Catalina Island Museum’s Holiday Symphony Concert Leaves the Audience Wanting More

2017-01-02
Catalina Island Museum

This year’s crowd braved gale force winds to attend the Catalina Island Museum Holiday Symphony Concert featuring the Stanford Symphony Orchestra. They were rewarded with a stellar performance. Under the direction of its talented conductor, Dr. Anna Wittstruck, the orchestra performed a diverse program inspired by the museum’s current special exhibition, Art Nouveau and Graphic Art: The PAN Publications, 1895-1900.

Attendees exited the Avalon Casino Theatre uplifted exclaiming that they “wouldn’t have missed it!” and it was “the highlight of their holiday season!”

"I've attended each year and this year's program was the best yet!" said Judy Hibbs, Avalon resident and member of the Catalina Island Museum Board of Trustees.

This year’s program featured a lively variety of classical music by some of the greatest composers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as Claude Debussy, Johannes Brahms, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and others. Special guest, Chen Zhao from the San Francisco Symphony, wowed the crowd with an energetic violin solo by Pablo de Sarasate.

"The program selection was a favorite among this year's attendees," said Julie Perlin Lee, Executive Director of the Catalina Island Museum. "For many, it opened the door to classical music in such a positive way, they left wanting more. To learn more about the music and composers presented. That is what we strive for each year."

“To have an annual Holiday Concert with the spectacular Stanford Symphony Orchestra staged in the Avalon Theatre is a treasure,” said Jim Luttjohann, President and CEO of the Catalina Island Chamber of Commerce. “Conductor, Dr. Anna Wittstruck, always delivers creatively and entertainingly as do the fine musicians under her direction.”

As the island’s only institution dedicated to art, culture and history, the Catalina Island Museum plays a significant role in promoting well-rounded cultural experiences that reach Avalon and the greater Los Angeles area. This concert is just one example of its mission to offer a diversity of arts and culture programming in Avalon.

The Catalina Island Museum offers the best in art and history exhibitions, music and dance performances, lectures by guest speakers from all over the world, and the finest in silent, documentary and international film. Open seven days a week from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, except Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, the new Ada Blanche Wrigley Schreiner Building is located in the heart of Avalon at 217 Metropole Avenue. For more information, the museum may be reached by phone at 310-510-2414 or at its website: CatalinaMuseum.org.