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 28, 2020
If he’d been allowed to sit down while practicing the violin as a child, Adam Golka may never have pursued his career as a pianist. Adam Golka tells us about his Texan-Polish roots, meditation, and that time he helped to avert disaster at a friend’s concert. Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are
August 15, 2019
By California Symphony Music Director Donato Cabrera. As we approach the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth in 2020, I thought we could get a head start by programming his most popular symphony, and perhaps the most recognizable piece of Western Classical Music, his Symphony №5, with one of his lesser known works, The Creatures
August 15, 2019
Ludwig van Beethoven – Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus (1801) We tend not to think of Beethoven as a theatrical composer. We think symphonies, we think sonatas, we think string quartets and piano trios and concertos. After all, he wrote only one opera (Fidelio) plus a smattering of incidental music. And there’s a
August 25, 2018
Music Director Donato Cabrera and pianist Charlie Albright reprise a celebrated collaboration for the California Symphony’s 2018–19 season opener. We asked Music Director Donato Cabrera and returning virtuoso Charlie Albright about the upcoming BEETHOVEN & BERNSTEIN concert at the Lesher Center — Sept. 23 at 4PM. California Symphony: Donato, you intended for the 2018–19 season opener to commemorate
August 16, 2018
An American icon’s best loved works and a returning virtuoso feature in the California Symphony’s 2018–19 season opener—Sunday, September 23, at 4pm, at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek. Read Scott Foglesong’s program notes here. PROGRAM: BEETHOVEN & BERNSTEIN Sunday, September 23, at 4pm, at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek Overture to Candide (1956) — by Leonard Bernstein
April 13, 2018
Haochen Zhang reunites with Music Director Donato Cabrera five years after their first “glittering” collaboration Haochen Zhang and then Music Director candidate Donato Cabrera in 2013. For internationally acclaimed, award-winning pianist Haochen Zhang, the California Symphony’s 2017–18 season finale concert SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW marks Zhang’s second time performing with the orchestra—five years after his 2013
January 9, 2018
We take a closer look at the wildly ambitious 1808 concert which debuted no less than two symphonies, a piano concerto, and a new choral piece (plus a selection of other favorites) in a frigid, four-hour long musical marathon. On a freezing cold winter’s night in Vienna, December 22, 1808, one of the most legendary
January 3, 2018
“How he dealt with this deafness is one of the great stories of humanity, not just of music.” — Music Director Donato Cabrera The Arcadian of Pastoral State by Thomas Cole (on left). Portrait of Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler (on right). By California Symphony Music Director Donato Cabrera Imagine directing an orchestra you can’t hear. Or playing a