California Symphony Presents the World Premiere of TANGLE EYE, 5/7

Music Director Donato Cabrera leads the California Symphony in the world premiere of the newly-commissioned cello concerto, Tangle Eye, by its current Young American Composer-in-Residence, Dan Visconti, with soloist Inbal Segev on Sunday, May 7 at 4 pm at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. The Israeli-American cellist, now based in New York, is a champion of contemporary music, and performs as a soloist with a Bay Area orchestra for the first time in the Orchestra's May 7 season finale. This is Visconti's final work as a Young American Composer-in-Residence with the Orchestra; his residency ends this year. The California Symphony also performs Bruckner's Symphony No. 6 for the first time in its 30-year history, and the program opens with Beethoven's Coriolan Overture.

Cabrera, Visconti and Segev are also offering a free public introduction to Tangle Eye on Wednesday, May 3 at 7 pm, in Live! from the Library - Fresh Ink: New Music at the Walnut Creek Public Library. The three will introduce and discuss the music and the collaborative process, and Segev will perform short excerpts to illustrate the musical concepts.

In a year of special programming that has highlighted the music by a Young American Composer-in-Residenceprogram alumnus on each of its concerts, Cabrera has led the California Symphony in compositions by Christopher Theofanidis (1994-96), Kevin Puts (1996-99), Pierre Jalbert (1999-2002), Kevin Beavers (2002-05), and now the latest work by the current composer, Dan Visconti (2014-17), who completes his residency with this concert. Throughout its 30-year history, the Orchestra has made American repertoire its special focus, nurturing and commissioning work from emerging American composers as well as performing the most revered core classical repertoire. Composer Katherine Balch, 25, has just been named the Orchestra's new Young American Composer-in-Residence for the 2017-20 term; she is the first female applicant to win the highly competitive residency, which was launched in 1991 and remains a core component of the Orchestra's mission to nurture and help develop the music of the composers of our time.

Equally committed to new repertoire for the cello and recognized masterworks, Inbal Segev brings interpretations that are both unreservedly natural and insightful to the vast range of solo and chamber music that she performs. Segev has appeared as soloist with many acclaimed orchestras in the US and internationally, and made debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic, led by Zubin Mehta, at age 17. She has commissioned new works from composers including Avner Dorman, Timo Andres, Fernando Otero, Gity Razaz, Visconti and others. In addition to her work as a soloist, she is a founding member of the Amerigo Trio with former New York Philharmonic concertmaster Glenn Dicterow and violist Karen Dreyfus. Her discography includes Bach's Cello Suites, a world premiere recording of works by Lucas Richman with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Sonatas by Beethoven and Boccherini, Nigun, and Max Schubel's Concerto for Cello. With the Amerigo Trio she has recorded serenades by Dohnányi.

Inbal Segev's many honors include the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship and top prizes at the Pablo Casals, Paulo, and Washington International Competitions. She began playing the cello in Israel at age five and at 16 was invited by Isaac Stern to come to the U.S. to continue her studies. She holds degrees from The Juilliard School and Yale University.

Active as a composer, concert curator, and writer on music, Dan Visconti is updating the role of the classical musician for the 21st century as he creates new projects in collaboration with the community. For his ongoing initiatives to address social issues through music by reimagining the arts as a form of cultural and civic service, Visconti was awarded a 2014 TED Fellowship. Visconti's musical compositions are rooted in the improvisational energy and maverick spirit of rock, folk music, and other vernacular performance traditions-elements that tend to collide in unexpected ways with Visconti's classical training.

Commission credits include works written for the Kronos Quartet, Branford Marsalis, eighth blackbird, Opera Philadelphia, the JACK Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, Da Capo Chamber Players, Scharoun Ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic, Silk Road Project percussionist Shane Shanahan, guitarist Jason Vieaux, soprano Lucy Shelton, and many others. His most recent commission for the California Symphony, Living Language (2016), is being performed this season by three other orchestras: the Reading Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and Richmond Symphony. His music has been performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Disney Hall, Barbican Theatre, and Sydney Opera House. In addition to his position as Young American Composer-in-Residence with the California Symphony, he has also held residencies with the Arkansas Symphony and Metropolitan Opera.

Visconti's music has been recognized with the Rome Prize, Berlin Prize, and awards from the Koussevitzky Foundation at the Library of Congress (for Living Language), Fromm Foundation, Naumburg Foundation, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Visconti currently serves as Director of Artistic Programming at Chicago's Fifth House Ensemble and works with young musicians at the ensemble's annual fresh inc festival on cultivating musical careers in line with their own unique vision and values. He is also Artistic Advisor at Astral Artists, where he works to develop the next generation of classical music leaders.

The California Symphony, celebrating its 30th Anniversary in the 2016-17 season, is distinguished for its concert programs that combine classics alongside American repertoire and lesser-known works, its pioneering Young American Composer-in-Residence program, its nationally recognized education programs, and for bringing music to people in new and unconventional settings. The Orchestra is in its fourth season with Music Director Donato Cabrera. The Orchestra is comprised of musicians who have performed with the orchestras of the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet, and others, and many of its musicians have been performing with the California Symphony for nearly all its existence. California Symphony has launched the careers of some of today's most-performed composers and soloists, including violinist Sarah Chang, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and composers such as Mason Bates, Christopher Theofanidis, and Kevin Puts. The Orchestra is expanding its regional base in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, and performed concerts in four new venues during the 2015-16 season, in addition to concerts at its home at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. For more information, please visit www.californiasymphony.org.

Music Director Donato Cabrera joined the California Symphony in 2013. He has been the Music Director of the Las Vegas Philharmonic Orchestra since 2014, and he also has a thriving international conducting career. He was the Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) and the Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) from 2009 through the 2015-16 season. As Music Director of the California Symphony, Cabrera is committed to featuring music by American composers, supporting young artists in the early stages of their careers, and commissioning new world premieres from talented resident composers. Cabrera was a co-founder of the New York-based American Contemporary Music Ensemble. He made his Carnegie Hall debut leading the world premiere of Mark Grey's ?tash Sorushan. In 2002, Cabrera was a Herbert von Karajan Conducting Fellow at the Salzburg Festival. He has served as assistant conductor at the Ravinia, Spoleto (Italy), and Aspen Music Festivals, and as resident conductor at the Music Academy of the West. Cabrera has also been an assistant conductor for productions at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. From 2005-2008, he was Associate Conductor of the San Francisco Opera and in 2009, he made his debut with the San Francisco Ballet. Cabrera was the rehearsal and cover conductor for the Metropolitan Opera production and DVD release of Doctor Atomic, which won the 2012 Grammy® Award for Best Opera Recording. In 2010, Donato Cabrera was recognized by the Consulate-General of Mexico in San Francisco as a Luminary of the Friends of Mexico Honorary Committee for his contributions to promoting the Mexican community in the Bay Area. He holds degrees from the University of Nevada and the University of Illinois and has also pursued graduate studies in conducting at Indiana University and the Manhattan School of Music. For more information, visit www.donatocabrera.com.

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