April 23, 2019
The fifth and final concert set of the 2018/19 season takes place on 5/5, Cinco de Mayo. Here’s our countdown of the top five things that make season finale concert EPIC BRUCKNER an epically wonderful way to celebrate the day. 5. Finale Fiesta For Cinco de Mayo, we’re bringing some Latin flavor to the Lesher…
April 23, 2019
California Symphony Composer-in-Residence Katherine Balch composed Artifacts for New England Conservatory friend and colleague Robyn Bollinger, based on four pieces that are core to solo violin repertoire. Each movement in Artifacts takes its inspiration from diverse works composed between the early 1800s and 1976. By Donato Cabrera, California Symphony Music Director “Robyn and I have…
April 14, 2019
California Symphony percussionist Victor Avdienko has one thing to do in Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 and that is to play a lone, epic cymbal crash. For him though, it’s much more than just a single note. By Victor Avdienko, California Symphony percussionist. I played this piece before with Herbert Blomstedt [San Francisco Symphony Music Director…
April 14, 2019
Q: What instrument is named after a tuba, looks like a French horn, and sounds like a trombone? No, that’s not the beginning of a super nerdy orchestra joke but it’s a pretty good description of the hybrid horn that is the Wagner tuba. A quartet of the rare instruments features in Bruckner’s Symphony No….
April 13, 2019
Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 is an impressive, expansive, melodic work that requires a supersized orchestra, and for many members of the orchestra it’s a real work out. If you’re a percussionist however, your entire part for this epic masterwork fits neatly onto a single page of music. The percussionists’ sheet music (pictured) indicates that…
April 3, 2019
Katherine Balch – Artifacts, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (world premiere) One particularly pleasant corner of the repertory is occupied by works that composers have written for good friends, often with that friend’s input and contributions. The Brahms Violin Concerto comes first to mind: Brahms wrote it for Joseph Joachim, one of Brahms’s earliest boosters…
April 3, 2019
The California Symphony presents EPIC BRUCKNER at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek on Sunday, May 5 at 4pm, featuring: Balch – Artifacts Bruckner – Symphony No. 7 BALCH – ARTIFACTS We’ll have to wait until May 5 to hear the world premiere of Composer-in-Residence Katherine Balch’s violin concerto, Artifacts, but in…
April 2, 2019
Music Director Donato Cabrera conducts Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 at the California Symphony’s season finale—a piece he feels he’s been “waiting more than one lifetime” to conduct. We talked with Maestro about Bruckner, what he finds so appealing about the Seventh Symphony, and how his perspective has been shaped by playing the French horn. 1. Your first instrument…
November 9, 2018
What do thimbles have to do with Katherine Balch’s next composition for the California Symphony? Read on for an update on the concerto she is writing for violinist Robyn Bollinger that is set to premiere at the 2018–19 season closer. Left: Robyn Bollinger. Right: Katherine Balch with Robyn and thimble. By California Symphony Young American Composer-in-Residence Katherine…
October 19, 2018
California Symphony Orchestra: What have you been up to since the premiere of your first piece with the California Symphony in May? Katherine Balch: After an amazing week with the California Symphony, I had a fun time celebrating with the folks at Broadcast Music Inc., at the 66th Annual BMI Student Composer Awards ceremony in NYC, where…
