Join us as we celebrate.
Celebrate 100 Years of Unforgettable Music
This year, the Stockton Symphony celebrates 100 years of bringing live music to the Central Valley. What began as a small group of local musicians in 1926 has grown into California’s third oldest continuously operating symphony orchestra, and the celebration is already underway. From a milestone exhibit to a community-wide gala, here’s how you can be part of it.
Unforgettable: Celebrating 100 Years of Community
The River Mill
A once-in-a-century celebration with United Way of San Joaquin County, marking 200 years of impact, artistry, and service, with elegance, dining, and dance.
Stockton Symphony Exhibit now showing at the Haggin Museum
Inspiring Joy and Building Community Through the Magic of Music
Celebrating the people, performances, and moments that have shaped the Symphony’s remarkable journey.
Securing the Next Century of Music
Donate to the Centennial Fund Today
Whether a single gift or a Centennial sponsorship, your support helps carry the Symphony’s music, education programs, and community impact into its next century. The next 100 years start with you.
A Century of Unforgettable Moments
100 years of music. 100 years of unforgettable moments, on stage and in the community.
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When Manlio Silva intrepidly began your Stockton Symphony a century ago, how different was the orchestral world! Rhapsody in Blue and The Pines of Rome had just appeared when Maestro Silva formed the orchestra’s brief precursor—Stockton’s “Little Symphony.” Gershwin hadn’t yet penned An American in Paris, and California Here I Come was becoming our unofficial state song. Back then your Symphony was already a blend of talented local musicians and players from San Francisco—so imagine the commute! With no Bay Bridge yet and no Interstate 5, those folks took the ferry and drove country roads to join the faithful locals, and the orchestra’s reward after rehearsals and concerts occurred chez Silva—a home-cooked pasta meal, and when they rolled up the rug, a lively dance.
Yet many of the treasured experiences of the typical concert hall haven’t changed much since 1926, and that’s a good thing! Despite enormous advances in electronics, synthesized sounds—and yes, AI—the thrill of hearing a live orchestral performance remains at our core. The communal engagement of the audience, the passionate virtuosity of the fabulous Symphony musicians and renowned guest artists, the journey of beautifully complex emotions that can’t be described in words—this is what we live for!
The idea of celebrating the old while exploring the new resonates on many levels. Listening to even a single work requires you to remember the music you’ve heard and enter each new passage with anticipation and expectation. Amazingly, those same principles exist in everything from Ghostbusters to Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. In a larger context, your Stockton Symphony continues to commission premieres and present adventurous contemporary works alongside celebrated masterworks. Rejuvenated musical ideas and exciting live performances keep concerts fresh and collaborations with fellow arts organizations keep our mission vital. Most of all, it’s about you. Your patronage and support keep our noble enterprise thriving—we play for YOU.
So here’s to the next 100 years! It’s a great time to embrace nostalgia and gaze ahead with wonder.
Peter Jaffe
Music Director and Conductor
Thank you to our 2026/27 Season Partners!
