October 5, 2022
The 2022/23 season celebrates a number of milestones, including Music Director Donato Cabrera’s tenth season with the California Symphony. He sat down with us to share his reflections on the journey so far. Congrats on your tenth season with California Symphony! We should have got you a cake or something but all we’ve prepared are these
October 5, 2022
In June of this year, Sam Weiser was one of 24 violinists auditioning for a spot with the orchestra. Fast forward three months and after winning the Assistant Concertmaster position, Sam found himself fast-tracked for the top job for season opener INTERSECTIONS, as Concertmaster Jennifer Cho sat it out due to a scheduling conflict. We
October 5, 2022
Edward Elgar (1857–1934) Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47 (1905) Had Edward Elgar not been a musician, he just might have been a scientist or an inventor. Fascinated by technology, he was a keen amateur chemist who even patented a method to produce hydrogen sulfide. Thus it’s not surprising that he was an enthusiastic advocate of
August 24, 2022
In June of this year, Sam Weiser was one of 24 violinists auditioning for a spot with the orchestra. Fast forward three months and after winning the Assistant Concertmaster position, Sam finds himself fast-tracked for the top job for season opener INTERSECTIONS, as Concertmaster Jennifer Cho sits it out due to a scheduling conflict. We
August 10, 2022
Zoltan Kodály (1882–1967) Dances of Galánta (1933) If Zoltan Kodály ever resented his chronic second-banana status to friend and colleague Béla Bartók, he never let on. But it must have rankled. Bartók biographies invariably describe how, in his salad days, he traipsed through the backwaters of Eastern Europe, Edison cylinder recorder in tow, in search
August 9, 2022
Inbal Segev on YouTube Musings, Adding Virtuosity, and an Unexpected Connection to Resident Composer Viet Cuong. We last saw you in Walnut Creek in May 2017, in the days before this blog existed. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? I am very much looking forward to returning to play with the California Symphony!
May 18, 2022
This weekend’s EPIC FINALE concert was a fitting exclamation point on the season, as audiences got to hear Viet Cuong’s Next Week’s Trees (live and in-person, not on a screen!), Nathan Chan’s beautiful rendition of Elgar’s Cello Concerto, and Tchaikovsky’s triumphant Symphony No. 5.
April 29, 2022
SOLOIST NATHAN CHAN SHARES HIS THOUGHTS ON REUNITING WITH MENTOR DONATO CABRERA, PERFORMING ELGAR’S CELLO CONCERTO AT EPIC FINALE, GROWING UP AS A MUSICAL PRODIGY, AND HOW TO GO VIRAL ON TIKTOK. What’s it like to come home and perform in the Bay Area with your former mentor, Donato Cabrera? It is with great excitement
April 29, 2022
Principal horn Meredith Brown reflects on the return to live performances, stepping off the hamster wheel, and finding renewed purpose. Way back in 2020, while we were all reeling and horrified by suddenly being plunged into a pandemic, a part of me was learning about life. It turns out that even when you “do what
April 21, 2022
Viet Cuong (b. 1990) Next Week’s Trees (2021) “Light is an invitation to happiness,” wrote beloved poet Mary Oliver in “Poppies”. We could all use such an invitation about now. We’ve been through a period of darkness, of present dread and future fear, a time of foreboding and separation. But such things don’t last. The