California Symphony Presents Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed - Classes for the Classically Curious in July
California Symphony Presents
Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed in July
Four Thursday Evening Classes from July 10-31, 2025, 6:30-8pm
Hosted by Award-Winning Instructor Scott Foglesong
Chateau Room at Pleasant Hill Senior Center
233 Gregory Lane | Pleasant Hill, CA
Registration $30 for 4 Classes: www.californiasymphony.org/shows/fresh-look-the-symphony-exposed
“the most forward-looking organization around” –Mercury News
WALNUT CREEK, CA – California Symphony presents Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed this July, expanding access to music education and offering a fun and informative introduction to classical music for “classically curious” adults in the Bay Area. Hosted by award-winning instructor Scott Foglesong, the four-part summer lecture series will be held on Thursdays, July 10, 17, 24, and 31, 2025 from 6:30-8pm at Pleasant Hill Senior Center (233 Gregory Lane). Fresh Look provides an introduction to classical music and the rich offerings of California Symphony, making classical music and the orchestra accessible to a broader audience.
Previous participants of the program have described the course as “most enjoyable, very accessible to all, and PACKED with good info and good listening!” and called Scott Foglesong as “knowledgeable and enthusiastic” with a “sense of humor and breadth of knowledge.” Scott Foglesong has been lecturing about music since 2011, first as a Professor of Music for the University of San Francisco’s Fromm Institute, followed by posts at the University of California, Berkeley, and, most recently, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has also served as pre-concert lecturer for the San Francisco Symphony, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and California Symphony.
The Fresh Look curriculum – which was developed by Scott Foglesong, California Symphony Music and Artistic Director Donato Cabrera, and General Manager Sunshine Deffner – explores the instruments of the orchestra, different musical periods and styles — including one class that focuses almost exclusively on Beethoven — and the state of classical music today. As a special end-of-course treat, the final class includes a live performance and Q&A with California Symphony musicians.The fee for Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed is $30 for the entire course, which can be redeemed toward the purchase of any adult-price California Symphony ticket for a 2025-26 season concert.
Since its initial launch in partnership with the Walnut Creek Library in 2018, the course has developed steady participation and interest among the Walnut Creek community. With a target of 25 participants, the 2018 pilot series attracted 63 individuals and in summer 2024 reached venue capacity with 160 people enjoying the course. In order to meet this demand, for Fresh Look’s seventh year, California Symphony has partnered with Pleasant Hill Senior Center.
Fresh Look exemplifies California Symphony’s dedication to strengthening music education and access within their local community. Of the Symphony’s many nationally recognized education and community programs – including their acclaimed Young American Composer-in-Residence program, the nationally recognized Sound Minds program for underserved local students, and Education Concerts initiative for Title I schools in the Walnut Creek area – California Symphony is committed to providing diverse programming that provides an accessible entry point to top-tier classical music for all age groups and education levels.
About Scott Foglesong: Scott Foglesong is a pianist, musician, teacher, writer, cat-lover, music history devotée, occasional computer geek and sometime programmer. He has been on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 1978; nowadays he serves as a department chair in addition to enjoying the honor of educating some of today's most promising young musicians. In 2008 he was named recipient of the Sarlo Family Foundation Award for excellence in teaching. He has taught Music 27 (Introduction to Music) for the Fall Freshman program at UC Berkeley since 1991, is associated with the San Francisco Symphony, both as a Contributing Writer and as an "Inside Music" lecturer for the Symphony's weekly subscription concerts, and is Program Annotator for the California Symphony, after formerly serving in the same capacity for the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, New Hampshire Music Festival, and Las Vegas Philharmonic Orchestra. Professor Foglesong was formally educated at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and the San Francisco Conservatory, but his informal education continues everywhere, without cease.
About California Symphony: Founded in 1986, California Symphony has been led by Artistic and Music Director Donato Cabrera since 2013. It is distinguished by its vibrant concert programs that span the breadth of orchestral repertoire, including works by American composers and by living composers. Its concert season at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California serves a growing number of music lovers from across the Bay Area.
California Symphony believes that the concert experience should be fun and inviting, and its mission is to create a welcoming, engaging, and inclusive environment for the entire community. Through this commitment to community, imaginative programming, and its support of emerging composers, California Symphony is a leader among orchestras in California and a model for regional orchestras everywhere.
Since 1991, California Symphony's three-year Young American Composer-in-Residence program has provided a composer with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to collaborate with the orchestra over three consecutive years to create, rehearse, premiere, and record three major orchestra compositions, one each season. Every Composer-in-Residence has gone on to win top honors and accolades in the field, including the Rome Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Grammy Awards, and more.
The orchestra's nationally recognized educational initiative Sound Minds impacts students' trajectories by providing instruction for violin or cello and musicianship skills. Sound Minds has proven to contribute directly to improved reading and math proficiencies and character development, as students set and achieve goals, learn communication and problem-solving skills, and gain self-confidence. Inspired by the El Sistema program of Venezuela, the program is offered completely free of charge to the students and families of Downer Elementary School in San Pablo, California.
Through its innovative adult education program Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed, California Symphony provides lifelong learners a fun-filled introduction to the orchestra and classical music. Led by celebrated educator and California Symphony program annotator Scott Foglesong, these live classes are held over four weeks in the summer annually and are available to stream online year-round.
In 2017, California Symphony became the first orchestra with a public statement of a commitment to diversity. Its website is available in both Spanish and English.
Reaching far beyond the performance hall, since 2020 the orchestra's concerts have been broadcast nationally on multiple radio series through Classical California (KUSC/KDFC) and the WFMT Radio Network, reaching over 1.5 million listeners across the country.
For more information, visit CaliforniaSymphony.org.