For Donato Cabrera, the artistic and music director of the California Symphony, the work that matters most happens long before he steps onto the stage.
“I’m a process person,” he said. “The 0.1 percent of my job is actually conducting the concert. It’s the icing on the cake. The majority of things that are happening no one sees.”
That unseen work—from selecting every piece to shaping each season’s narrative—is what he loves most.
Cabrera frequently compares conducting to coaching. For him, those two hours in front of an audience are a celebration of the ten hours of rehearsals that came before.
“I’m the only person on stage not making music, just like the coach is the only person on the field not doing the play,” he said. “My job at the concert is reaffirming, yes, that’s exactly what we rehearsed.”
This desire for connection extends beyond the orchestra itself; Cabrera thinks constantly about the people sitting in the hall. He notes that while a three-minute pop song is easily digested, classical music is further removed from daily life.
He offers a sports analogy: it is hard to enjoy a football game without a basic understanding of the rules.
Classical music is similar, he said.
Because of this, when Cabrera walks on stage, he offers the audience a brief introduction to each piece, asking them to listen for a particular trumpet solo or a special moment.
“Every outward-facing word is there to help anyone come to the concert feeling like they belong,” Cabrera says. “You just need a little more information. Humans are curious animals, and if you satisfy that curiosity just a bit, it goes a long way.”
Cabrera’s own musical curiosity knows no borders, spanning a continuous tapestry from Brahms and Wagner to Miles Davis, Radiohead, and Johnny Cash.
“To great musicians, all music is music,” he said. “The dividing lines between jazz, rock, classical, country, and Chilean folk dancing don’t exist. I find the connections so inspiring.”
He brings that same spirit of connection to the California Symphony’s upcoming season. He is especially excited to conduct John Adams’ Violin Concerto. Adams, a Berkeley resident and one of the world’s greatest living composers, turns 80 next year.
“Because of the connection I’ve had with John over the years, he has agreed to come to all our rehearsals,” Cabrera said.
The season also features a Bay Area premiere of a cello concerto by Jennifer Higdon and a piece by Manuel de Falla with pianist Tanya Gabrielian, who grew up in the East Bay.
When asked what carried him to this moment, Cabrera does not talk about accolades. He talks about people.
“You always feel you are resting on the shoulders of the giants who bothered to acknowledge you at the perfect time in your life when you needed affirmation,” he said.
He recalls a recent concert when a 94-year-old man who studied piano at Juilliard asked to thank him for programming a concerto he had loved his whole life.
“I felt very privileged to hear those words,” Cabrera said.
He looks forward to performing in Walnut Creek, where he especially appreciates the weather and the downtown.
“It has a wonderful village aspect, running into people you may know,” he said.
His invitation to new listeners is simply to give the music a chance.
“We want people who have never been to a classical concert to feel that connection to all the music they already like,” he said. “We are there to make that connection.”