California Symphony Announce Boldest, Most Artistically Driven Season In The Orchestra's 34-Year History

California Symphony today announces its 34th season and its eighth under the baton of Music Director Donato Cabrera, even as the state remains under lockdown due to COVID-19. Cabrera says: "It's important for this organization - for our patrons, musicians, and our community - to continue to look ahead and plan for brighter days, when our musicians will again share their incredible artistry with audiences. I'm therefore extremely proud and excited to present the 2020/21 season now."

The 2020/21 season is one that Cabrera believes pushes the boundaries again creatively for the East Bay ensemble, saying "Each of these concerts takes the audience on a journey exploring universal themes, including relationships, nature, and appropriately enough, the resilience of the human spirit. Taken as a whole, the season showcases the breadth and vibrant diversity of classical music, and that's something that is so exciting to share with our patrons-and so important for the future and relevance of the art form."

Continuing the organization's formalized commitment to diversity and to playing music by living composers, 40% of composers (six out of 15) on the 2020/21 season are living, female, or composers of color. These composers include former California Symphony Composer-in-Residence Mason Bates (2007-2010), incoming Composer-in-Residence Viet Cuong (2020-2023), Melody Eötvös, and Jennifer Higdon. Composer Florence Price, the first African American woman to achieve national recognition as a symphonic composer, is also featured in California Symphony's 2020/21 season. These newer pieces will be performed alongside works by Beethoven, Stravinsky, Mozart, Haydn, Vaughan Williams, and Shostakovich.

Returning guest artists include Adam Golka, performing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 on the Emperor season opener for #Beethoven250 in September, and Joshua Roman, performing a cello concerto that was written for him by friend Mason Bates on November's Firebirds of a Feather concerts. Richard Fountain makes his California Symphony debut performing Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments in Symphonic Serenade in March 2021, on a program celebrating orchestral music for wind and brass instruments.

The two concertmasters of Music Director Donato Cabrera's two ensembles, the Las Vegas Philharmonic and California Symphony, each get to perform as guest artists at the other's orchestras: LV Phil Concertmaster De Ann Letourneau performs Price's Violin Concerto No.2 on Hidden Treasures in January 2021, while California Symphony Concertmaster Jennifer Cho takes center stage for Higdon's Violin Concerto on the May 2021 finale concerts.

To promote broader and more inclusive access, the California Symphony advertises in both English and Spanish, maintains a bilingual website, and provides unstuffy pre-concert talks and jargon-free program books. At concerts, photo booths for selfies are provided, and ice cream, wine, and signature concert cocktails may be enjoyed in the auditorium.

Says Executive Director Lisa Dell: "The California Symphony has redefined the symphony experience as welcoming no matter the patron's age, background, language, or knowledge of classical music. Even with the new challenges posed by COVID-19, we remain committed to continuing to innovate and focus on patron experience - whether in our hall or from their own couch - with the goal of delighting longtime supporters and new friends alike."

Season opener EMPEROR (September 26 & 27, 2020) honors #Beethoven250 with one of the most popular pieces of classical music ever written, as returning guest artist and Beethoven specialist Adam Golka performs Piano Concerto No. 5, the Emperor Concerto. Golka studied with masters such as Leon Fleisher, Alfred Brendel and Sir András Schiff, and at the age of 18, he presented and performed all of Beethoven's 32 Piano Sonatas. The Washington Post has praised him for his "brilliant technique and real emotional depth."

Also on the program is Sinfonia by Marianna Martines and Haydn's Symphony No. 82 (Bear).

"This concert is about chance connections, and how meeting a single individual can change our lives."-Donato Cabrera

An acclaimed composer during her lifetime, Martines played piano alongside and influenced Mozart. As a child Martines took music lessons from Josef Haydn, a struggling young composer who rented the attic of her Vienna family home. Haydn, who is celebrated as the "Father of the Symphony," in turn went on to become perhaps the most influential among Beethoven's teachers.

