In Thursday’s (10/13) State Journal-Register (Springfield, Illinois), Brian Mackey profiles conductor Donato Cabrera, “the first of five candidates auditioning this season to become the [Illinois Symphony Orchestra’s] music director. Pianist Awadagin Pratt will be the featured soloist at Saturday’s concert, performing Grieg’s Piano Concerto. The program also includes Berlioz’s ‘Romeo and Juliette’ and John Adams’ ‘The Chairman Dances.’ In a recent telephone interview, Cabrera said he fell in love with music at his grandmother’s knee. She learned to play the piano from her father, mostly by rote, he said. Enamored of the Mexican waltzes and marches she played, a 6-year-old Cabrera demanded lessons. He took up French horn in school, but by the time Cabrera went to the University of Nevada, Reno, he knew he wanted to be a conductor. … Asked to describe his style, Cabrera said he’s been described as a collaborator. … But he has ‘very, very clear ideas of how the music should go.’ … Cabrera is a resident conductor with the San Francisco Symphony. In that position, he is music director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and leads a few of the big orchestra’s family- and kid-friendly concerts. This fall, Cabrera is also beginning a new job as music director of the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra.”
Posted October 13, 2011
