California Symphony

A Part of the WFMT Orchestra Series

PLEASE NOTE: Playlists for this program can be found on the right-hand side of the WFMT Orchestra Series page! Please subscribe to the WFMT Orchestra Series on PRX by following the link on the right-hand sidebar.

The California Symphony, 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.

Centered on California Symphony’s mission of presenting works by living American composers, these four programs each mesh contemporary work with audience-focused and familiar pieces.

  • First up from the CA Symphony is a program featuring the premiere performance of Stargazer by recent CA Symphony Composer-in-Residence Viet Cuong, with Sarah Cahill at the piano. Walton’s Symphony No. 1 continues Music Director Donato Cabrera’s exploration of works written around the time of the Second World War, and Ravel’s audience favorite Mother Goose Suite ends the program (CAS24-01 / WOS23-36);
  • Donato Cabrera leads the CA Symphony in a program of dances and melodies. Kodály’s Dances of Galánta begins the concert, contrasted with Anna Clyne’s DANCE for Cello and Orchestra, featuring cellist Inbal Segev as soloist. Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk’s emotional and tragic Melody begins the second half, developing into Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2, which uses Ukrainian folk songs to great effect (CAS24-02 / WOS23-37);
  • The third broadcast from CA Symphony brings a rousing set of works from Bernstein, Debussy, and Gabriela Lena Frank all focused on the theme of dance. Nestled in between, hear pianist Charlie Albright perform Beethoven’s virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 3 (CAS24-03 / WOS23-38);
  • And rounding out CA Symphony’s suite of concerts, we return to Viet Cuong’s compositions with his emotional and intricate work Next Week’s Trees, commissioned by the CA Symphony early in his tenure as Composer-in-Residence. Captivating cellist Nathan Chan performs Elgar’s Cello Concerto, and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony concludes the concert (CAS24-04 / WOS23-39).

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 of 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. 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.

“These days in the Bay Area, the California Symphony may be the most forward-looking music organization around.”
–  Mercury News

In 2017, the California Symphony became the first orchestra with a public statement of a commitment to diversity. The statement underscores our commitment, on stage and off in order to make our organization as robust as possible. To read more about our commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion read our full statement here.

The mission of the California Symphony 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 our community.

Founded in 1986 under founding Music Director Barry Jekowsky, our vision is to become a 21st-century orchestra, making classical music relevant to those we serve, bringing in new audiences along the way, and ultimately more fully living up to our name across the state of California.

 

 

 

 

Details

Category: Orchestras
Duration: 2-hour / 1:58:30
Frequency: 4-part
Availability: 03/05/2024 - 03/26/2024

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Credits

  • Host: Candice Agree
  • Producer: Rebecca Nystedt
  • Engineering: David v.R Bowles