For 63 years, the Cabrillo Festival has been a bold champion of new music; composers from all stages of the career spectrum have been featured at the festival, which often include premieres alongside canonical contemporary works. This year, I was able to catch the second of Cabrillo’s two weekends, which included two ambitious programs and a wide array of contemporary aesthetics.
The excitement preceding the Aug. 9 concert was palpable, the anticipation of hearing something new augmented by the feeling that this experience would be shared between friends from a tight, longstanding musical community. Before Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Violin with Percussion Orchestra (1959), Music Director Cristian Mǎcelaru (clad in a bold-printed Hawaiian shirt) drew our attention to the flower pots, trash can, laid-down double bass, and metal coils that would be played by five percussionists. Throughout the bright and forthright concerto, soloist Justin Bruns fearlessly answered the existential threats to his melodies posed by the percussionists’ frequent interjections, showcasing his unflagging determination to sonically outlast the ensemble and see every phrase to its haunting completion.
The West Coast Premiere of CATAMORPHOSIS (2021), Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s dark meditation on our destructive relationship with planet Earth, conjured an immediately different atmosphere; subtle percussion timbres and half-suggestions of melodic motifs created a shadowy landscape of suspense and uncertainty. Despite its intense and caustic inspiration, the orchestra presented the work in an emotionally open-ended way, one that showcased the group’s ability to guide listeners through the gradual unfolding of a new work. Unfortunately, because of that same emotional subtlety, solo moments came across a bit timidly — a common trap for inward-facing music — but as a whole, this was an effective performance.
Saturday night’s concert ended with the world premiere of Flowercloud (2025) a four-movement multimedia symphony by Darian Donovan Thomas commissioned by the festival. With the goals of writing a piece that was “explicitly gay,” Thomas took on the challenge of distilling queerness and expressing commonality across an incredibly diverse array of lived experiences. Musically, the dreamy languidness of Thomas’ aesthetic was a consistent throughline, but the accompanying multimedia and theatrical components of the work often undermined Thomas’ musical expression. After the tuning note was given, the entire orchestra walked off stage to convey the feelings of loss during the AIDS crisis, but this gesture was misunderstood, with several audience members applauding and laughing. Later, musicians walked through the aisles ringing bells while others read unintelligible phrases between episodes of playing their instruments, which felt like an underutilization of the capabilities of the orchestral force at Thomas’ disposal. The final movement brought greater cohesion, with the orchestra playing more fully and committedly. However, the floral stage decorations, digital art projections, and poetic readings were unable to fully compensate for an overly ambitious artistic scope and underdeveloped musical execution.
The Festival Finale on Aug. 10 featured music composed in easily recognizable styles and forms. When concertgoers hear the term ‘new music,’ they often assume it is a description of aesthetics (electronics, performance art, extended instrumental techniques), when really, all music written by composers of our time should proudly bear the designation of ‘new.’
Saxophonist Tim McAllister demonstrated his mastery of his instrument and his clear concept of sound with the West Coast premiere of Adolphus Hailstork’s concerto, a piece specifically written for the seasoned soloist. The first movement’s cartoonish energy was clearly portrayed through McAllister’s flair in executing the jazz-inspired flourishes and saucy accents, bringing a cheeky character to the music. In the lamenting second movement, Hailstork employs tight treble dissonances in the orchestra to create the tense backdrop for the saxophone’s plaintive melodies. In the energetic and captivating final movement, McAllister played and danced the exuberant folk-inspired rhythms and motifs into existence, with the orchestra keeping pace through every virtuosic tutti section.
Still abuzz with energy, the audience raptly listened to the orchestra’s riveting performance of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain Suite (2022). In this instrumental work, drawn from her opera of the same name, Higdon’s full-bodied melodies are spun from a familiar tonal language showcasing both soul and virtuosity – the type of music that makes a player feel expressively powerful.
Perhaps the most aesthetically contrasting piece on the program, Tyson Gholston Davis’ As Juniper Storms (2025) demonstrated an impressive mastery of post-tonal timbres, and how energy can be transferred across different sections of the orchestra. Davis’ writing is texturally lean, which creates a lucid sonic profile, though it sometimes leaves the versatility of instrumental sections and players underexplored. But overall, the careful balance of stasis, suspense, and growth drew the audience into this imaginative response to Helen Frankenthaler’s vivid acrylic painting, “Overture” (1992).
Good Morning, Beauty, a new song cycle by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Taylor Mac, closed the festival by exploring the journey of long-term queer relationships. Commissioned to celebrate 50 years of Pride in Santa Cruz, the work views queer love from a perspective of gratitude, humor, and humanity, with the final statement of the cycle asserting the transcendence of love above all. Mezzo-soprano Gabrielle Beteag brought vibrancy and personality to the vocal part, which demanded charm, wit, and a wide range of emotional maturity. Perhaps the greatest triumph of the work is how it captures certain unique qualities of queer love while remaining firmly rooted in the belief that such love is first and foremost human love.
History has always designated ‘firsts’ as signs of progress and accomplishment, and musical firsts are no exception; the designation of a world, national, or regional premiere influences how both performers and audiences experience these works. And a convincing first performance can, as one Cabrillo Festival musician said, help a work “enter the canon” of performed concert repertoire. Unlocking the power and impact of a piece for the first time signals to other musicians that it has been done and can be done again. In this sense, the importance of the Cabrillo Festival in providing these musical firsts cannot be overstated.
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