Santa Rosa Symphony plans free concert, seeks Sonoma County fire relief donations

Last month’s North Bay wildfires prompted a steady stream of benefit concerts for fire relief, and the Santa Rosa Symphony is joining the effort with its own version of an all-star lineup, with a trio of the orchestra’s conductors - both past and present - taking the stage.

Music Director Bruno Ferrandis, Conductor Laureate Jeffrey Kahane and Conductor Emeritus Corrick Brown will combine forces to lead the orchestra in a free concert, with donations more than welcome, at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 20 in Weill Hall at Green Music Center on the Sonoma State University campus in Rohnert Park. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Admission to the concert is free, with a limit of two per household. Donations will be accepted at the concert or when you make your reservations. Call 707-546-8742. Tickets are not available online and must be reserved by phone or in person at the Santa Rosa Symphony box office. Call first to check availability.

The program will feature Kahane performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The orchestra also will play Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man,” Elgar’s “Nimrod” from the Enigma Variations and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, “Eroica.”

All the musicians and conductors, staff, ushers, stage and production crews are donating their time, allowing the symphony to raise even more funds to support the community. The Green Music Center is supporting the symphony in this endeavor.

Donations collected will go to support Redwood Credit Union’s North Bay Fire Relief Fund, Community Foundation Sonoma County’s Sonoma County Resilience Fund and Sonoma State University’s Noma Gives, which supports affected students, staff and faculty.

In San Francisco, the San Francisco Symphony led by Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus also will give a benefit concert for the North Bay at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 19 in Davies Symphony Hall.

Entitled Symphony Relief, the concert opens with two works by Aaron Copland - “Fanfare for the Common Man” and music from the 1940 film “Our Town” - as well as the finale from Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, a cappella spirtuals performed by bass Solomon Howard, and the uplifting finale from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, culminating with his beloved “Ode to Joy.”

All of the musicians, chorus, soloists and staff are donating their services, with proceeds going to the Redwood Credit Union’s North Bay Fire Relief Fund and the Sonoma County Resilience Fund. The concert is presented in partnership with KDFC Radio (89.9 FM Wine Country).

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 707-521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @danarts. Staff Writer Diane Peterson contributed to this story.