California Symphony Releases Schedule of Upcoming 2015-2016 Season
By: Matt Smith Apr. 22, 2015
WALNUT CREEK, CA (April 21, 2015) - The California Symphony, entering its third season with Music Director Donato Cabrera, is expanding its regional profile in Northern California, performing concerts in three new venues beginning in June. The orchestra, based in Walnut Creek, will perform three concerts in summer 2015 and eight concerts during its 2015-16 season, including at its home at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek as well as at Oakland's Kaiser Center Rooftop Garden, the Napa Valley Performing Arts Center's Lincoln Theater in Yountville, and at the Concord Pavilion in Concord. The orchestra is focused on American repertoire, nurturing new American composers as part of its Young American Composer in Residence program, and bringing music to people in new and unconventional settings as well as performing the most revered core classical repertoire. In May 2016, the orchestra and guitarist Jason Vieaux perform the world premiere of the new concerto commission by Dan Visconti, current Young American Composer in Residence, in concert in Walnut Creek and Yountville. Other season highlights include an American Roots program with pianist Charlie Albright performing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, a showcase of two California Symphony principal musicians in a little-heard R. Strauss double concerto, a rooftop outdoor performance with Postmodern Jukebox, performances of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 and Brahms' Symphony No. 2, the orchestra's first performance accompanying the live classic film The Wizard of Oz, and holiday music with Pacific Boychoir. Season subscription ticket packages go on sale today, Tuesday, April 21, at 10 am.
The 2015-16 season opens Sunday, September 20 at the Lesher Center for the Arts, with Cabrera leading the orchestra in "Passport to the World," a variety of short pieces from an array of international composers, including Debussy, Sibelius, Falla, Dvo?ák, Rimsky-Korsakov, Grieg, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, and Glière. In celebration of Sibelius, the orchestra performs the Karelia Suite and Finlandia on the program, on the anniversary of the great Finnish composer's death. Following the September 20 opening concert, the orchestra and Cabrera welcome the audience to mingle with the artists at a special Opening Night gala benefit reception with food and drink (gala reception tickets sold separately).
The acclaimed, Grammy Award-winning Pacific Boychoir joins the orchestra musicians and Cabrera for three holiday concerts beginning December 21 at the Napa Valley Performing Arts Center's Lincoln Theater in Yountville. A highlight of the "Traditions New and Old" program is the animated family film The Snowman on the big screen, with the score performed live by the orchestra. The music also includes selections from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, Anderson's Sleigh Ride, and other festive holiday favorites, including songs and carols for the audience to sing along. The orchestra performs the "Traditions New and Old" holiday program at the Lesher Center for the Arts December 22 and 23.
On January 24, Cabrera leads the orchestra in a program of music inspired by the American experience, "American Roots," with pianist Charlie Albright performing the original jazz band version of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Kurt Weill's Suite from Threepenny Opera, Bernstein's little-heard Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs, Stravinsky's Scherzo à la russe, and Milhaud's The Creation of the World complete the program.
Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 and the overture from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro highlight the "Textbook Classics" program on March 20, led by guest conductor Leif Bjaland. California Symphony principal musicians Jerome Simas (clarinet) and Doug Brown (bassoon) share the spotlight as soloists in R. Strauss's rarely performed Duett-Concertino.
A highlight of the California Symphony's 29th season is the world premiere performance of a newly-commissioned work by Young American Composer in Residence Dan Visconti, Living Language, performed by guitarist Jason Vieaux, a 2015 Grammy Award winner for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. Led by Cabrera, the orchestra also performs Brahms' Symphony No. 2 and Philip Glass's Company for String Orchestra at the Napa Valley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater on May 6 and at the Lesher Center for the Arts on May 8.
This summer, the California Symphony joins Postmodern Jukebox for Speakeasy Symphony, a rooftop concert overlooking the lights of the Oakland cityscape on the Kaiser Center Roof Garden on June 20. The event is inspired by the prohibition era, with guests encouraged to wear 1920s garb for this California Symphony fundraiser. On July 3, the orchestra plays an outdoor Independence Day celebration concert at the Concord Pavilion in Concord, with guest conductor Michael Berkowitz leading the orchestra in the 1812 Overture and all-American favorites. On August 21, The Wizard of Oz classic film will be screened on Concord Pavilion's giant screen, with the orchestra providing live musical accompaniment, performing some of the best-loved movie songs of all time. Sarah Hicks conducts.
