PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM 105 musical journey peninsulasymphony.org Stanford Symphonic Chorus. “It’s always a treat,” Mitch says. The season finale will feature the 2023 Klein Competition Winner, violist Emad Zolfaghari, in Respighi’s stunning The Pines of Rome in May 2025. The long-term synergy between maestro Mitch and his musicians—some of whom predate his time with PSO—has created its own living instrument: the orchestra itself. “What’s unusual about Peninsula Symphony is that it’s really community-based, community-connected,” he describes. “They bring a huge amount of energy and dedication to what they do. Everybody’s there just to share the joy of making music together.” to new composers and fresh pieces. “If you’re doing a world premiere, you really have to look so deeply into the composer’s intentions,” he describes. “Everything you do is new.” The risk? “You don’t really know until you do it how well it communicates with the audience.” For musicians like Jeff, the risk pays off in exposing the music community to works they haven’t heard before. With variations on that theme, Peninsula Symphony’s 76th season kicked off with some original orchestrations by Menlo Park’s own Taylor Eigsti, along with Gershwin’s iconic Rhapsody in Blue. There’s also November’s annual performance with the Then in 1997, Mitch co-founded the Peninsula Youth Orchestra with Sara Salsbury, and directed its Senior Orchestra for 27 years, taking teens on international tours every two years before retiring and handing off the baton this year to Brad Hogarth. The best part of his experience leading the talented youngsters? “Seeing the orchestra come away with the pride of doing their best playing in front of a European audience,” Mitch responds. These young musicians learn to contextualize music history while exploring the composers’ hometowns. NEW NOTES Venerable reams of symphonic music could supply the symphony for the foreseeable future, yet Mitch relishes introducing artists
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