October 28, 2019
Haydn was the vastly accomplished composer of the era. 24 years younger, Mozart’s reputation was on the rise. Both were prolific, both admired each other’s work, and a close friendship soon ensued in 1780s Vienna. If only I could impress Mozart’s inimitable works on the soul of every friend of music, and the souls of…
October 26, 2019
Composer Kevin Puts’ association with California Symphony dates back to 1996, when he became the orchestra’s third ever Young American Composer-in-Residence. It was an experience he has called “life-changing,” and it launched a career that has so far yielded the prestigious Rome Prize (2002) and a Pulitzer Prize win for his debut opera Silent Night (2012), as well…
October 20, 2019
At just 23 years old, she’s a national award-winner, Harvard and New England Conservatory graduate, and a YouTube star. Pleasanton-born flute powerhouse Annie Wu joined us to talk about her California connections, Lizzo, and her wardrobe choice regrets for the flute-beatboxing video she made when she was in high school and which ended up going…
October 17, 2019
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Symphony No. 1 in E-flat Major, K. 16 (1764) A child prodigy of staggering talent, itty-bitty Wolfgang Mozart was trundled about Western Europe from ages 7 through 10 by his doting—and exploitative—father. The family arrived in London in April 1764, where eight-year-old Wolfgang formed a close bond with Johann Christian Bach,…
October 17, 2019
By California Symphony Music Director Donato Cabrera. In programming this concert with the California Symphony, there were a few ‘a-ha moments’ that I hoped to share with everyone, on stage and off. Because conductors and unadventurous and nervous marketing departments of most symphony orchestras have sadly codified the repertoire, you, the audience, rarely get to hear all of…
March 8, 2018
What additional treasures might exist had Mozart survived beyond 35? And what iconic works *wouldn’t* we have, if other great composers had died young like him? When I am… completely myself, entirely alone… or during the night when I cannot sleep, it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly. Whence and…
