Symphony to honor Alan Silow, President and CEO for its Celebration 2021! fundraising event

The Santa Rosa Symphony’s annual fundraising event, Celebration 2021! honors Alan Silow, President and CEO of the Santa Rosa Symphony for his 20 years of service to the Symphony on Friday, November 5 at 5:30 PM. Celebration 2021! includes an elegant reception in Prelude Restaurant and a recital by clarinetist and composer David Krakauer. A gourmet dinner in the Person Lobby is followed by a paddle raise for the Symphony’s music education programs.

SRS Chairman of the Board Corinne Byrd says, "I’m delighted that the Board selected Symphony President & CEO Alan Silow to be the honoree at our Celebration 2021 Gala! He is the quintessential example of consummate executive leadership: a seasoned professional whose acumen for strategy and program-building have propelled our Symphony Association, for 20 years, to greater success. Furthermore, Alan’s remarkable resourcefulness and perseverance during the past Symphony season will long benefit our patrons, youth, musicians, staff and community in infinite ways."

This intimate affair will have no more than 166 people in attendance, with plenty of room to spread out in the spacious Green Music Center. With patron safety in mind, all attendees will provide proof of full vaccination and remain masked when not eating or drinking. Tickets are $350/person ($265 is tax-deductible).

Alan Silow

In June 2021, Silow was awarded the Heart of Sonoma County™ Excellence in Leadership Award by the Center for Volunteer & Nonprofit Leadership. Silow earned the award for his achievements during his nearly 20-year tenure with the Symphony.

Alan Silow has been President and CEO of the Santa Rosa Symphony since July of 2002. During his tenure, the Symphony has returned to a fiscally sound basis that has produced annual surpluses in both operations and an endowment that has grown over 500%. Silow played a leadership role in the public/private partnership with Sonoma State University to build a new world-class symphony hall that opened in Fall 2012. The Santa Rosa Symphony is now the largest California regional symphony orchestra north of Los Angeles and the resident orchestra at the world-class Green Music Center. He also currently sits on the Board of the Santa Rosa Convention & Visitors Bureau to provide better cross-cultivation between the arts and tourism. Silow’s accomplishments were recognized with a nonprofit leadership award for innovation, community engagement and growth given by North Bay Business Journal in October 2012.

Prior to taking this position, he concluded a successful, three-year tenure as Executive Director of ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio. Previous positions include Director of Marketing & Public Relations for the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, a world-renowned, performing arts organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Executive Director of the Santa Fe Convention & Visitors Bureau. During his tenure, readers of Conde Nast Traveler magazine named Santa Fe the top travel destination in the world.

Silow graduated Phi Beta Kappa with an undergraduate B.A. degree in Economics with Honors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs. He is married with one son and lives in Oakmont located in Sonoma Valley.

David Krakauer, clarinet

David Krakauer has been praised internationally as a key innovator in modern klezmer as well as a major voice in classical music. In 2015, he received a Grammy nomination as soloist with the conductor-less chamber orchestra, A Far Cry. He began his journey with the music of his Eastern European Jewish cultural heritage at the end of the 1980s as the Berlin Wall was falling, and culture from “behind the Iron Curtain” began to emerge in the West. Inspired by these massive cultural shifts, he began to explore klezmer music as he sought to connect with his Jewish identity in a deeper way. He very quickly became a creator in his own right; first as a member of the ground-breaking band The Klezmatics (that launched the second klezmer revival of the early 1990s), then as an integral part of John Zorn’s Radical Jewish Culture movement, and ultimately as a composer, soloist and band leader in the klezmer genre.

His wide array of projects, solo appearances, and multi-genre collaborations includes ensembles, conductors, composers and individual artists such as the WDR Big Band, Abraham Inc. (co-led with Fred Wesley and Socalled), the Emerson Quartet, Marin Alsop, Wlad Mathulets, Leonard Slatkin (Orchestre de Lyon), Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Quatuor Debussy, JoAnn Falletta, George Tsontakis, Anakronic Electro Orkestra and Kathleen Tagg (pianist and co-creator of Breath & Hammer).

AT A GLANCE / CALENDAR LISTING:

WHAT: Celebration 2021! Honoring Alan Silow, Santa Rosa Symphony President and CEO

INCLUDES: reception, dinner, and recital by clarinetist David Krakauer

WHEN: Friday, November 5, 2021, 5:30 PM

WHERE: Weill Hall, Green Music Center, Sonoma State University

TICKETS: $350/person ($265 is tax-deductible)

PURCHASE METHOD: Enid Rickley-Myres: (707) 546-7097 x 223 OR Patron Services: (707) 546-8742

HOURS: M-F 9 AM - 5 PM, closed Saturdays and Sundays.

ABOUT SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY

Santa Rosa Symphony, the Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center, is the third-oldest professional orchestra in California, and the largest regional symphony north of Los Angeles. Francesco Lecce-Chong, the Symphony's fifth music director in its 94 years, began his tenure in 2018. Alan Silow, President & CEO, began his tenure in 2002. The Symphony is committed to core values of artistic excellence, innovative programming, comprehensive music education and community service.

The Symphony’s performance schedule includes 21 Classical Series concerts (seven sets), Seven Discovery Dress Rehearsal concerts, a three-concert Family Series and a four-concert Pops Series, as well as special concerts.

Awards include an American Symphony Orchestra League MetLife Award for Community Engagement and a first-place award for adventurous programming in the 2012-2013 season from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

The Symphony is recognized for having one of the most comprehensive music education programs in California, serving nearly 30,000 youths annually. Collaborations with schools and organizations across Sonoma County have gained the Santa Rosa Symphony national attention and support.