Subscription ticket package prices range from $168 to $288 for the California Symphony's 2015-16 season and are on sale April 21 to renewing subscribers and the general public. Tickets can be purchased through the California Symphony's website at www.californiasymphony.org and at 925-280-2490. Tickets for the June 20 California Symphony-Postmodern Jukebox concert are on sale now and are available at www.californiasymphony.org and at 925-280-2490. Tickets for the July 3 Independence Day concert and August 21 Wizard of Oz film and concert at Concord Pavilion are on sale April 21 at www.californiasymphony.org (web sales only). The December 21 and May 6 concerts at Napa Valley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater, Yountville, are on sale on April 21 at www.californiasymphony.org. All regular season 2015-16 California Symphony concerts will go on sale to buyers of individual concert tickets on August 21.
ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA SYMPHONY
The only all-professional orchestra in Contra Costa County, the California Symphony is distinguished for its concert programs that combine classics alongside lesser-known works, for its pioneering Young American Composer in Residence program, and for its nationally recognized education programs. 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. 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 mission of the California Symphony, led by Music Director Donato Cabrera, is to enhance the lives of those it serves in Contra Costa County and the extended San Francisco Bay Area by performing the full range of orchestral repertoire of the highest quality, with special attention to the work of American composers, presenting talented young performers in their first professional concert appearances, featuring performances by world class artists, and providing education outreach programs for the children and adults of its community.
Founded in 1986 under founding Music Director Barry Jekowsky, the orchestra regularly performs at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek and additional concerts at venues around the Bay Area and beyond. The orchestra's vision is to become a 21st-century orchestra, making classical music relevant to those it serves, bringing in new audiences along the way, and ultimately more fully living up to its name across the state of California.
ABOUT DONATO CABRERA
Music Director Donato Cabrera joined the California Symphony in 2013. He has been the Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) and the Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra (SFSYO) since 2009. In 2014, Cabrera was appointed Music Director of the Las Vegas Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 2013 he became Music Director of the New Hampshire Music Festival.
As SFS Resident Conductor, Donato Cabrera works closely with San Francisco Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, and frequently conducts the San Francisco Symphony throughout the year. In 2012, Cabrera led the San Francisco Symphony Chorus with Paul Jacobs on organ, in the world premiere of Mason Bates' Mass Transmission, subsequently conducting it with the Young People's Chorus of New York City in Carnegie Hall for the American Mavericks Festival. Cabrera made his San Francisco Symphony debut in April 2009 when he conducted the Orchestra with 24 hours' notice.
At the California Symphony, Cabrera is committed to featuring music by American composers, supporting young artists in the early stages of their careers, and commissioning world premieres from talented resident composers. Cabrera's first season as Music Director of the New Hampshire Music Festival in summer 2013 expanded the festival's orchestral and chamber concerts, and reestablished the Festival's family concert series.
A champion of new music, Donato Cabrera was a co-founder of the New York-based American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), which is dedicated to the outstanding performance of masterworks from the 20th and 21st centuries, primarily the work of American composers. In September 2012 he conducted ACME in the world premiere of the all-live version of Steve Reich's WTC 9/11 for three string quartets and tape at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City. He made his Carnegie Hall and Cal Performances debuts leading the world and California premieres, respectively, of Mark Grey's ?tash Sorushan.
In 2002, Cabrera was a Herbert von Karajan Conducting Fellow at the Salzburg Festival. From 2005 to 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 John Adams' 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 and developing the presence of 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.
ABOUT DAN VISCONTI, Young American Composer in Residence
Dan Visconti is the California Symphony's Young American Composer in Residence. Born in 1982, Visconti composes concert music infused with the directness of expression and maverick spirit of the American vernacular. His compositions often explore the rough timbres, propulsive rhythms, and improvisational energy characteristic of jazz, bluegrass, and rock-elements that tend to collide in unexpected ways with Visconti's experience as a classically-trained violinist, resulting in a growing body of music the Cleveland Plain Dealer describes as "both mature and youthful, bristling with exhilarating musical ideas and a powerfully crafted lyricism."
