2025 Program Guide | Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music

CABRILLO MUSIC.ORG 19 Jennifer Higdon is always thrilled to be back at the Cabrillo Festival. Her works represent a range of genres, from chamber to orchestral and wind ensemble, as well as vocal, choral and opera. Higdon’s list of commissioners is extensive and includes the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well such groups as the Tokyo String Quartet, the Lark Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, and the President’s Own United StatesMarine Band. She has also written works for such renowned artists as baritone Thomas Hampson and mezzo Sasha Cooke; pianists Yuja Wang and Gary Graffman; and violinists Joshua Bell, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, and Hilary Hahn. Her first opera, Cold Mountain , was awarded the prestigious International Opera Award for Best World Premiere in 2016. And her second opera, Woman With Eyes Closed , sold out its premiere run at Pittsburgh Opera, with critical acclaim. The Chicago Sun Times has cited her music as “both modern and timeless, complex and sophisticated, and immensely engaging in a way that both charms and galvanizes an audience craving something new and full of urgency, yet not distancing.” John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune called her writing, “beautiful, accessible, inventive, and impeccably crafted.” Higdon enjoys more than 250 performances annually of her works. Her orchestral work, blue cathedral, is one of the most performed contemporary orchestral pieces in the repertoire (having had more than 1,200 performances). Jennifer’s works have been recorded on more than 100 CDs. The Library of Congress has added the London Philharmonic recording of her Percussion Concerto to the National Recording Registry. A nativeNewYorker, Karen LeFrak is a prolific and versatile composer and author whose vibrant, moving musical scores have been presented in prestigious concert halls around the world. Highlights of her career include 17 studio albums, a catalog of over 300 works, and worldwide performances by prominent organizations including the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Ballet, and Mariinsky Ballet. She has also received accolades for her children’s books, which are published by Bloomsbury, Random House, and Crown Books. Gathering , LeFrak’s latest recording, marks the 14th release in a series of highly successful solo piano albums for her label, KL2, through Naxos. These albums were recorded by Jorn Swart, each featuring 10 short, atmospheric piano pieces that have been included in hundreds of curated playlists on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, and other streaming services, yielding over 45 million global streams. LeFrak has also recorded three notable albums of chamber music and plans more chamber, solo piano and string ensemble recording projects in 2025-2026. She recently completed sessions for her first orchestral recording, Miami Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra , with conductor Enrico Lopez-Jañez and the internationally acclaimed, GRAMMY-winning guitar soloist Sharon Isbin, featuring NYC’s Orchestra of St. Luke’s. It was produced by Elaine Martone and was released this year. Upcoming highlights of LeFrak’s 2024-25 season include live performances of her  Miami Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra , featuring Isbin, at the Aspen Music Festival, at the Vancouver USA Arts & Music Festival, and with the Las Vegas and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestras. After nearly 20 performances around the world, including by the New York Philharmonic and National Symphony Orchestra, her multimedia family work Sleepover at the Museum will continue to be performed extensively. American Promise , a new work by LeFrak that was commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, will be premiered in 2026. It will be followed by many other performances, including by the Miami Symphony Orchestra and the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. JENNIFER HIGDON KAREN LEFRAK SPONSORED BY MARGARET LEONARD & CLARE SHEILS, AND ALAN RITCH ☆