Ask California Symphony music director Donato Cabrera “What’s new?” these days and he’ll likely tell you there’s quite a bit.
Cabrera, who’s heading into his 10th season as music director of the Walnut Creek orchestra, today announced the California Symphony’s 2022-2023 season. And throughout the 10-concert campaign, the orchestra breaks new ground.
Consider:
- Each and every composition California Symphony has programmed for the upcoming season will be played in public by the orchestra for the first time.
- Nearly a third of the composers represented in the campaign are women or people of color (or both). Overall, the composers featured in the new season include Anna Clyne, Zoltán Kodály, Grażyna Bacewicz, Alexander Zemlinsky, Joseph Bologne (Chevalier de Saint-Georges), and Composer-in-Residence Viet Cuong, who is completing his stint with the orchestra this season. Other composers in the mix include Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, and more.
- The orchestra will feature an all-women lineup of guest artists in the 2022-23 season, including Bay Area natives Elizabeth Dorman (piano) and Sara Couden (contralto), as well as Austrian-Romanian pianist Maria Radutu, and New York cellist Inbal Segev.
“I wanted to mark this achievement of 10 years of artistic growth and elevated ambition by performing an entire season of music that the orchestra has never performed before,” Cabrera said in a statement. “All of the compositions that I have chosen, while new to our Walnut Creek audience, are celebrated for their unique beauty and groundbreaking nature.”
The season kicks off Sept. 10-11 with a program highlighted by rising star composer Anna Clyne, a former composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Berkeley Symphony, and her 2019 work “DANCE” for cello and orchestra. The piece was commissioned by Israeli cellist Inbal Segev, who will perform the work as a featured soloist.
Other highlights:
A Program titled “All Things Strings” (Nov. 5-6) features Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz’s percussive Concerto for String Orchestra, as well as pianist Elizabeth Dorman’s performance of Gerald Finzi’s Eclogue for Piano and Strings.
“Chopin in Paris” (Feb. 4-5) features the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11, with guest solo Maria Radutu; as well as 18th-century composer Chevalier de Saint Georges’s “L’amant anonyme” (The Anonymous Lover). The Guadalupe-born composer was considered one of the first major African composers in classical music.
“Mahler’s Inner Circle” (March 25-26, 2023) features Walnut Creek contralto Sara Couden performing Alma Mahler’s “Fünf Lieder.” The composer was married to Gustav Mahler but he did not support her work.
“Fresh Inspirations” (May 20-21, 2023) features the world premiere of composer-in-residence Viet Cuong’s third and final commission for the orchestra. More details on that are TBA.
Performances are at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. Season subscription packages — available for three, four or five concerts and starting at $99 — are available. Individual tickets ($49-$79) go on sale in July.
For more information, visit www.californiasymphony.org.
Source: www.mercurynews.com