Recent concert seasons have showcased several Visconti premieres, including a work commissioned by the Jupiter Quartet for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's international string quartet series; a work featuring experimental video commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra for premiere at Zankel Hall; and a work for soprano Lucy Shelton and the Da Capo Chamber Players for premiere at Weill Recital Hall. Other commissions have come from the Kronos Quartet, the Berlin Philharmonic Scharoun Ensemble, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Albany Symphony, the Annapolis Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, the New York Youth Symphony, the Gryphon and Triple Helix piano trios, the Corigliano Quartet, the Janaki String Trio, and Volti chamber choir. His three-year appointment as Young American Composer in Residence for the California Symphony extends until 2017. He will compose and record three new works with the orchestra and Music Director Donato Cabrera.
His compositions have been honored with the Rome Prize and Berlin Prize fellowships, the Bearns Prize from Columbia University, the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Performing Arts, the Barlow Prize, and the Cleveland Arts Prize; awards from BMI and ASCAP, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Society of Composers, and the Naumburg Foundation; and grants from the Fromm Foundation, Meet the Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Chamber Music America. He has also been the recipient of artist fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Copland House, the Lucas Artists Program at Villa Montalvo, and the Virginia Commission for the Arts. Recordings of Visconti's music are available from Bridge Records, Naxos, and Fleur de Son Classics.
Visconti studied composition at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Yale School of Music, primarily with Margaret Brouwer, Aaron Jay Kernis, Ezra Laderman, and Zhou Long. He currently writes for the Huffington Post, and since 2008 he has written a weekly column for NewMusicBox, the web magazine of the American Music Center. His articles have also appeared in ArtsJournal and Symphony magazine. For his ongoing initiatives innovating concert experiences that address social issues through music, Visconti has been awarded a 2014 TED Fellowship and delivered a TED talk at the 30th Anniversary TED Conference in Vancouver.
CALIFORNIA SYMPHONY SUMMER AND 2015-16 SEASON CONCERT CALENDAR
Saturday, June 20 at 8 pm
Kaiser Center Roof Garden, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland
Speakeasy Symphony: Postmodern Jukebox and California Symphony
A new California Symphony Fundraiser
Step back into the Roaring 20s as California Symphony and Postmodern Jukebox set the mood. Sip champagne, get decked out in your finest 1920s garb, and enjoy an evening of music under the stars and above the city lights of Oakland, all to benefit the California Symphony. For more information, visit http://www.californiasymphony.org
TICKETS: $125 (cocktail ticket); $500 (dinner ticket). Tickets available now at http://www.californiasymphony.org.
Friday, July 3 at 8 pm
Concord Pavilion, 2000 Kirker Pass Road, Concord
Michael Berkowitz, conductor
California Symphony
California Symphony pops concerts return to the Concord Pavilion after a 13-year hiatus with a patriotic program featuring movie themes as well as Independence Day standards, including the 1812 Overture with real cannons.
PROGRAM:
The Star-Spangled Banner
America the Beautiful
Gould - American Salute
James Beckel - Liberty For All
Percy Faith - Theme from A Summer Place
Hamlisch - Overture to A Chorus Line
Willson - 76 Trombones
Cohan - Medley
John Williams - March from 1941
Bernstein/Peress - Overture to West Side Story
Lee Greenwood - God Bless The USA
Armed Forces Salute
John Williams - The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme), Light Of The Force, Throne Room, and End Titles from Star Wars
Leucona - Andalucia
Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture, Opus 49
TICKETS: $25-$75 (adults); $10 for students under 18. Tickets are on sale April 21 and are available online only at http://www.californiasymphony.org. Save 30% when you purchase both this performance and The Wizard of Oz Live.
Friday, August 21 at 8:30 pm
Concord Pavilion, 2000 Kirker Pass Road, Concord
The Wizard of Oz Live: Film with Orchestral Accompaniment
Sarah Hicks, conductor
California Symphony
Experience one of the most beloved films of all time on the big screen as the orchestra plays the full film score live to accompany the movie. Judy Garland and the other actors' original vocal performances are preserved and enhanced so they can be properly heard and enjoyed as the orchestra plays. Production by Emmy Award winning producer John Goberman (Live from Lincoln Center).
TICKETS: $25-$75 (adults); $10 for students under 18. Tickets are on sale April 21 and are available online only at http://www.californiasymphony.org. Save 30% when you purchase both this performance and the July 3 Spectacular.
