November 5, 2021
Soloist Alexi Kenney gives us the low down on playing the role of conductor in the first half of the upcoming FOUR SEASONS concerts, his Bay Area roots (and favorite eats), and the story behind his new body art. Your last performance in person with the California Symphony was for the Bruch Violin Concerto No.
October 28, 2021
—By Music Director Donato Cabrera The music of the Baroque is the music of the Age of Reason and The Enlightenment. It is ordered in that the instruments used are essentially always stringed instruments with occasional winds thrown in. It is balanced in that the soloists aren’t any more prominent or important than the group,
October 27, 2021
Anonymous (18th century) Italian English La Primavera Spring AllegroGiunt’ è la Primavera e festosettiLa Salutan gl’ Augei con lieto canto,E i fonti allo Spirar de’ ZeffirettiCon dolce mormorio Scorrono intanto:Vengon’ coprendo l’ aer di nero amantoE Lampi, e tuoni ad annuntiarla elettiIndi tacendo questi, gl’ Augelletti;Tornan’ di nuovo al lor canoro incanto: LargoE quindi sul
October 25, 2021
You might be thinking: “A 16th century instrument featured in modern day pop songs? No plucking way.” But it’s true! Here are our top 5 picks of pop songs that feature this unique keyboard instrument. 1. Scarborough Fair—Simon & Garfunkel Parsley, sage, rosemary and… harpsichord? Who remembers this? 2. Monday, Monday—Mamas & the Papas It
October 19, 2021
George Walker (1922–2018) Lyric for Strings (1946) “One finds something … that provides the genesis to motivate the direction in which you want to go.” That’s George Walker speaking in 1987, encapsulating the wisdom of a career that embodied American music at its most aspirational and accomplished. Lyric for Strings provides an ideal entry point
October 19, 2021
FOUR SEASONS harpsichordist Derek Tam explains how playing the harpsichord is different from playing a piano, and similar to being a drummer in a jazz combo. Are you a harpsichord specialist or do you play other keyboard instruments? I’m a keyboard omnivore. I specialize on historical instruments such as the harpsichord and fortepiano (that is,
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,