ROCO launched its 21st season and Albert and Margaret Alkek Foundation In Concert Series with Feels Like Home—a back-to-back concert weekend led by Artistic Partner Delyana Lazarova on September 26-27, 2025. Featuring guest concertmaster Margaret Batjer (LACO), the season opened with four world premieres and a powerful symphony rediscovered.
ROCO Principal Clarinetist Nathan Williams stepped into the spotlight in a new clarinet concertino by Season 21 Composer-In-Residence Kevin Lau titled At the Still Point of the Turning World, inspired by Williams’ work in hospice care as ROCO’s first Musicians with a Mission Manager.
The orchestra then dove into GRAMMY-winning composer Starr Parodi’s Riptide, a newly commissioned work shaped by her personal story of loss and resilience.
Composer Heather Schmidt wrote an uplifting tribute to real-life husky rescues in Husky Chronicles, premiering in partnership with local shelters and rescue organizations.
ROCO also premiered the chamber orchestra arrangement of legendary guitarist, composer, and philanthropist Steve Vai’s Salamanders in the Sun, reorchestrated by Mark Buller, bringing fresh symphonic color to one of Vai’s earliest compositions.
The concert concluded with Symphony No. 4 in B minor, the work of a pioneering yet little-known composer, and Beethoven contemporary, Emilie Mayer.
PROGRAM:
Delyana Lazarova, ROCO Artistic Partner, conductor
Kevin Lau, Season 21 Composer In Residence
Nathan Williams, clarinet soloist
Sebastian Cure, guitar soloist
Margaret Batjer, guest concertmaster
Heather Schmidt
Husky Chronicles
ROCO Commissioned World Premiere
Starr Parodi
Riptide
ROCO Commissioned World Premiere
Kevin Lau
At the Still Point of the Turning World
Featuring Nathan Williams
ROCO Commissioned World Premiere
Steve Vai, arr. Mark Buller
Salamanders in the Sun
Featuring Sebastian Cure
ROCO Commissioned World Premiere Rescore
Emilie Mayer, arr. Andreas Tarkmann
Symphony No. 4 in B minor
