Christian Baldini, the conductor of the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, has taken on an additional gig. He will conduct Sacramento’s Camellia Symphony, a community orchestra that will mark its 50th anniversary next season.

The Camellia Symphony will play four concerts in 2012-13 — all at the recently modernized Performing Arts Center at Sacramento City College, in Sacramento’s Land Park neighborhood. The season includes:

* Oct. 6: Dmitri Shostakovich: Festive Overture; Ludwig van Beethoven, Violin Concerto (soloist to be announced); Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 4;

* Nov. 17: W.A. Mozart: Overture to “The Magic Flute”; Mozart: “Exultate, Jubilate” with soprano Caroline Hennessey; Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 5;

* Feb. 9: Johannes Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Haydn; Antonin Dvorak, Cello Concerto, with cellist Richard Andaya; Robert Schumann, Symphony No. 3 (“Rhenish”); and

* April 20: An “all-American” program, featuring Steven Reineke, “Celebration Fanfare”; George Gershwin, Piano Concerto in F; Aaron Copland, Four Dance Episodes from “Rodeo”; Howard Hanson, Symphony No. 2 (“Romantic”).

The Performing Arts Center at Sacramento City College was built in 1937 as a 1,200-seat auditorium with spartan but functional wooden seats, with benches in the back. The hall was reconfigured and modernized over the past two years into a 620-seat hall with more comfortable seating, an up-to-date lighting system, acoustic upgrades and other features. The Works Progress Administration-era mural in the lobby was retained.

Some of the old bench seating in the back of the hall was converted into two classrooms, which accounts for a goodly portion of the shift in seating capacity. The “new” hall was shown off by Sacramento City College with a press tour on May 8.

Baldini was named conductor of the UCD Symphony Orchestra in 2009. Earlier this year, he led that orchestra on a four-city tour of Spain. This summer, Baldini has been a guest conductor with the National Youth Orchestra in South Africa and the Buenos Aires Philharmonic in Argentina, his second engagement with that orchestra.

Baldini’s wife, Matilda Hofman, is also a conductor. In June, she was named conductor of the Diablo Symphony in Concord, which is also marking its 50th anniversary this coming season. Details of the season have yet to be announced.

Baldini and Hofman live in Davis with their two sons under age 4.

— Reach Jeff Hudson at [email protected] or (530) 747-8055.

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Sacramento’s Camellia Symphony will perform under a new conductor this season — Christian Baldini, who also wields the baton in front of the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra. This summer, Baldini has been a guest conductor with the National Youth Orchestra in South Africa and the Buenos Aires Philharmonic in Argentina. Courtesy photo

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