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The Santa Maria Philharmonic Orchestra and Maestro Michael Nowak welcome guest soloists for a seasonal celebration of the Baroque eras greatest composers. With bounding baselines, glittering melodic structures, and the rich and warmly familiar harmonies of the chamber orchestra, the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, and George Frideric Handel will fill the hall with beauty and cheer. Guest soloists include two talented string players–violinist Brynn Albanese and guitarist Jack Cimo–who will help embody the spirit and joy of the Baroque for our December performance.

The artistic movement of Impressionism inspires the Maestro Michael Nowak and the Santa Maria Philharmonic Orchestra in this evening of musical moods and emotions. Claude Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun is a cornerstone of musical impressionism, with the French composer creating pastoral images and dynamic feelings expressed through orchestral sound. Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev explores the humor and the absurd in the satirical Lt. Kije Suite. The concert concludes with a performance of George Gershwin’s jazzy and expressive Concerto in F, with the piano solo part performed by Cal Poly piano professor and prolific performer, W. Terrence Spiller.

The Santa Maria Philharmonic Orchestra and Maestro Michael Nowak welcome a guest ensemble to close out the 2024-25 concert season with a concert that explores the range of human expression, from the sensual to the profound. Early 20th Century composer Darius Milhaud expresses French exoticism through jazz-inspired harmonies and rhythms that portray an African creation myth in the ballet suite La Creation du Monde. Russian composer Igor Stravinsky explores the harmonies and driving dance rhythms of early American jazz music in Ragtime. And finally, Maestro Nowak and the Philharmonic Orchestra are joined by the Allan Hancock College Singers for a performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem, the legendary unfinished threnody penned the same year of the composer’s death.