Măcelaru receives praise for 2019 Cabrillo Festival
Cristian Măcelaru leads another successful Cabrillo Festival (Photo credit: rr jones)
With the conclusion of the 2019 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music season, conductor Cristian Măcelaru and the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra have received rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. The final concert of this year’s Cabrillo Festival featured Wynton Marsalis‘ Concerto in D for Violin and Orchestra with violin soloist Nicola Benedetti. Check out the features below:
Joshua Kosman from the San Francisco Chronicle writes, “The Festival Orchestra, led by Music Director Cristian Măcelaru, played with eloquence and grace.”
Barbara Rose Shuler from the Monterey Herald praised, “Măcelaru is a patron saint for composers. By his admission he says “Yes!” to requests to look at new scores. He says if composers pour their creative skills into a fresh work for an orchestra, they deserve to be considered. His warm and generous personality invites his audiences into the thrill of this “yes.” It extends to the intimacy of hearing from the composers who introduce their creations before the orchestra performs them.
The closing concert turned exclusively to Marsalis’s compositions: “Violin Concerto in D Major,” featuring the supple virtuosity of Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti, and the West Coast premiere of his “Blues Symphony.” These two big works were chock full of musical ideas and inspirations from diverse cultures and regions. Benedetti’s performance as the violinist bard of the first piece made a stunning impact on the audience. Măcelaru and Marsalis have a special friendship, which was on display during their public afternoon conversation. The men share a commitment to cross-cultural understanding and bringing people into community through music. They are strong collaborators for these purposes.”
In another Monterey Herald article, Shuler writes, “Măcelaru’s tenure with the Festival began last season when he took the reins from longtime music director and conductor Marin Alsop. The Festival has welcomed him as a perfect match, a brilliant and compassionate conductor with an unwavering vision of the power of art to change the world.”
David Bratman from the San Francisco Classical Voice writes of Wynton Marsalis, “Listening to his work as classical music, which is how it was presented at this concert, there’s no question that Marsalis has found a mixture with a distinctive flavor of his own.”
The Violin Channel highlighted another work performed at the festival by composer Anna Clyne. Her new Cello Concerto ‘DANCE’ was performed by Maestro Măcelaru, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra and cellist Inbal Segev.
