A Century in the Making

The earliest origins of the Stockton Symphony date back to the early 1900s, when two young brothers with a passion for music immigrated from Italy to Stockton, California. Manlio and Tulio Silva became pharmacists to earn a living in their new country, but music was their passion, and Manlio particularly couldn’t ignore that calling. Manlio started with a small group of players that they called the Little Symphony. In May 1926, he conducted the inaugural performance of the newly formed Stockton Symphony.

A hundred years later, it’s California’s third oldest continuously operating symphony orchestra, one that kept performing even through the world wars. From a suitcase full of handwritten music to a full orchestra performing world premieres, the story of the Stockton Symphony is really a story about this community: the families who’ve grown up with it, the musicians who’ve traveled for decades to be part of it, and the audiences who keep coming back.