Hope as our Banner

Sunday, August 9, 7:00pm
Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium

The season concludes with a luminous program looking toward collective possibility, resilience, and belonging.

Ascending Creatures  (West Coast premiere) by Festival newcomer, Eunike Tanzil, draws inspiration from the coordinated flight of birds, exploring the interplay between individuality and unity through motion and sound. Through interlocking musical lines and evolving textures, Tanzil emphasizes the power of collective movement. 

Lisa Bielawa ’s Pulse (West Coast premiere), featuring violinist Tessa Lark, unfolds as a driving, heartbeat-like concerto, weaving rhythmic intensity and American musical threads into a shared sense of motion and momentum. Drawing on Lark’s deep roots in Appalachian fiddle traditions, the work evokes the spirit of folk dance and storytelling, blending vernacular musical language with Bielawa’s contemporary orchestral voice. 

Celebrating marriage equality with both joy and remembrance, Rainbow Promise (U.S. premiere) honors the struggle that made it possible. Composed by Elena Kats-Chernin, the piece rings with a spirit of pure celebration and joy, but not without offering reflection on the struggle that made such celebration possible. 

Sean Shepherd ‘s Wanderlust (West Coast premiere) closes the season with an homage to movement and belonging by “an exciting composer of the new American generation” (New York Times). A self-proclaimed “well-treated vagabond,” Shepherd composed Wanderlust as an homage to his cosmopolitan experiences across the U.S., the U.K., and Europe, representing both his paradoxical, palpable sense of rootlessness and his desire to sink roots, pulling inspiration from disparate places and searching for the idea of home.

SEASON REFLECTION  
Former (1993-1995) U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove joins the Festival for a special closing reflection, performing original poetry honoring the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. alongside Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings. This will be the poetry’s West Coast premiere, offering a profound coda to a season of remembering, reckoning, and imagining what comes next.
Stay after  the show for our annual street party and celebration of the season with cake and bubbly!

All service charges, taxes and fees are included in the prices shown.

Wheelchair Accessible and Accessible Companion seats are available in all price zones in the orchestra floor seating.
 
Please note: Programs are subject to change. No children under age six will be admitted to concerts (except for the free Family Concert). Please silence your phones out of respect for the artists performing and fellow patrons. We encourage you to take non-flash photos and videos before or after the concert. You may take videos (under 30 seconds for copyright/legal reasons) and non-flash photos during Festival open rehearsals. Always be mindful of your neighbors when using your camera. Tag us on social media! Please review General Event Policies for exclusions. All sales are final, no refunds.


Wheelchair Accessible and Accessible Companion seats are available in all price zones in the orchestra floor seating.