September 9, 2021
Marianna Martines (1744–1812) Sinfonia (Overture) in C Major (1770) The name Marianna Martines might not be familiar to modern music lovers, but the names of those in her circle most likely are: composers Joseph Haydn, Johann Adolph Hasse, and Giuseppe Bonno, Vienna court poet Metastasio, English critic and musical gadly Charles Burney, Empress Maria Theresa
September 9, 2021
Beethoven’s fifth piano concerto is one of the best known and best loved pieces of music ever written, but it wasn’t always known as the “Emperor” and Beethoven might have had some choice words about its nickname. What’s in a name? Beethoven did not give his fifth piano concerto the nickname “Emperor” and he
August 3, 2021
Even the legendary Russian Romantic composer struggled with writer’s block, self-doubt, and the occasional lack of inspiration. By California Symphony I am written out, my head is empty, my time is past…”—Tchaikovsky While composing his Fifth Symphony, Tchaikovsky consistently doubted his ability to write. He began working on the piece in the spring of 1888
August 3, 2021
Behind every great composer is… a great patron. Without the financial and emotional support of Nadezhda Von Meck—the woman Tchaikovsky corresponded with for 14 years and yet never met—the first Russian composer to achieve international acclaim might never have made it. By California Symphony Nadezhda von Meck was the widow of a wealthy railroad magnate,
August 3, 2021
Hindsight has a funny way of making past successes seem effortlessly inevitable. (Kind of like fate?) But when Tchaikovsky wrote his Fifth Symphony, he had no way of knowing whether the work would be popularly received at its premiere (it was), or that it would still be performed over a hundred years later and adored
May 22, 2021
Nicholas Phan, tenor, and Meredith Brown, horn, are featured in Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, in the May 22 episode of Poetry in Motion. The lyrics for the piece are from works by six English poets on the subject of night. Courtesy of Wikipedia Pastoral The day’s grown old; the fainting sunHas but
May 12, 2021
Our final original poem of Symphony Gives Week celebrates YOU and all that we achieve when we RISE TOGETHER. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! Want to donate to the campaign? We are still accepting your gifts… “To this year & the next & the next after that, if we hold each other up, we’ll feel
May 6, 2021
Wonderful… Soul-refreshing…”—Kathryn Juneau, Viola When 30 California Symphony musicians came together last month to record the Poetry in Motion season finale series, it was the largest gathering of California Symphony musicians in one place since the February 2020 BRAHMS FEST concerts. We asked how it felt to be playing together again. Michel Taddei, Assistant Principal Bass—”This
May 3, 2021
It’s been hailed as “a model for residency programs across the country” (Mercury News), and former resident composer Dan Visconti calls it simply the best residency program in the country. California Symphony’s groundbreaking Young American Composer-in-Residence program turns 30 this year, helping to launch the careers of ten composers to date. We checked in with
April 29, 2021
Trevor Thompson joined the California Symphony team earlier this year to amp up focus on the Sound Minds music education program, which provides intensive music lessons at no cost to students at Downer Elementary School in San Pablo. We checked in with him at the end of his first three months on the job. Q: