Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music

Learn more about cellist Gabriel Cabezas, who joins the Cabrillo Festival this week as soloist on Gabriella Smith's "Lost Coast", to be performed Saturday August 10th.

Cellist Gabriel Cabezas’s “Curious and Omnivorous Spirit” The 31-year-old, who’s performed with everyone from Gustavo Dudamel to Taylor Swift, chats about his career path and his passion for new music.

What an amazing first week of Cabrillo Festival 2024! What was your week one Festival highlight?

There’s more to come in week two, including more open rehearsals, intimate pre-rehearsal artist discussions, a student ensemble performance, and even more world and west coast premieres during our finale concert weekend! Visit our website for a full schedule of this weeks events, and don’t forget your concert tickets at santacruztickets.com!

Sneak peek of // BORA YOON’s “PARHELION”, premiering this Saturday August 10th at the Santa Cruz Santa Cruz Civic. Tickets available for this ground breaking orchestral experience at santacruztickets.com

New season community event! 👀 Sketching the Creative Coast is a free meetup for artists, writers, poets, doodlers, and scribblers. Local artists Marsa Greenspan and Thomas Sage Pedersen invite the public to an open rehearsal of Creative Coast on August 8th from 7-9 pm where meetup attendees will draw and write, inspired by the live orchestral experience, fostering interdisciplinary creativity in a warm communal setting. Come a little early for a pre-rehearsal talk at 6:15 pm to learn about the music you'll hear during rehearsal, with guest speakers composer // BORA YOON, producer Annie March, and CFCM Executive Director D. Riley Nicholson.

There’s so much more after opening night! Join us in person or via livestream for today’s Meet the Composers panel discussion featuring ‼️9️⃣‼️ of our composers-in-residence, with conversation moderated by Music Conductor Cristian Macelaru and followed by a Q&A.

And another evening of world and west coast premieres debut, with works inspired by myriad topics that range from migration and immigration, artistic freedom, the historical impacts of the transcontinental railroad, and personal narratives of heritage. Tickets for this evening are available at SantaCruztickets.com

It’s a mere 24 hours until the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra takes their places under the baton of Music Conductor Cristian Macelaru to present a breathtaking collection of world and west coast premieres. During our opening weekend of concerts the works of 8 composers, all in residence, will serve to stir and astound, embodying our season theme of “music as movement”.

Join us and experience the transformative power of music at America’s longest running festival for new orchestral music. Tickets are available at https://santacruztickets.com/Online/default.asp

Hear from the minds behind the Festival and its programming! Dig in on this seasons Festival podcast series hosted by Speak for Change with Thomas Sage Pedersen. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts or by visiting speakforchangepodcast.com

Don’t forget— the Festival hosts live, in person discussion panels throughout our two weeks of events. Visit cabrillomusic.org/2024-season/open-rehearsals for a full schedule.

Our 2024 season officially kicks off today with new community workshops and our first Open Rehearsal! Check our stories for a daily schedule or visit our website for a downloadable pdf of rehearsals and artist talks! https://cabrillomusic.org/2024-season/open-rehearsals/

The experience of being at the heart of a global event that promotes excellence in human achievement inspires me to reflect deeply on my journey, past and future.

We all can be better at promoting values rooted in respect, honesty, compassion and fairness. Watching the ceremony from the best seat in the house, I learned that the truly great are those who bring humanity into everything they do. The words that linger on in my ears were those spoken by Filippo Grandi when he said, “Nobody wants to be a refugee.”

Perhaps this is a chance for all of us to stand up against hate, against war and to excel in understanding our potential for a better humanity. I truly believe we have this power in our hands. Now let’s go forth and reach its potential!

Orchestre National de France
Paris 2024
Olympics

Did you spot a familiar face in last week’s telecast of the Olympic opening ceremonies? 😇🎶 CFCM Music Director and Conductor Cristian Macelaru was in full form conducting the Orchestre National de France to kick off the Paris 2024 summer Olympics.

Not to be deterred by a surprising bout of precipitation, Cristi led a rousing celebratory performance to honor France and the games, then swiftly boarded a plane to meet us at the Festival for our season! What whirlwind musical endeavours can we expect next from our dedicated creative team?

Find out how two weeks of Cabrillo Festival can elevate your summer. Starting July 29th, the Festival offers two full weeks of premiere concerts, artist engagement opportunities, community workshops and more! See full season details on our website at cabrillomusic.org.

What seems a calm facade outside the Santa Cruz Civic are the beginnings of Festival magic. Yesterday we welcomed our Conductors/ Composers Workshop participants to the hall, to begin their studies with Music Conductor Cristi Macelaru, Conductor in Residence Octavio Mas-Arocas and Composition faculty Nina Young. Our Workshop participants have traveled from across the globe to take part in this educational experience and infuse the 2024 CFCM season with their creative passion and talent.

Be part of the magic and experience the culmination of our Workshop with these FREE events taking place in the coming week. As an exciting new offering, we will be LIVESTREAMING our “In the Works” concert this year, which features new works performed by the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra penned by under-30 composers and conducted by six emerging conductors.

🌟 FREE EVENTS
🎻 TUES JULY 30 / 7PM: "In the Works" Concert (in person and live streaming)
🎻 WEDS JULY 31 / 4PM: Conductors Workshop open rehearsal (in person and live streaming)

📸: Joseph Bozich and Sebastian Serrano-Ayala

Cristi Măcelaru and the Cabrillo Festival Board and Staff want to celebrate the extraordinary dedication of our patrons and our orchestra!

Donors $500+ are invited to kick off our 2024 season with a special Donors Concert held Sunday July 28. Enjoy an intimate evening with works performed by brilliant Cabrillo Festival musicians and guest artists, including a West Coast premiere of Wynton Marsalis’ “4 Bassoons Talking”. The evening concludes with a light reception held on the Civic portico with an opportunity to engage with artists and fellow patrons.

Not sure of your current giving level? Give us a call at 831.426.6966 or email [email protected]. You may make your donation any time until doors open!

Did you know you can download our full detailed schedule of open rehearsals and artist talks that take place during our two week Festival? 👀 It all kicks off Monday July 29th with the start of our free open rehearsals, held at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium.

Visit https://cabrillomusic.org/2024-season/open-rehearsals/ for event details and rehearsal pdf, and peruse our website for all there is to know about this jam packed CFCM season!

“This ain’t your father’s classical music” 😎

Stellar write up on our upcoming season’s Creative Lab initiative, by local news slingers Good Times Santa Cruz. Don’t skip this issue’s Editorial Note on your way to the full cover story! 👀

FUTURE MUSIC | Good Times Christina Waters interviews the brilliant artists who bring the future of music to the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music

A new Festival season—and new Festival opportunities! Read through for this year’s latest offerings of community engagement events including registration information 👇

7/29 & 8/1 MINDFUL LISTENING WORKSHOP👂🎶
Experience the transformative power of music through mindful listening led by Claire Schneeberger, hosted by Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation. Info and registration at: bit.ly/3YdAps6

8/4 ADVENTURES IN MUSICLAND 🎺
A free, pre-Family Concert craft and storytelling hour at Childish Toy Shop in Downtown Santa Cruz at 11am, followed by a walking field trip to the Santa Cruz Civic!

8/5 BRAZILIAN DRUM AND DANCE WORKSHOP 🥁
Learn the traditional Brazilian Baião rhythm with local expert Dandha da Hora at the The 418 Project. In advance of hearing Clarice Assad’s Baião ‘N Blues, learn both drum and dance components of this fun and uplifting rhythm. All skill levels welcome! Info and registration at: bit.ly/3SdiMEU

8/11 MARIACHI TAPATIO AND ESPERANZA DEL VALLE 🪇
Traditional Mexican music by Mariachi Tapatio and folklorico dance by Esperanza del Valle outside the Civic Auditorium after the season closer Mariachitlán by Juan Pablo Contreras. Procure tickets for the evening concert at: bit.ly/4d6fnjo

Since it's founding, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music has presented 180 world premieres, 80 U.S. premieres, 185 West Coast Premieres, as well as commissioned more than 60 works... and our 2024 season has more in store! Many thanks to our friends at I Care if You Listen for this engaging write up on all that is new with the Festival this year!

At Cabrillo 2024, Contemporary Music Continues to Reign with 15 Composers in Residence Esteban Meneses talks with Bora Yoon, Iván Enrique Roderiguez, and more ahead of several world premieres at the 2024 Cabrillo Festival.

T-3 weeks until opening night of Cabrillo Festival 2024! Grab your tickets for this enthralling new music experience at https://cabrillomusic.org/order-tickets/

The season kicks off with Vivian Fung's "Parade" reflecting on the pandemic journey from isolation to community. Helen Grime's Violin Concerto offers a virtuosic concert experience, featuring soloist Leila Josefowicz. Nina Young's "Tread Softly" honors the Women's Suffrage movement, while Karim Al-Zand's world premiere "Al Hakawati", explores the stories we tell and how they are remembered through time, featuring the captivating soprano Miriam Khalil.

Witness history in the making as our CFCM 2024 Conductors/Composers Workshop Fellows participate in our annual "In the Works" Concert
on Tuesday July 30th!

Three brand-new compositions from our under-30 composers will receive their world premieres, each presented with individual interpretations conducted under the baton of our six emerging conductors.

Don’t miss this FREE concert featuring these voices which are shaping the future of orchestral music. More details can be found at https://cabrillomusic.org/2024-season/in-the-works/

🎼Composition Fellows🎼
Daixuan Ai
Nick Bentz
Ella Kaale

🎶Conducting Fellows🎶
Yeo Ryeong Ahn
Yun Cao
Omar El Jamali
J. Andrew Kim
Ana Spasovska
Kin Szeto

Open rehearsals, free community concerts and meetups, educational workshops, world premieres and that special ingredient: our Santa Cruz locale! What part of our CFCM 2024 season schedule has you most excited?

Read more about our season offerings at https://cabrillomusic.org/2024-season/

Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, in partnership with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) is delighted to announce that Tyson Gholston Davis, 23, is the winner of the second annual Cabrillo Festival Emerging Black Composers Prize!

As the winner, Davis will receive a commissioning award for the composition of a new five to nine minute symphonic work. The piece will receive its world premiere performance featuring the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Cristian Macelaru during the 2025 Cabrillo Festival season. In addition, Davis is invited as a 2025 Cabrillo Festival composer-in-residence.

Read more about our winner as well as our partnership with SFCM at https://sfcm.edu/discover/newsroom/second-cabrillo-emerging-black-composers-prize-awarded-tyson-gholston-davis

Your Friday moment of Zen courtesy of Lembit Beecher and Karen Ouzounian 🧘🎻

Lembit Beecher’s “Tell Me Again”, composed for virtuosic cellist Karen Ouzounian, will receive its West Coast premiere as part of our CFCM 2024 season on Saturday Aug 3: tickets available at https://cabrillomusic.org/order-tickets/

“Tell Me Again” delves into narratives of immigration and heritage, with the “cello as the embodiment” of these deeply personal stories informed by the familial histories of both composer and cellist.

(And yes, Lembit Beecher creates stop motion art!)

Cello Creation--ANIMATION by Lembit Beecher Animation and music by Lembit Beecher Music recorded by Karen Ouzounian, cello and Lembit Beecher, pianoStop motion animation (1320 still pictures) made with...

Basking in the glow of that Santa Cruz Civic marquis 🤩 Our name in bright lights can only mean one thing— Festival time is almost here! Two weeks of soaring music, a fresh new lineup of community events, and all the CFCM joy that we know and love!

Our 2024 Festival season kicks off July 29th with the start of our FREE open rehearsals. Single concert tickets as well as full season subscription packages are available at https://cabrillomusic.org/order-tickets/

Happy Pride y’all! 🌈 Santa Cruz Pride is celebrating 49 fabulous years with a full weekend of celebration and excitement starting this Saturday June 1st. Get ready to march, dance and spread love in support of our LGBTQ+ community— visit http://santacruzpride.org for event details including the annual parade, two main stages and a Family Day event with our downtown neighbors at the MAH!

There’s more in store for our upcoming 2024 CFCM season! 👀 Read about our most recent additions to programming and guest artists at https://cabrillomusic.org/new-additions-to-the-2024-cabrillo-festival-music-as-movement-season/

Season subscriptions are on sale now, and single tickets go on sale June 4th at noon!

Transcend borders and journey through time during the 2024 season of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music! This years 15 featured composers present works that vibrantly explore how history, social movements and the very essence of place inspire musical narrative.

Don’t miss your chance to secure priority seating for our full series of summer concerts, available now on our website— reserve your season pass by visiting https://cabrillomusic.org/order-tickets/

⏱️ Priority seating deadline: MAY 23
🎟️ Single tickets on sale: JUNE 4
🎺 2024 season: JUL 29 - AUG 11