Join us for an unforgettable evening where raw emotion meets musical might.
The night opens with Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture—a gripping sonic battle of will and destiny, capturing the fierce inner conflict of a tragic hero. Next, prepare to be swept away by the lyric fire of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, a masterwork that wields grace as strength and passion as purpose. Finally, revel in the bold exuberance of Schubert’s Symphony No. 2, a youthful yet commanding declaration of symphonic brilliance.
This is not just a concert — it's a powerful journey through music that stirs, challenges, and inspires.
Dramatic. Intense. Unforgettable.
This thrilling piece packs the power of a movie soundtrack into just 8 minutes. With bold clashes and haunting moments, Beethoven tells the story of a hero torn between pride and compassion. It’s the perfect intro to the emotional power of classical music.
Romantic, radiant, and impossible not to love.
From the very first note, this concerto pulls you in with a soaring violin melody that sings straight to the heart. Packed with beauty, drama, and dazzling moments, it’s one of the most beloved pieces in all of classical music — and for good reason.
Fresh, fun, and full of energy.
Written when Schubert was just a teenager, this symphony bursts with youthful spirit and catchy tunes. It’s like a joyride through the early genius of a composer who would go on to shape the future of classical music.
CORIOLAN OVERTURE by Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most towering figures in Western music history. A revolutionary composer at the crossroads of the Classical and Romantic eras, Beethoven transformed the symphony, the sonata, and the concerto into deeply expressive forms capable of conveying intense personal and philosophical ideas. Despite progressive hearing loss that eventually left him completely deaf, Beethoven’s creative powers only deepened with time. His music continues to inspire for its emotional depth, bold structure, and heroic spirit.
The Coriolan Overture, composed in 1807, is a vivid example of Beethoven's dramatic style. It was written not for Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, but for a now little-remembered tragedy by Austrian playwright Heinrich Joseph von Collin. The play tells the story of the Roman general Coriolanus, whose rigid pride and refusal to compromise with the people lead to his downfall. Beethoven’s music captures the inner turmoil of the tragic hero with extraordinary intensity and economy.
At just around eight minutes long, the overture distills a full dramatic arc into a single movement. The opening chords are stark and violent, immediately plunging the listener into Coriolanus’s world of conflict. Sharp, driving rhythms and terse motifs express his martial strength and inner resolve, while a contrasting, lyrical second theme represents the pleading of his mother, who begs him to spare Rome. The music’s tension never fully resolves, and the overture ends not with triumph, but with a haunting fade — a musical death, as Coriolanus meets his fate.
Though the play it was written for faded into obscurity, Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture has endured as a powerful concert work, admired for its psychological depth and concentrated dramatic force. It stands alongside the Egmont Overture and Leonore Overtures as one of Beethoven’s most compelling examples of musical storytelling.
VIOLIN CONCERTO IN E MINOR by Felix Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn was a musical prodigy and one of the most admired composers of the early Romantic era. By the time he composed his famous Violin Concerto in E minor, he had already achieved international acclaim as a conductor, pianist, and composer. Known for his sparkling melodies, elegant forms, and emotional clarity, Mendelssohn bridged classical restraint with romantic warmth. Though he died tragically young at 38, his legacy includes beloved works like the Hebrides Overture, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and this concerto, which has become one of the most performed and cherished in the violin repertoire.
Mendelssohn completed the Violin Concerto in 1844 after years of careful thought and collaboration with his friend, violinist Ferdinand David. The result was not only a showcase of lyrical beauty and virtuosity but also a groundbreaking piece that challenged the conventions of its time.
From the very beginning, the concerto defies expectations: instead of a lengthy orchestral introduction, the solo violin enters almost immediately with a soaring, unforgettable melody. The first movement, full of passion and momentum, includes another innovation — a written-out cadenza placed in the middle of the movement, rather than at the end, keeping the dramatic flow uninterrupted. The second movement brings a moment of calm and tenderness — a graceful song without words that showcases Mendelssohn’s gift for melody. A brief bridge section leads directly into the playful and effervescent finale, where the soloist dazzles with brilliance and charm.
Critics and audiences alike embraced the concerto from its first performances. Even today, it remains a cornerstone of the violin repertoire — a perfect blend of technical mastery, emotional depth, and graceful structure. Its blend of innovation and elegance continues to win over listeners, whether they’re hearing it for the first time or the fiftieth.
