In Thursday’s (5/21) Las Vegas Weekly, Kristen Peterson writes that Las Vegas Philharmonic Music Director Donato Cabrera’s “energy and enthusiasm have been so embraced by local audiences that 2015-16 season subscriptions more than quadrupled all of last season’s in the first five weeks. [Composer Mason] Bates … is on next season’s lineup, along with works by Philip Glass, D.J. Sparr and Dan Visconti. Their inclusion represents what Cabrera champions: new music, living composers, an evolving art form…. ‘We’re looking into all kinds of ideas, and [Cabrera] wants to be a part of it,’ says Philharmonic President and CEO Jeri Crawford.… Cabrera has already introduced himself outside the hall by rehearsing with Las Vegas Academy musicians and the UNLV orchestra, and by giving talks to senior groups, bringing parts of the Philharmonic to those who can’t always attend concerts. Additionally, the Philharmonic’s new partnership with the Boys & Girls Club brought 20 kids to a Friday-night rehearsal where they met the musicians then attended a concert the next night…. The conductor … relishes … such moments as an audience member yelling ‘Yeehaw!’ during a performance from Aaron Copland’s Rodeo. ‘I want to break down all of these walls,’ Cabrera says.”
Posted May 21, 2015
