MSO Holiday Pops

Modesto Symphony Orchestra presents Holiday Pops!

Ryan Murray, conductor

Nikki Renee Daniels, guest artist

Modesto Symphony Orchestra Chorus, Daniel R. Afonso Jr., chorus director

 

Gallo Center for the Arts, Mary Stuart Rogers Theater
1000 I Street, Modesto

 

Pricing: Tickets start at $23

Ticketing Information:
Tickets are available online at ModestoSymphony.org or at the Gallo Center for the Arts Ticket Office, (209) 338-2100.

Gallo Center Ticket Office Hours: Monday through Friday 10:00 am-6:00 pm / Saturday 12:00 pm-6:00 pm

Group Prices available: Groups of 10+ receive a 15% discount on tickets—call (209) 338-5064 for more information.

Modesto Symphony Orchestra presents Holiday Candlelight Concert

Daniel R. Afonso Jr., conductor

Modesto Symphony Orchestra Chorus, Daniel R. Afonso Jr., director

Opus Handbell Ensemble, Lisa Traughber, director

St. Stanislaus Catholic Church
1200 Maze Blvd, Modesto

 

Pricing:
Adult ticket pricing starts at $39

Youth ticket pricing starts at $10

 

Tickets are available online at ModestoSymphony.org or at the Gallo Center for the Arts Ticket Office, (209) 338-2100.

Gallo Center Ticket Office Hours: Monday through Friday 10:00 am-6:00 pm / Saturday 12:00 pm-6:00 pm

Group Prices available: Groups of 10+ receive a 15% discount Standard Adult tickets—call (209) 338-5064 for more information.

 

Ryan Murray is currently Principal Pops Conductor for the Modesto Symphony, Music Director of the Auburn Symphony and Artistic Director of the Music in the Mountains Summer Festival. He is also the Director of Symphony Orchestra & Opera at California State University, Sacramento, and the Conductor for the Sacramento Youth Symphony’s premier orchestra. An award-winning opera conductor, Ryan spent his early career working as an assistant conductor and répétiteur and serves as Music Director of Opera Modesto. He has served as an assistant conductor at the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera, is the past Music Director of Fresno Grand Opera, and previously worked as a staff conductor for the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute (BASOTI) and The Opera Academy of California in San Francisco. Effortlessly moving between genres, Ryan currently enjoys a wide range of performance genres & platforms, including traditional orchestral and operatic repertoire, pops performances, movies in concert, and a notable emphasis on contemporary American operatic works.

​Ryan was the winner of the Vienna Philharmonic’s prestigious Ansbacher Fellowship for Young Conductors, and spent the summer in residence alongside the Vienna Philharmonic at the 2014 Salzburg Festival. Ryan was also awarded second place in the 2019 American Prize for Professional Orchestral Conducting for his work with the Modesto Symphony, and has garnered national recognition for his dynamic, compelling performances of contemporary opera as the winner of the 2017 American Prize in Opera Conducting for his highly lauded production of A Streetcar Named Desire. He was a 2016 semi-finalist for the Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music for his production of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking.

A charismatic pops conductor, Ryan has worked with prominent artists such as Storm Large of Pink Martini, SuperDiamond and the phenomenal symphonic tribute to David Bowie. He was recently engaged to step-in at the last minute as assistant and cover conductor for Andrea Bocelli’s Believe Tour with the Sacramento Philharmonic where he conducted rehearsals to acclaim. He has led some of the top vocalists from Broadway and beyond, including Ben Crawford (Broadway’s The Phantom of the Opera), Ashley Brown (Broadway’s Mary Poppins), and Alli Mauzey (Glinda from Wicked), as well as some of today’s top young jazz vocalists including Tony DeSare and James Tormé. With an enthusiasm for film scores, Ryan enjoys the unique challenges of conducting movies in concert and is a Disney & ICM Approved Conductor. Recent and upcoming performances include Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pixar Animation Studios’ Pixar in Concert, Star Wars: A New Hope and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