Sunday, September 20 at 4 pm
Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek
Opening Night, 2015-16 Season
Passport to the World
Donato Cabrera, conductor
California Symphony
PROGRAM:
Rimsky-Korsakov - Procession of the Nobles
Glière - Dance of Russian Sailors
Dvo?ák - Slavonic Dances Op. 72, No. 2 in E minor
Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on "Greensleeves"
Elgar - Pomp and Circumstance No. 1
Falla - Ritual Fire Dance
Debussy - Girl with the Flaxen Hair
Debussy - Clair de Lune
Sibelius - Karelia Suite, Op. 11, No. 1 (Intermezzo)
Grieg - The Last Spring, Op. 34, No. 2
Sibelius - Finlandia
Immediately following the Opening Night performance, at 6 pm, the musicians of the California Symphony invite you to celebrate the new season. Ticket includes wine and hors d'oeuvres and the rare opportunity to meet and mingle with Music Director Donato Cabrera and California Symphony musicians.
TICKETS: Subscription ticket packages range from $168-$288 and are available at www.californiasymphony.org. Tickets for the Opening Night Party are $75 (all proceeds benefit the California Symphony; $50 of ticket price is tax-deductible). Tickets to individual California Symphony concerts go on sale on August 21.
Monday, December 21 at 7:30 pm
Napa Valley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater, 100 California Drive, Yountville
Tuesday, December 22 and Wednesday, December 23 at 7:30 pm
Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek
Traditions New and Old
Donato Cabrera, conductor
California Symphony
Pacific Boychoir, Kevin Fox, director
PROGRAM:
Anderson - A Christmas Festival
Baker, lyrics Regney - "Do You Hear What I Hear?"
Children's Christmas Medley
Tchaikovsky - Selections from Nutcracker Suite, Opus 71a
The Snowman (film (1982); directed by Dianne Jackson, music by Howard Blake; 26 min.)
Anderson - Sleigh Ride
Audience Sing Along
TICKETS: Subscription ticket packages for California Symphony concerts at the Lesher Center for the Arts range from $168-$288 and are available at www.californiasymphony.org. Tickets for the December 21 concert at Napa Valley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater, Yountville, go on sale April 21. Tickets to individual California Symphony concerts at Lesher Center for the Arts go on sale August 21.
Sunday, January 24 at 4 pm
Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek
American Roots
Donato Cabrera, conductor
California Symphony
Charlie Albright, piano
PROGRAM:
Stravinsky - Scherzo à la russe
Milhaud - The Creation of the World
Bernstein - Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs
Weill - Suite from Threepenny Opera
Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue (Charlie Albright, piano)
TICKETS: Subscription ticket packages range from $168-$288 and are available at www.californiasymphony.org. Tickets to individual California Symphony concerts go on sale August 21.
Sunday, March 20 at 4 pm
Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek
Textbook Classics
Leif Bjaland, conductor
California Symphony
Jerome Simas, clarinet
Doug Brown, bassoon
PROGRAM:
Mozart - Marriage of Figaro Overture
R. Strauss - Duett-Concertino (Jerome Simas, clarinet and Doug Brown, bassoon)
Beethoven - Symphony No. 7
TICKETS: Subscription ticket packages range from $168-$288 and are available at www.californiasymphony.org. Tickets to individual California Symphony concerts go on sale August 21.
Friday, May 6 at 7:30 pm
Napa Valley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater, 100 California Drive, Yountville
Sunday, May 8 at 4 pm
Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek
A Grand Finale
Donato Cabrera, conductor
California Symphony
Jason Vieaux, guitar
PROGRAM:
Philip Glass - Company for String Orchestra
Dan Visconti - Living Language (World Premiere, California Symphony commission)
(Jason Vieaux, guitar)
Brahms - Symphony No. 2
TICKETS: Subscription ticket packages range from $168-$288 and are available at www.californiasymphony.org. Tickets for the May 6 concert at Napa Valley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Theater, Yountville, go on sale April 21. Tickets to individual California Symphony concerts at Lesher Center for the Arts go on sale August 21.
MEDIA CONTACTS
For more information, or for interview requests, please contact Jean Shirk at jean@shirkmedia.com or 510-332-4195. High-resolution photos of the artists may be downloaded here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fmbfeu10zi1r9sj/AABzf6RJpxse3vPW6EMqXdqta?dl=0
SPONSORS
California Symphony gratefully acknowledges the following sponsors:
Season Sponsors
Diablo Regional Arts Association
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Lesher Foundation
Connect with the California Symphony through social media:
Connect with us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/californiasymphony
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/casymphony
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