The Diablo Symphony Orchestra opens its 2026-27 season Sunday at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek with a piece that asks the audience to breathe.

“Northern Spirits” begins at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25. The program opens with “Breathe,” a quiet orchestral work by Grammy-nominated composer Carlos Simon, followed by Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1 featuring Bay Area pianist Leyla Kabuli, and closes with Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2.

Music director Matilda Hofman said in a release published by Contra Costa News she chose Simon’s piece as a touchstone for the entire season.

“It’s a soft, slow piece, so it’s not your typical season opener in some ways,” Hofman said. She described it as a meditative work that explores the orchestra’s colors in subtle ways.

Simon, the Kennedy Center’s composer-in-residence and inaugural composer chair for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, wrote “Breathe” in 2021 for the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. He drew on the writings of theologian Howard Thurman, a onetime San Francisco resident.

On his website, Simon said he was inspired by Thurman’s book “Meditations of the Heart” and wrote the piece to give listeners an opportunity for reflection and calm.

Kabuli, a former keyboardist with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, is a doctoral candidate in electrical engineering and computer sciences at UC Berkeley, according to the release. She solos in Prokofiev’s roughly 15-minute concerto. Hofman called the concerto a spectacle, praising Kabuli as a brilliant young soloist.

Diablo Symphony Orchestra president Janet Grizzell said every musician on stage is a volunteer who rehearses weekly out of love for the music and the community. Founded in 1962, the orchestra is the oldest volunteer orchestra in Contra Costa County, according to the release.

Tickets are $45 for adults, $15 for youth ages 13 to 17 and free for children 12 and under, according to the release. Children still need a ticket. Senior groups of 10 or more pay $35 per person. Five-concert adult subscriptions cost $185.

Tickets are available through the orchestra’s website and the Lesher Center box office at 925-943-7469.

Upcoming Diablo Symphony concerts:

  • Saturday, Dec. 12: “Holidays: The Snowman Meets Vivaldi” at Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church, featuring the San Ramon Valley Chorale in Vivaldi’s “Gloria” and a live score to the animated film “The Snowman.”
  • Sunday, Feb. 21, 2027: “Our Natural World,” a family concert with music from “Jurassic Park” and “Carnival of the Animals,” plus the Yen Liang Young Artist Competition winner.
  • Sunday, April 4, 2027: “Sounds of the Americas,” with music by William Grant Still, Aaron Copland and George Gershwin.
  • Sunday, May 16, 2027: Season finale featuring Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony.

Dates and venues are listed on the orchestra’s season calendar.