FIREBIRDS OF A FEATHER (November 7 & 8, 2020) features Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, which was the composer's breakthrough hit and a smash with audiences and critics alike. Respighi's Gli uccelli (the Birds) and Saqqara Bird by Australian composer Melody Eötvös augment the avian theme. Joshua Roman returns to play Mason Bates' Cello Concerto, eight years after his California Symphony debut, and two years after headlining a Symphony Surround fundraising special event for the orchestra. Dubbed a "Classical Rock Star" by the press, Roman won the position of principal cellist of the Seattle Symphony in 2006, at the age of 22. Since embarking on his solo career, he has appeared as a soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and many others. Bates-a former California Symphony Composer-in-Residence-wrote the concerto specifically to showcase Roman's talents.

HIDDEN TREASURES (January 30 & 31, 2021) uncovers some less familiar orchestral treasures, starting with Schumann's Overture, Scherzo and Finale, and Price's Violin Concerto No. 2. Schumann originally considered Overture to be his second symphony. Price was the first African American woman to achieve national recognition as a symphonic composer. After her death in 1953, she quickly faded into obscurity until dozens of her works-including this violin concerto-were recently discovered in Prices' dilapidated former summer house. Las Vegas Philharmonic Concertmaster De Ann Letourneau takes center stage as guest artist to perform the piece. Rounding out the program is Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 5. Orchestras often perform V. Williams' shorter works, however it is rare to hear his symphonies performed by orchestras in the U.S.

Showcasing the wind and brass sections of the orchestra, SYMPHONIC SERENADE (March 27 & 28, 2021) features Mozart's Serenade No. 10, better known as Gran Partita, as its centerpiece. The Serenade is notable in being longer than any of Mozart's symphonies and for the inclusion of two basset horns in the ensemble. It is also famous in popular culture as the piece in the 1984 movie Amadeus that prompts Salieri to exclaim that it was as if he was "hearing the voice of God". The concert opens with Dvorák's Serenade for Wind Instruments. Richard Fountain makes his California Symphony debut performing Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments. Says Cabrera: "The Stravinsky concerto is rhythmically tricky and requires a great musician like Richard to play it."

TRIUMPH OF THE SPIRIT (May 15 & 16, 2021) concludes the season with Shostakovich's epic Fifth Symphony, the composer's powerful comeback after having fallen out of favor with Stalin in 1936. Concertmaster Jennifer Cho performs Jennifer Higdon's Pulitzer prize-winning Violin Concerto, which the awards committee hailed as "a deeply engaging piece that combines flowing lyricism with dazzling virtuosity." Higdon's former student Viet Cuong presents the first commission of his three-year tenure as Young American Composer-in-Residence with the California Symphony. Cuong is the tenth young composer to secure the coveted residency and this world premiere marks 30 years since the founding of the acclaimed program.

"Growing up learning music written by Ilyas, Bélas, and Ludwigs, it is lovely to pour my heart into studying an award-winning concerto by a fellow Jennifer."-Concertmaster Jennifer Cho

Subscription ticket package prices for the California Symphony's 2020/21 season range from $99 to $296 and are on sale today to renewing subscribers and the general public. Season subscribers can save up to $149 and choose their own season with 3-, 4-, or 5-concert packages, including the Saturday night series. For a limited time, the 5 Saturday concert series may be purchased for as low as $99. For details and to purchase tickets, visit the California Symphony's website at www.californiasymphony.org or call 925-280-2490. Individual tickets to 2020/21 California Symphony concerts will go on sale on July 23.

All 2020/21 season performances take place at the Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek.

ABOUT CALIFORNIA SYMPHONY
The California Symphony, celebrating its 34th season in 2020/21 and its eighth season under the leadership of Music Director Donato Cabrera, is distinguished by its vibrant concert programs that combine classics alongside American repertoire and works by living composers, and for bringing music to people in new and unconventional settings. The orchestra includes musicians who perform with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet, and others, and is based in Walnut Creek at the Lesher Center for the Arts with additional recent performances around the region in Napa Valley, Concord, Oakland, and Berkeley.

Outside the concert hall, the Symphony actively supports music education as a driver for social change through its El Sistema-inspired Sound Minds program at Downer Elementary School in San Pablo, CA, which brings intensive music instruction and academic enrichment to schoolchildren in an area where 94% of students qualify for the federal free or reduced price lunch program, at no cost to the students who participate.

The Orchestra also hosts the highly competitive Young American Composer-in-Residence program and its current composer, Viet Cuong (2020-23). California Symphony has launched the careers of some of today's most well-known artists, including violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, cellists Alisa Weilerstein and Joshua Roman, pianist Kirill Gerstein and composers such as Mason Bates, Christopher Theofanidis, and Kevin Puts.

