2024 Program Guide | Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music

CABRILLO FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC 59 NEW WORKS IN THE WORKS NEW WORKS IN THE WORKS CABRILLO FESTIVAL CONTINUES TO ADVANCE ITS NEW WORKS INITIATIVE, SUPPORTING COMPOSERS AND BRINGING NEW MUSIC TO LIFE EMERGING BLACK COMPOSERS PROJECT PRIZE: TYSON GHOLSTON DAVIS In July 2024, Cabrillo Festival, in partnership with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), announced Tyson Gholston Davis as the second-ever winner of the Cabrillo Emerging Black Composers Prize. This award is an independent commissioning prize to a finalist of the SFCM Emerging Black Composers Project (EBCP) selected by Cristi Măcelaru. As the winner, Davis will write a new five to nine-minute symphonic work to receive its world premiere performance during the 2025 Cabrillo Festival season with the composer in residence. Davis (b. 2000) is studying at the Julliard school where he is a recipient of the Jerome L. Greene Fellowship; he has already received more than 22 commissions including by the Juilliard String Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, Metropolis Ensemble, and many other ensembles. EBCP is a ten-year commitment to spotlight early-career Black American composers under age 35. It was launched in 2020 by San Francisco Conservatory in partnership with the San Francisco Symphony. Cabrillo Festival's commissioning prize, and the SFCM's Michael Morgan Prize, are both made possible through the generosity of Michèle and Laurence Corash. FREDERICK AND SUSAN B. BY STACY GARROP Cabrillo Festival veteran Stacy Garrop will write a new song cycle for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and orchestra to be premiered at the Cabrillo Festival in 2025. Garrop is no stranger to Festival audiences, most recently with the premiere of The Battle for the Ballot (2020, virtual and 2022, live) which was praised as an “equally impressive undertaking from both a technical and artistic perspective” by Joshua Kosman [SF Chronicle]. Other works Glorious Mahalia and Thunderwalker have endeared Garrop to our audiences, and the Festival is thrilled to invite her back again to write a new work, tentatively titled Frederick and Susan B. The work will set text sourced from correspondence, papers, and speeches of Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony leaders of two of the 19th Century's most important social movements. This world premiere performance will explore Douglass and Anthony's views and battles regarding voting rights. This work is made possible with the significant counsel, collaboration, and generosity of Robert and Carolyn Levering. CABRILLO FESTIVAL’S NEW CREATIVE LAB: DARIAN DONOVAN THOMAS 2025 will see the second iteration of Cabrillo Festival's groundbreaking "Creative Lab". The Creative Lab provides uncharted opportunities for partnerships with artists to focus on creative, experiential orchestral events that change and transform how the orchestra, artists, and audience engage in the creation of new works. Composer, multi-instrumentalist, and interdisciplinary artist Darian Donovan Thomas will receive a commission to create a site-specific, immersive new work that will connect with one of the 2025 season's overarching themes, the 50th anniversary of LGBTQIA+ Pride in Santa Cruz. Described as "bright, fresh and, in the best sense, innocent" by Steve Reich, Darian is a genre- defying artistic force that is interested in redacting all barriers to entry that have existed at the gates of any genre, with the aim of building community and centering inclusivity in contemporary music. If you're interested in helping support the Creative Lab as a commissioner, or any of our special programs celebrating the 50th anniversary of LGBTQIA+ Pride in 2025, please get in touch with riley@cabrillomusic.org for more information. In our 62nd season we feel great having commissioned more than sixty new works throughout our history. More than fifty of those were created in just the last fifteen years! And there is more to come… There is something uniquely rewarding about supporting a composer in their creative process and experiencing the realization of a new work from the extraordinary vantage point of a commissioner. We welcome donors to explore the possibilities with us. Before we can dream about commissions, we must ensure the health and wellbeing of the Festival itself; hence, all commissioning gifts must be above and beyond an annual general operating gift that supports the core activities of the Cabrillo Festival. Darian Donovan Thomas