Diablo Symphony Concert: Beethoven with Benway

The Diablo Symphony begins its 2023–2024 season on Sunday, September 17, with Beethoven's lyrical Piano Concerto No. 4, featuring returning pianist Randall Benway. The program also includes Jean Sibelius’s orchestral tone poem “Finlandia,” written in 1899 for a covert protest against increasing censorship from the Russian Empire, and his Symphony No. 1, premiered in Helsinki in 1899 but revised in 1900 for its European debut. The piano solo that opens the concerto, the solitary clarinet and timpani passage that opens the symphony, and the hymn-like melody of “Finlandia” (later adopted for the hymn “Be Still My Soul”) characterize a program that brings innovation, compelling rhythms, and strikingly beautiful melodies to the stage. Benway, a longtime Lafayette resident and assistant director of the Blackhawk Chorus before his move to Olympia, Washington, has performed extensively in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

The DSO’s 61^st season features local favorites Mads Tolling, violin; Greg Brown, saxophone; and Lafayette-based WomenSing in concerts offering joy-filled music—including three imaginative new works by women—ranging from Beethoven to jazz. And the DSO itself tackles new heights, bringing Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring to Walnut Creek. Visit the DSO website at www.diablosymphony.org for details of the season’s five regular concerts.

Season and individual tickets are available at the Lesher Center for the Arts box office (925-943-7469; 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek) or online through the DSO’s website, www.diablosymphony.org/buy-tickets/2023-2024-season-joy-beauty-and-all-that-jazz/. Season tickets are $175 for adults and $50 for youth; season tickets for children 12 and under are free, but must be obtained to reserve the desired seats. Tickets for individual concerts are $40 for adults and $10 for youth 13–17. Children 12 and under are free, and a discount of $30 each is available for groups of 10 or more seniors. Tickets will also be available at the door.