this season at its home at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, the Napa Valley Performing Arts Center's Lincoln Theater in Yountville, the Concord Pavilion in Concord and with Postmodern Jukebox at the Kaiser Center Roof Garden in Oakland. For more information, please visit www.californiasymphony.org.

California Symphony Music Director Donato Cabrera has been the Music Director and Conductor for the California Symphony since 2013. He also is Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and the Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra since 2009. Cabrera announced in October 2015 he will step down from his roles at the SF Symphony at the end of the 2015-16 season to pursue a thriving international conducting career. In 2014, Cabrera was appointed Music Director of the Las Vegas Philharmonic Orchestra, and from 2013 to 2015 he served as Music Director of the New Hampshire Music Festival. For more information, please visit www.donatocabrera.com.

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