April 2, 2019
Music Director Donato Cabrera conducts Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 at the California Symphony’s season finale—a piece he feels he’s been “waiting more than one lifetime” to conduct. We talked with Maestro about Bruckner, what he finds so appealing about the Seventh Symphony, and how his perspective has been shaped by playing the French horn. 1. Your first instrument
November 11, 2018
Music Director Donato Cabrera writes from Linz, Austria, on a day commemorating the end of World War One. The announcing of the armistice on November 11, 1918, was the occasion for large celebrations in the allied nations. Today is the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day — Veterans Day in the U.S.— commemorating the end of WWI, which ended on
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
April 16, 2018
The 2017–18 season finale features two European masterpieces (“Something Old”), a world premiere (“Something New”), and a program with a difference At first glance, the line up for the California Symphony’s May 6 season closer —SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW—may look like business as usual. However delve deeper, and there is more to the finale than
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
February 28, 2018
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
January 10, 2018
Maestro Donato Cabrera’s trip down memory lane reveals a bold choice for a young conductor. Now and Then: Music Director Donato Cabrera at the podium at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek (left) and at the University of Nevada, Reno in the 1990s (right). Our upcoming PASTORAL BEETHOVEN concerts include a nostalgic selection for California Symphony
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
September 15, 2017
Music Director Donato Cabrera reflects on Mahler, whose Symphony №4 is featured in our season opener, LYRICAL DREAMS, on Sunday, September 24. When listening to a composition by Gustav Mahler, try to think about time and place. As in, the precise time and place Mahler aimed to convey in the music. Mahler was trying