California Symphony Presents Pianist Charlie Albright in Gershwin's RHAPSODY IN BLUE and More, 1/24

WALNUT CREEK, CA (December 15, 2015) - The California Symphony and Music Director Donato Cabrera perform a program of music inspired by American jazz of the 1920s on Sunday, January 24, with pianist Charlie Albright joining the Orchestra for the original jazz band version of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. A suite of songs from Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera, Bernstein's little-heard Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs, Stravinsky's Scherzo à la russe, and Milhaud's Le création du monde complete the "American Roots" program. The concert is at 4 pm at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, with a free pre-concert talk with Cabrera beginning at 3 pm.

The music on the program shares a common inspiration: American jazz. Stravinsky's Scherzo à la russe was originally written as part of a film score for a jazz orchestra, then rewritten and premiered by the San Francisco Symphony, with Stravinsky himself conducting. Milhaud's Le création du monde (The creation of the world) was inspired by the French composer's first exposure to jazz in the early 20s. Kurt Weill's music for The Threepenny Opera was born of a more formal compositional technique, but influenced by the newly popular jazz that was sweeping through Europe. And the now-familiar, fully orchestrated version of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue first was written as an arrangement for jazz band. "It was originally written for (1920s and 30s American bandleader) Paul Whiteman," Cabrera explains, "with parts for four violins, four saxophones, banjo - it was conceived for a 1920s-style jazz band."

Tickets for the California Symphony's "American Roots" concert at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek are $42 to $72, and can be purchased through the California Symphony's website atwww.californiasymphony.org and at 925-943-7469.

Pianist Charlie Albright -- 2014 Avery Fisher Career Grant Recipient, 2009 Young Concert Artist, 2010 Gilmore Young Artist, and Official Steinway Artist -- has been critically acclaimed by The Washington Postas "among the most gifted musicians of his generation ... musical shape was never sacrificed to showmanship," and his "impressive range of differently colored sounds at the keyboard was matched by overwhelming virtuosity." The New York Times praised his "jaw-dropping technique," "intelligently wrought interpretation," and "virtuosity meshed with a distinctive musicality."

Albright's 2015-2016 season includes debuts at the Mostly Mozart Festival at New York's Lincoln Center; solo concerts in Detroit, Houston, and San Antonio; and with the California, Des Moines, and Alabama Symphonies. In June of 2014, Albright debuted with the Houston Symphony performing the Gershwin Concerto. He also returns to perform with the Seattle Symphony, as well as the Gardner Museum in Boston to begin a second three-concert Themes and Variations series as a sequel to his critically acclaimed All-Schubert series in 2013, which was commercially released in 2015. Albright has appeared as the guest artist with such orchestras as the BBC Concert Orchestra (14-concert tour with Maestro Keith Lockhart, 2015); the Edmonton (Canada), Fort Smith, Lansing, Phoenix, Seattle, San Francisco, and Victoria (Canada) Symphonies; the Kymi Sinfonietta (Finland); and the Boston Pops. He has performed worldwide, including at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; the Salle Cortot in Paris, Miami's Arsht Center for the Performing Arts and Alice Tully Hall. Albright has collaborated five times with revered cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Winner of the 2011 Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts from Harvard University, Albright was also named Artist-in-Residence for Harvard University's Leverett House, a position last filled by Yo-Yo Ma. His debut commercial recording, Vivace, was released in 2012.

Albright completed his Associate of Science degree at the Centralia College during high school while studying with Nancy Adsit, and is the first classical pianist in the Harvard/New England Conservatory B.A./M.M. 5-Year Joint Program, where he received his B.A. in Economics at Harvard as a premedical student and received his Masters of Music in Piano Performance in 2012 with Wha-Kyung Byun. He graduated with the prestigious Artist Diploma (A.D.) from The Juilliard School of Music with Yoheved Kaplinsky. For more information, please visit www.CharlieAlbright.com and www.Facebook.com/CharlieAlbrightPianist.

ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA SYMPHONY

The California Symphony is distinguished for its concert programs that combine classics alongside American repertoire and lesser-known works, its pioneering Young American Composer in Residence program, its nationally recognized education programs, and for bringing music to people in new and unconventional settings. The orchestra is in its third season with Music Director Donato Cabrera, and recently announced the signing of new, three-year contracts with Cabrera and the California Symphony musicians. The orchestra is comprised of musicians who have performed with the orchestras of the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet, and others. California Symphony has launched the careers of some of today's most-performed composers and soloists, including violinist Sarah Chang, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and composers such as Mason Bates, Christopher Theofanidis, and Kevin Puts. The orchestra is expanding its regional base in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, performing concerts in three new venues in 2015-16. The orchestra will perform at its home at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, the Napa Valley Performing Arts Center's Lincoln Theater in Yountville, and did recent performances at the Concord Pavilion in Concord and with Postmodern Jukebox at the Kaiser Center Roof Garden in Oakland. For more information, please visit www.californiasymphony.org.

California Symphony Music Director Donato Cabrera has been the Music Director and Conductor for the California Symphony since 2013. He also is Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and the Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra since 2009. Cabrera announced in October 2015 he will step down from his roles at the SF Symphony at the end of the 2015-16 season to pursue a thriving international conducting career. In 2014, Cabrera was appointed Music Director of the Las Vegas Philharmonic Orchestra, and from 2013 to 2015 he served as Music Director of the New Hampshire Music Festival. For more information, please visit www.donatocabrera.com.

CALENDAR EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE:

Sunday, January 24 at 4 pm

Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek

American Roots

Donato Cabrera, conductor

California Symphony

Charlie Albright, piano

PROGRAM:

Stravinsky - Scherzo à la russe

Milhaud - Le création du monde

Bernstein - Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs

Weill - Suite from The Threepenny Opera

Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue (Charlie Albright, piano)

TICKETS: Tickets are $42 to $72 and are available at www.californiasymphony.org or 925-943-7469.