LET US BREAK BREAD TOGETHER

Sunday, Dec 10, 2023 ∙ 4pm
Paramount Theatre, Oakland

Let Us Break Bread…Together. That word. This year.

Here have we gathered once again, as we do each December. But this December, only together can we console. Can we make any sense of these recent months. Can we ask why. And what we can do.

Because we are Oakland, rooted in Oakland. We are the caring community that is reflected in “Let Us Break Bread Together,” the Oakland Symphony’s most joyous concert of the season. This year pays tribute to Tina Turner and is conducted by our own Omid Zoufonoun. The very artistic soul of Oakland joins the Orchestra on stage: Dan Ashley, Best Intentions, Cal State East Bay Singers, Contra Costa High School Chorus, Kugelplex, Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, and vocalist Maiya Sykes. We are honored to welcome these magnificent artists to the Oakland Symphony and to The Paramount stage.

You can next see the Oakland Symphony here at The Paramount on Friday, January 26th at 8:00pm as Kalena Bovell makes her second appearance with us conducting Dvořák’s beloved “New World” Symphony.  Also on the program is “Līlā” by Korean-American composer Texu Kim, and Samantha Ege plays the Piano Concerto by British composer Doreen Carwithen, whose centennial was commemorated last year. We’re all looking forward to having Kalena on the podium again.

Oakland Symphony concerts continue in 2024. On February 16, Kedrick Armstrong returns for the world premiere of a work composed by Carlos Simon with text adapted by Dan Harder from Paul Robeson’s powerful manifesto, “Here I Stand” in a concert also featuring Shostakovich’s defiant Fifth Symphony. March 22’s performance features Tchaikovsky’s passionate Symphony No. 4. And on May 17, Kelly Hall-Tompkins is the soloist in the exuberant Violin Concerto of Wynton Marsalis, a concert also featuring Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.

For the musicians, the board of directors, and the management team here at Oakland Symphony, we thank you for being with us today and for the part each of you contributes to this magnificent community. We wish you the happiest of holidays. 

Sincerely,

Dr. Mieko Hatano, Executive Director

INTERMISSION

The 2023-2024 Season of Oakland Symphony is generously funded in part by the East Bay Music Fund at the East Bay Community Foundation; the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; and supported by the Oakland City Council and funded by the City of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program.