The Diablo Symphony concludes its 63rd season with a performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 on Sunday, May 17 at 2:00 p.m. at the Lesher Center for the Arts. The difficulties under which Shostakovich (by then under condemnation by Stalin’s regime) was working in 1937 permeate the deep and complex emotions of this extraordinary work. The program also features works by two American composers—Aaron Copland and Daniel Pesca—that celebrate the joys and bravery of everyday existence. Composed in 1942, in response to the U.S. entry into World War II, Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” pays tribute to the heroism of the common person on the home front. And, in the West Coast premiere of Pesca’s Up North piano concerto, listeners will be transported by pictures of remembered moments of cheer, nostalgia, charm, and the warmth of family enjoyed during childhood trips taken from Alabama up to Northern Michigan each summer. With these three works, performed under the direction of conductor Matilda Hofman, the program explores the entire gamut of human emotions.