Ryan holds degrees, summa cum laude, in Bassoon Performance and Voice Performance from California State University, Sacramento and also holds a master’s degree, with distinction, in Music Business from the Berklee College of Music where he studied with industry professionals to develop tools for success in the modern music industry, including new technology, policy, law and finance. Driven by a lifelong passion for learning, Ryan has attended conducting masterclasses and seminars around the world. Ryan recently conducted the Romanian Chamber Orchestra in concert and was one of just eight conductors worldwide to be invited to the Musiikin aika Summer Festival Masterclass in Finland led by Musical America’s 2017 Conductor of the Year & Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Susanna Mälkki. He has previously attended the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music’s Conductors Workshop; the contemporary music symposium led by Alan Gilbert featuring the New York Philharmonic; the Aurora Chamber Festival in Sweden, where he studied under Maestro Kurt Masur; the Lucerne Festival Academy’s Conducting Masterclass in Switzerland; and the Eastman School of Music’s Summer Conducting Institute. Widely praised for his tireless work ethic, natural poise, and impassioned, inspired performances, Ryan continues to connect deeply with orchestras and audiences alike, and has proven to be a formidable presence on the podium.​

 

Nikki Renée Daniels recently starred in Once Upon a Mattress (Lady Larken), and in the Tony Award winning revival of Company (Jenny) on Broadway. She played Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton, at the CIBC Center in Chicago. Other Broadway credits include The Book of Mormon (Nabulungi), the 2012 Tony Award winning revival of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (Clara), Les Miserablés (Fantine), Nine, Aida, Little Shop of Horrors, The Look of Love, Promises, Promises, Anything Goes, and Lestat. She made her New York City Opera debut as Clara in Porgy and Bess. Other New York credits include Martha Jefferson in 1776 at City Center Encores! and Eve/Mama Noah in the New York premiere of Children of Eden at David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.

 

Regionally, Nikki has been seen in Caroline, or Change (Emmie) at the Guthrie Theatre; Ray Charles Live! (Della B.) at Pasadena Playhouse; The Music Man (Marian) and Guys and Dolls (Sarah Brown) at Pittsburgh CLO; Anything Goes (Hope) at Williamstown Theatre Festival; Beauty and the Beast (Belle) at Sacramento Music Circus, and North Shore Music Theater; Ragtime (Sarah) at North Shore Music Theatre; Aida (Aida) and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Narrator) at ArtPark.  Her film and television credits include The Other Woman, “Chappelle’s Show,” “Madam Secretary,” and “The Sound of Music: Live.”

 

Nikki has performed as a soloist with many symphony orchestras worldwide, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the North Czech Philharmonic, The Capetown Philharmonic, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Philly Pops, the New York Pops, Indianapolis Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Houston Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.  She has also performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, and holds a BFA from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. Her debut CD, Home, is available on iTunes. Follow her on social media at @nikkireneesings.

Daniel R. Afonso Jr. has served as conductor of the Modesto Symphony Orchestra Chorus since its foundation in 2001 and has prepared several choral works with the ensemble. He is also Coordinator of Vocal and Choral Studies at California State University, Stanislaus. Afonso received a B.M.E. degree from the Universidade do Rio de Janeiro (UNI -Rio), a M.M. degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and a D.M.A. degree in Choral Conducting and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa. Dr. Afonso is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and has studied conducting with Carlos Alberto Figueiredo, Cees Rotteveel, Eph Ehly, and William Hatcher.

 

Dr. Afonso has performed with choral groups in Brazil, U.S., and Europe, and has previously taught music at the Conservatório Brasileiro de Música, Universidade do Rio de Janeiro (UNI-Rio), and Doane College, Nebraska. In 1988, he won the first prize and the best performance of Villa-Lobos work award at the Concurso Villa-Lobos de Canto Coral, a national choral competition sponsored by the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro. Dr. Afonso is strongly committed to the performance of new music and has commissioned and premiered many new choral works in the last few years, including several of his own works as well as works by young composition students.  He had his New York debut in 2012, conducting Mozart’s Requiem with members of the MSO Chorus and students from CSU Stanislaus at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

 

He is also a composer, arranger, and editor of choral music and has choral works published by earthsongs, Colla Voce, and Alliance Music Publications. He served as composer-in-residence with the San Francisco Choral Artists during their 2014-2015 season and has also written works for the Los Angeles Children’s Choir, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, and other ensembles in the US and abroad. He has written innumerous arrangements for the Modesto Symphony Orchestra, including a new version of The Star-Spangled Banner for chorus and orchestra, recently premiered at the opening concert for the 2015-16 concert season. Dr. Afonso is widely recognized for his research and performance of Brazilian choral music and continues to frequently present workshops and lectures about the Latin American choral repertoire.