Music Is Alive!

Panama City Symphony Celebrates Its 30th Anniversary Season

By Marta Rose-Thorpe | Photography by Mike Fender

“I think of an orchestra season as a work of art in itself… a single canvas composed of many movements, moods, and stories. Each concert has its own character, but together they create a cohesive narrative that reflects who we are as an orchestra, and as a community.” —Sergey Bogza

It’s Saturday night in Downtown Panama City, and the Barbara W. Nelson Fine Arts Center is alive! The pre-show fervor follows Symphony patrons into the auditorium as they take their seats. The house lights begin to dim; the clatter slowly fades. Dr. Marlene East, Panama City Symphony’s President of the Board, takes to the stage to welcome the excited crowd. She introduces the Symphony’s board of directors, gives a special thanks to the sponsors and several individuals, and the show begins—a fusion of lively (and sometimes hilarious) theatrics, mischievous songs performed by notable guest artists, and a stage full of vibrant costumes—with a hefty dose of what the Panama City Symphony is best known for: exquisite orchestral music led by the talented Maestro Sergey Bogza.

September 20, 2025, was the opening night of Panama City Symphony’s 30th Anniversary Season, Bogza’s fourth year with the Symphony. That evening, the energy was high as the orchestra performed Symphony & Soul—a collection of rich, melodic classics inspired by the Southern region—to a packed house. The balance of the 2025–2026 Season will include eight more musical concerts, including Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Symphonic Suites on Valentine’s Weekend, the Symphony’s annual black-tie gala—Bella Notte—in February, and in March, the hugely popular Renaissance to Rock-n-Roll with the Will Thompson Band. This year, for the very first time, the Symphony established an adult and children’s community chorus, which will perform at Holiday by the Bay on December 13. As a result, thirty children will have the opportunity to experience performing with the Symphony. Six performances of Musically Up Close!—a more intimate (fifty to seventy-five guests) event featuring special guest artists—will take place throughout the season at the City Hall Rotunda in Downtown Panama City. Every two years (this being the year), the Panama City Symphony also holds an Emerging Artists Competition in June, with young creatives throughout the country auditioning.

To appreciate the sheer energy, charisma, and immense creativity of Maestro Bogza, it is important to go back to the beginning. “One never knows when a small moment can change your life,” Bogza begins. “I was twelve when my mom suggested that my sister and I take piano lessons. By the end of that first lesson, I knew my life was different—I could feel it in my bones on the drive home.” At one point, he shares, he took a summer landscaping job because he needed extra money to buy a trumpet and keep paying for piano lessons. “Besides that, almost all my work has been related to music in some way!”

Several years after he started piano lessons, Bogza founded a youth orchestra. “I had no idea what I was doing at the time, but it taught me so much: how to run a diverse ensemble, arrange music, organize rehearsals, handle fundraising, and build a sense of community. It was my first real glimpse into what leadership in music could be.” He attended Portland State University, where he received his undergraduate degree in music education. He also earned a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from Central Washington University and a doctorate in orchestral conducting from the University of Minnesota. After a few years of conducting and guest conducting appointments, Bogza arrived in Bay County, Florida, in 2021.

Conducting, he shares, feels like touching electricity: “Powerful, divine, and dangerous all at once—a gift sent from above with the quiet instruction to handle with care.” Most concerts become a mental blur, he shares, “but their psychological impact stays deep in my subconscious. I often get flashbacks, memories, sounds, or faces, and it can take time (sometimes with a lot of effort) to figure out where they came from. But then there are concerts I’ll never forget: the time a soprano swallowed a fly mid-aria, and I had to stop the orchestra, or when a storm rolled in during an outdoor performance, and I started conducting a little faster so we could leave the stage.”

Bogza’s musical tastes are as wide-ranging as his season’s expansive lineup. “I feel at home when conducting work for the theatre,” he shares. “Operas, ballets, musicals, and any other productions that combine multiple art forms, preferably all. Anytime I get the opportunity to conduct baroque or Russian music is a special occasion for me . . . or create a brand-new symphonic experience like our Renaissance to Rock-n-Roll show or Nightmare by the Bay.” During his past three years, he doesn’t recall the Panama City Symphony presenting what one might call a “traditional” concert. “Each program is carefully curated and built around a unique concept or experience,” he shares. Concerts that involve guest artists stand out the most to Bogza. “There’s something deeply rewarding about sharing the stage with musicians at different points in their artistic journeys.”

As the Symphony’s board of directors has observed, ticket sales and participation have risen from previous years. Bogza continues to elevate community outreach and events, while also increasing educational programming for schools in several counties. And while the Panama City Symphony is experiencing unprecedented growth and expansion this season, Bogza is aware of the need to grow slowly, which he feels allows the organization, the musicians, and the audience to grow together, build trust, strengthen partnerships, and nurture the kind of artistic depth that endures.

“The past three years have been extraordinary,” he says. “The orchestra has grown not just in size and skill, but in spirit. Leading an orchestra is like releasing a powerful flow of energy into the world, knowing that how it touches people’s hearts is beyond your control.”

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Information about the Panama City Symphony’s 30th Anniversary Season can be found at PanamaCitySymphony.org.