January 6, 2026
Harmoniemusik in Vienna Music for wind band (harmoniemusik) was long a Viennese mainstay. In a land filled with music-loving aristocrats who couldn’t afford a resident full-time orchestra, a wind ensemble (harmonie), typically made up of pairs of oboes, clarinets, horns, and bassoons, provided a handy source for the ‘table music’ (tafelmusik) that accompanied dinners, garden…
November 6, 2025
Jessie Montgomery (b. 1981) Overture (2022) Musicians come in all sizes, shapes, and skillsets. Some are one-trick ponies, but their tricks are really good. Others might encompass multiple disciplines – pianist-composers, composer-conductors, performer-teachers, and the like. And there are those who embrace the whole. That’s where Jessie Montgomery comes in: violinist, teacher, and composer with…
February 10, 2025
Robert Thies shot to fame in 1995 when he became the first American in four decades—since Van Cliburn’s Cold War win in 1958—to win a Russian piano competition, but things didn’t quite work out as planned… Robert talks with us ending up at zero after his feted win and looking forward to performing Mozart’s Piano…
January 3, 2025
Carlos Simon (b. 1986) Breathe (2021) Anyone who has practiced meditation knows the centrality of the breath. Many traditions teach basic breath practices—focusing on nostrils or diaphragm or belly, counting breaths, etc. Breath is central to our very existence as living beings; we all breathe in one way or another, whether we are people, penguins,…
March 19, 2024
It’s rare that a concert is stopped midway through a piece, but that’s exactly what happened during Sunday’s MOZART SERENADES concert when part of an instrument broke off mid-performance. The heroic actions and incredible sight-reading talents of one California Symphony musician saved the day. Rarely played today, the basset horn is featured in a number…
March 7, 2024
Richard Strauss (1864–1949) Serenade in E-flat Major, Op. 7 (1881) Richard Strauss may have been a mere puppy when he wrote his Serenade for wind ensemble, but he was a frisky puppy indeed, already the author of a handful of compositions including a string quartet, a piano sonata, and even an unpublished symphony. He was…
December 4, 2022
Mozart’s true life story needs no Hollywood-style embellishments, says Music Director Donato Cabrera. Tom Hulce as Wolgang Amadeus Mozart in the 1984 hit movie “Amadeus”. By California Symphony Music Director Donato Cabrera. A murderously jealous rival. A mysterious commission from a “gray messenger.” Rumors of poisoning… If the circumstances of Mozart’s death at 35 read like…
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 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…
