{"id":470101,"date":"2026-09-20T16:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T16:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/470101\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T16:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T16:08:09","slug":"san-jose-chamber-orchestra-founder-stepping-down-after-35-seasons-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/470101\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jos\u00e9 Chamber Orchestra founder stepping down after 35 seasons"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tConductor Barbara Day Turner, second from right, leads pianist Jon Nakamatsu, second from left, and clarinetists Jon Manasse, left, and Alec Manasse along with the San Jos\u00e9 Chamber Orchestra in \u201cCelebration\u201d last December at St. Francis Episcopal Church in San Jose\u2019s Willow Glen neighborhood. Turner is stepping down as music director of the orchestra, which will pay tribute to Turner on Sept. 27 at St. Francis with a program titled \u201cBrava Maestra!\u201d The concert opens the orchestra\u2019s 36th season.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

After 35 seasons at the helm of the\u00a0San Jos\u00e9 Chamber Orchestra, founder Barbara Day. Turner is passing the baton to concertmaster Liana B\u00e9rub\u00e9, who will take over as music director. Turner will remain active in the orchestra in her role as artistic director.<\/p>\n

The San Jos\u00e9 Chamber Orchestra (SJCO) will pay tribute to Turner on Sept. 27 with a program titled \u201cBrava Maestra!\u201d B\u00e9rub\u00e9 will be at the podium for the concert, which opens the group\u2019s 36th season.<\/p>\n

B\u00e9rub\u00e9 met Turner in 2011 when she auditioned for the orchestra and was named associate concertmaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cBarbara immediately struck me as a vibrant, wickedly intelligent and no-nonsense person, and I was immediately drawn to her,\u201d B\u00e9rub\u00e9 wrote in an email. \u201cOver the years she has been incredibly supportive of me and my own projects, offering me solo opportunities, investing in my commissioning projects and giving me countless tidbits of valuable advice. She has seen and nurtured opportunities for my growth that I didn\u2019t even know were there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turner has provided other musicians with growth opportunities over the years, commissioning and\/or premiering over 260 new works, and has accepted five ASCAP\/League of American Orchestras Adventurous Programming Awards.<\/p>\n

The program for the Sept. 27 concert honors Turner\u2019s sense of adventure. B\u00e9rub\u00e9 will be the violin soloist on Marc-Olivier Dupin\u2019s \u201cVariations on La Traviata,\u201d while David Cortez and Adrienne Malley will play soprano saxophone and English horn solos, respectively, on \u00a0Michael Touchi\u2019s \u201cTango Barroco.\u201d The piece is one of more than 20 that Touchi, longtime \u00a0organist\/pianist for Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Saratoga, has written for the chamber\u00a0 orchestra.<\/p>\n

The program also features Jeremy Cohen\u2019s \u201cBei Mir Bist Du Schoen (To Me, You Are Beautiful),\u201d Steven Mark Kohn\u2019s \u201cHymn (for string orchestra)\u201d and Max Wolpert\u2019s \u201cLid un Tantsn,\u201d String Quartet No. 3.<\/p>\n

In retrospect, B\u00e9rub\u00e9 says it seems as though Turner has been prepping her to take over as music director and conductor for some time. It\u2019s a responsibility she doesn\u2019t take lightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she has seen this handoff coming for many years,\u201d B\u00e9rub\u00e9 said. \u201cShe started asking me to lead conductor-less pieces in rehearsal and performance at least as far back as 2018, and has from time to time consulted me on repertoire for a long time as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge honor for me to be given the task of carrying forward the incredible organization she has created; I feel a massive responsibility and also a deep gratitude to Barbara and the larger SJCO community for the trust that is being placed in me to bring SJCO into its next chapter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The San Jos\u00e9 Chamber Orchestra will perform \u201cBrava, Maestra!\u201d Sunday, Sept. 27, \u00a0at 7 p.m. at St Francis Episcopal Church, 1205 Pine Ave. in San Jose\u2019s Willow Glen neighborhood. Tickets are $25-$85 at https:\/\/sjco.org<\/a>, 408-295-4416 or at the door.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conductor Barbara Day Turner, second from right, leads pianist Jon Nakamatsu, second from left, and clarinetists Jon Manasse,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":["post-470101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}