2024 Program Guide | Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music

CABRILLO FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC 13 MUSIC DIRECTOR GRAMMY Award-winning conductor Cristian Măcelaru is the Music Director Designate of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, a post that commences in the 2024/25 season. He leads his inaugural season as Music Director in 2025/26. Măcelaru holds the titles of Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival and Competition, Music Director of the Orchestre National de France, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Interlochen Center for the Arts’ World Youth Symphony Orchestra, Music Director and Conductor of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and Chief Conductor of the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne, Germany, where he will serve through the 2024/25 season, and continue as Artistic Partner for the 2025/26 season. In his inaugural season as Artistic Director at the 2023 George Enescu Festival, Măcelaru led the George Enescu Philharmonic, WDR Sinfonieorchester and Orchestre National de FrancealongsidetheRomanianYouthOrchestra. During the 2023/24 season, Măcelaru tours to China with the WDR Sinfonieorchester and with the Orchestre National de France to major cities in Austria and Spain, including Vienna, Madrid and Barcelona. Additional highlights include Măcelaru’s debuts with the Philharmonia, and Warner Classics with the Orchestre National de France. His most recent release is of Enescu Symphonies and two Romanian Rhapsodies with the Orchestre National de France, released on Deutsche Grammophon. Born in Timișoara, Romania, Măcelaru excelled on the violin from an early age. He studied in the United States at the Interlochen Arts Academy, University of Miami and with Larry Rachleff at Rice University, as well as at Tanglewood Music Center and Aspen Music Festival in masterclasses with David Zinman, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Oliver Knussen and Stefan Asbury. He was the youngest concertmaster in the history of the Miami Symphony Orchestra, and made his Carnegie Hall debut with that orchestra at age 19. He also played in the first violin section of the Houston Symphony for two seasons. His international career was launched in 2012 when he was asked to step in for Pierre Boulez with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. During that same year, he received the Solti Emerging Conductor Award, followed by the Solti Conducting Award in 2014. London Philharmonic Orchestras and return engagements with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Măcelaru’s previous seasons include European engagements with the Concertgebouworkest, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Staatskapelle Berlin, and Budapest Festival Orchestra. In North America, he has led the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, where he was Conductor-in- Residence for three seasons. In 2020, he received a GRAMMY Award for conducting the Decca Classics recording of Wynton Marsalis’ Violin Concerto with Nicola Benedetti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Măcelaru is featured on albums including selections by Bartók and Dvořák on Linn Records with the WDR Sinfonieorchester and the complete symphonies of Saint-Saëns on MUSIC DIRECTOR CRISTIAN MACELARU “Watching Cristi at the podium last weekend, there can be no doubt…he is a consummate master of this realm, a daredevil maybe, but one who knows exactly how fast to take the hairpin curves, when to ease the pace and reengage full throttle. It’s an exhilarating ride and returns you to your seat in one piece, probably changed a little from the journey.” —Santa Cruz Sentinel