Oakland Symphony kicking off the season this Friday

Ali, it is loud and it is eclectic. Tomorrow night, the Paramount Theater lights up as the Oakland Symphony begins its new season. We're talking about world-class musicians, youth music programs, and an expansion hitting across the Bay Area with shows outside of Oakland. Yeah, let's bring in Gassi Mikaelian for a sneak peek. Gassi, good morning. Hey, good morning, all three of you. Oakland Symphony season kicks off with Defiance, features music from Shostakovich, Tracy Chapman, Lauryn Hill, and many more luminaries. Let's welcome back to Mornings on 2 The Nine, Kendrick Armstrong, Oakland Symphony's music director and conductor in his third year now. Congratulations. Thank you so much. I can't believe how the time has flown by. I know. You and I met when you were first appointed to come after the beloved maestro Michael Morgan. Such a huge loss for the entire Bay Area. You have found your footing in the town. Tell me what you feel like now, three years after you've been named. I mean, it's truly been incredible. Slowly but surely, the amount of warmth and reception and the audience growth that we are seeing in the Paramount Theater, it truly just warms my heart the way that the town has embraced me and embraced this orchestra. You know what I loved? And I loved Michael Morgan, right, because I'd seen him perform many times. He, like, lived in the music. After his passing, we heard from so many young musicians and conductors who said, he changed my life musically. How are you working to do that for perhaps the youth in Oakland today? Absolutely. So I'm partnering with our education director, going to visit schools throughout OUSD. We actually, two weekends ago, just spent some time up in Casadera at a fall retreat with the youth. So it's been really incredible being able to give back in that way. Good. All right. Let's get people to your concerts. Let's talk about what's coming up on Friday. The theme is defiance. What does that mean to you musically? Yes. Defiance to me musically is looking at how music reflects our society. There's so much, I think, hurt and trauma that we're experiencing all across our world right now. And this is something that musicians, composers for generations have been writing about. So really trying to find where our activism and the organizing of Oakland can intersect with what we do on our concert stage. So how do you pair someone like Tracy Chapman, who we all remember from Fast Car, with someone like Shostakovich, who we might not know intimately and think, oh, that's my parents' music. Exactly. Well, so in this 11th symphony by Shostakovich, which was written about the Russian Revolution of 1905, Shostakovich uses a protest music of his time, of his generation throughout the symphony. And so we wanted to find those voices of our own generation and bring that to the concert hall. So we commissioned Mike Blankenship, a local writer, to write this arrangement of Tracy Chapman, Lauryn Hill, and The Lumpen, which was actually the band, a part of the Black Panther Party, that an incredible local artist, B. DeVoe, will be performing on this concert. Very, very Oakland. Let's talk about the fact that you'll be at the Paramount this coming Friday evening for your opener. But then you are going through the tunnel, right? You'll be in Walnut Creek. You'll be in San Ramon. Why is it so important for you to grow the footprint of the Oakland Symphony? Yes. Part of growing that footprint is growing audience, right? We all know that arts organizations are struggling all across our country, and we're trying to find new ways of activating really dollars and communities and people to pour into our precious jewel of the Oakland Symphony. So we're going out to hopefully then bring back in. Got it. How important are subscribers for Oakland Symphony? So, so, so important. A, because it gives us a financial footing to know that we will have those tickets those people in our concert hall guaranteed uh throughout the season but also in building connections subscribers become donors who become board members who become long-time advocates of our symphony you know what i like about being a subscriber is that you are exposing yourself to things that maybe you wouldn't choose off the menu right and and i've had i mean i kind of used to run in a really narrow band right for symphonic music but but by seeing things that were in my subscription but outside of my direct want i'm like oh maybe i do like that oh maybe i will try that again right subscribers are about trust you know when you subscribe to the symphony you're saying I trust the artistic product that you're putting on and I'm going to be there to support that no matter if I like it or maybe don't like it and sometimes I hope people don't like it because that's a part of the artistic journey that conversation that we're able to have with our subscribers it's funny because I think by learning what I don't like it makes me like what I like even more right so I've been able to kind of like whittle down but also grow like a tree right can we fast forward to december because you have a tribute to quincy jones that i think people are going to want to know about what's happening in december oh my gosh incredible so we're doing our annual let us break bread concert our holiday concert featuring the music of Quincy Jones, we have local artists from and Tiffany Austin, the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir it's a giant party every year, I tell people it's the closest that I get to feeling like a rock star on the stage with just the amount of energy that we have people dancing up and down the aisles It's a concert that you definitely don't want to miss. I will say the vibe inside the Paramount is amazing. Oh my gosh. I mean, it comes alive. And to be in such an incredible art deco building really just enhances what we do as an orchestra. Well, I'm so happy to have you back. Congratulations on three years, and here's to many, many more. Thank you. Kendrick Armstrong of the Oakland Symphony. It's a pleasure. Big opening on Friday evening at 6:30. I know. Hope to see you there. All right, all right.