WALNUT CREEK, CA—-The Diablo Symphony has gone through its ups and downs over the years more often than the shifting tides. This process can strengthen a group long term. In its heyday of the late 20^thcentury, it hosted prominent composers like Lou Harrison and unveiled new works.

Understandably the recent year and a half long pandemic has hurt. The long-awaited resumption at the Lesher Center Nov. 20-21 showed initiative in the Diablo repertory as guest conductor Emily Senturia took to the podium and led the orchestra with a cautious hand and very restrained gestures.

Apart from the magnificent Antonin Dvorak Symphony No. 8 which requires no introduction, the Diablo maestra spotlighted music of largely overlooked Black composers as she championed creative work of outsiders, bringing forth the ingratiating “Suite de Concert” of the English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. The 14-minute, four-movement piece provides an amiable Sunday park-bench interlude peppered with waltzes, consistent with the prevalent style of Holst or Arthur Sullivan.

The composer (not related to the earlier poet Taylor Coleridge) had had numerous strikes against him in his day. Not only was he Black born of an unwed mother facing prejudice and side-tracking, but also his suite was premiered the same year as Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” arguably the most earth-shaking burst of originality in the 20^thcentury. That’s like finishing a good surfing run instants before a colossal earthquake.

Combine brass fanfares with the timeless song “Amazing Grace” and you have a rousing and exuberant concert-band curtain-raiser brevity by the East Coast professor Adolphus Hailstork, 80. Unlike the situation at many elite orchestras, here the brass section is kept off risers, putting them in balance and harmony with the rest of the ensemble. This worked to good advantage too in the Dvorak symphony, which offered effective moments by the players, particularly with the stand-out flutes and French horns in the orchestra, with the other brass not far behind.

While Ms. Senturia led with a secure tranquil beat, she played down accentuation, as if to prevent heart attacks due to effusive sounds and crescendos. Placid concerts are fine, but we also like some fire to light up our grill.

Coming from Bohemia, Dvorak was himself an outsider. His name was widely printed as Anton Dvorak by publishers to make it sound more German and thus more acceptable in 19^th-century Europe.

Surprising at the Sunday matinee offered before more than 100 patrons was the masking. While the whole audience was masked and vaccinated, very few in the orchestra donned masks at all.

Now what remains are the upward yearnings of the plucky Diablo Symphony as it works to regain its earlier prowess and finesse, a path which bear watching.

DIABLO SYMPHONY returning home to the Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek Nov. 21. For DSO info: www.diablosymphony.org.

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