For more information, please visit californiasymphony.org.

ABOUT DONATO CABRERA
Donato Cabrera is the Music Director of the California Symphony and the Las Vegas Philharmonic, and served as the Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and the Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra from 2009-2016.

Since Cabrera's appointment as Music Director of the California Symphony in 2013, the organization has reached new artistic heights by implementing innovative programming that emphasizes welcoming newcomers and loyalists alike, building on its reputation for championing music by living composers, and committing to programming music by women and people of color. With a recently extended contract through the 2022-23 season, Cabrera continues to advise and oversee the Symphony's music education programs and community engagement activities. Cabrera has also greatly changed the Las Vegas Philharmonic's concert experience by expanding the scope and breadth of its orchestral concerts. Cabrera has also reenergized the Youth Concert Series by creating an engaging and interactive curriculum-based concert experience.

In recent seasons, Cabrera has made impressive debuts with the National Symphony's KC Jukebox at the Kennedy Center, Louisville Orchestra, Hartford Symphony, Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco, New West Symphony, Kalamazoo Symphony, and the Reno Philharmonic. In 2016, he led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in performances with Grammy Award-winning singer Lila Downs. Cabrera made his Carnegie Hall debut leading the world premiere of Mark Grey's Ătash Sorushan with soprano, Jessica Rivera.
Awards and fellowships include a Herbert von Karajan Conducting Fellowship at the Salzburg Festival and conducting the Nashville Symphony in the League of American Orchestra's prestigious Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview. 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.

2020/21 SEASON CONCERT CALENDAR

All performances take place at the Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek.

Note that in response to patron feedback, Saturday concerts start thirty minutes earlier than in previous seasons, at 7:30 PM rather than 8:00 PM.

Free 30-minute, pre-concert talks begin one hour before each performance.

Saturday, Sept. 26 at 7:30PM
Sunday, Sept. 27 at 4PM
2020-21 Season Opener: EMPEROR
Donato Cabrera, conductor
California Symphony
Adam Golka, piano
PROGRAM:
Martines-Sinfonia
Haydn-Symphony No. 82 (Bear)
Beethoven-Piano Concerto No. 5 (Emperor)
Adam Golka, piano

Saturday, Nov. 7 at 7:30PM
Sunday, Nov. 8 at 4PM
FIREBIRDS OF A FEATHER
Donato Cabrera, conductor
California Symphony
Joshua Roman, cello
PROGRAM:
Eötvös-Saqqara Bird
Bates-Cello Concerto
Joshua Roman, cello
Respighi-Gli uccelli (The Birds)
Stravinsky-Firebird Suite

Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021 at 7:30PM
Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021 at 4PM
HIDDEN TREASURES
Donato Cabrera, conductor
California Symphony
De Ann Letourneau, violin
PROGRAM:
Schumann-Overture, Scherzo and Finale
Price-Violin Concerto No. 2
De Ann Letourneau, violin
Vaughan Williams-Symphony No. 5

Saturday, Mar. 27, 2021 at 7:30PM
Sunday, Mar. 28, 2020 at 4PM
SYMPHONIC SERENADE
Donato Cabrera, conductor
California Symphony
Richard Fountain, piano
PROGRAM:
Dvorák-Serenade for Wind Instruments
Stravinsky-Concerto for Piano & Wind Instruments
Richard Fountain, piano
Mozart-Serenade No. 10 (Gran Partita)

Saturday, May. 15, 2021 at 7:30PM
Sunday, May. 16, 2021 at 4PM
Season Finale: TRIUMPH OF THE SPIRIT
Donato Cabrera, conductor
California Symphony
Jennifer Cho, violin
PROGRAM:
Cuong-World Premiere
Higdon-Violin Concerto
Jennifer Cho, violin
Shostakovich-Symphony No. 5

MEDIA CONTACTS
For more information, or for interview requests, please contact Theresa Madeira at Theresa@californiasymphony.org or 415.577.5823. High-resolution photos of the artists may be downloaded here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ixwo8y34igl9c9q/AABJg9TOohRu0FDIKlZXVOLEa?dl=0

Connect with the California Symphony through social media:
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California Symphony blog: https://www.californiasymphony.org/blog/
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