SYMPHONY NO. 2 by Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert is often celebrated for his songs (Lieder) and his deeply expressive chamber and piano works, but his early ambitions were symphonic. Though he died at just 31, Schubert composed no fewer than nine completed symphonies — and several substantial fragments — each displaying his growing voice as a composer and his evolving relationship with the Classical tradition of Mozart, Haydn, and especially Beethoven.
Schubert wrote his Symphony No. 2 between 1814 and 1815, when he was only 17 years old and still a student in Vienna. At the time, he was absorbing the influences of Classical forms while beginning to forge his own lyrical, distinctive style. This youthful work is full of energy, clarity, and charm — an early sign of the composer’s gift for melodic invention and structural craftsmanship.
Though not published or performed widely during his lifetime, the Second Symphony was admired posthumously for its brightness and balance. Modern audiences and critics alike have noted how it reveals the seeds of Schubert’s later genius: tuneful, rhythmically spirited, and full of unexpected elegance.
The symphony opens with a stately slow introduction before launching into a buoyant Allegro vivace, whose syncopated rhythms and woodwind flourishes recall the youthful exuberance of Haydn. The second movement is a lyrical set of variations, showing Schubert’s gift for spinning new ideas from a simple, song-like theme — a trait he would famously develop in his later works. The Minuet, in third position, brings a rustic dance flavor, balanced by a graceful Trio section, while the symphony concludes with a sparkling Presto finale — light, fast, and brimming with youthful energy and optimism.
Schubert’s Symphony No. 2 offers a fresh and joyful glimpse into the early voice of a composer who, even as a teenager, had something uniquely lyrical and heartfelt to say — and who would soon change the course of Romantic music.
Mexican-American conductor Donato Cabrera is the Artistic and Music Director of the California Symphony. He served as the Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and the Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra from 2009-2016. Cabrera is one of only a handful of conductors in history who has conducted performances with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, and the San Francisco Ballet. He is dedicated to adventurous programming, a leading advocate for living composers and digital innovation, and is keenly focused on outreach, engagement, and programming that reflects the communities he is serving.
Cabrera co-founded the New York-based American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), which is dedicated to the outstanding performance of masterworks from the 20th and 21st centuries. Cabrera has made debuts with the Chicago, London, National, and New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco, Philharmonic Orchestra of the Staatstheater Cottbus, Orquesta Filarmónica de Boca del Río, Orquesta Sinfónica Concepción, Hartford Symphony, Greensboro Symphony, Nevada Ballet Theatre, New West Symphony, Kalamazoo Symphony, Monterey Symphony, and the Reno Philharmonic. In his Carnegie Hall debut, Cabrera led the world premiere of Mark Grey’s Ătash Sorushan with soprano Jessica Rivera.
Deeply committed to diversity and education through the arts, Cabrera evaluates the scope, breadth, and content of the California Symphony’s music education programs, including its nationally recognized Sound Minds program and adult-education oriented Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed weekly summer lecture series. As Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, Cabrera worked closely with its then Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, and frequently conducted the orchestra in a variety of concerts, including all of the education and family concerts, reaching over 70,000 children throughout the Bay Area every year.
Cabrera is equally at home in the world of opera, frequently conducting productions in the United States and abroad. He was the Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Opera from 2005-2008 and has also been an assistant conductor for productions at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Ravinia Festival, Festival di Spoleto, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Music Academy of the West. Since 2008, he has frequently conducted productions in Concepción, Chile. In 2021 he made his debut with Opera San José and in spring 2023, Cabrera appeared with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music conducting Gian Carlo Menotti's The Consul.
Awards and fellowships include an ASCAP award for adventurous programming, a Herbert von Karajan Conducting Fellowship at the Salzburg Festival, and conducting the Nashville Symphony in the League of American Orchestra’s prestigious Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview. Cabrera was recognized by the Consulate-General of Mexico in San Francisco for his contributions to promoting and developing the presence of the Mexican community in the Bay Area.
Luchi Jiang is a musician and creator who is passionate about sharing God’s gift of music with the world.
Luchi graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music in 2022. She studied violin under the tutelage of Gerardo Ribeiro. In Fall 2024, Luchi began her Master of Music in Violin Performance studying under Samuel Fischer at the University of Redlands. A lover of music at an early age, she began her musical journey on the piano at age 5 and picked up the violin at age 9.
Luchi has enjoyed performing in numerous ensembles at renowned venues around the world including the Sydney Opera House in Australia, multiple famous concert venues in China, and the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Center of the Arts at home in Orange County where she appeared annually. She is also an award-winning violinist winning first prizes in the Musical Arts Competition of Orange County and the Great Composers Competition in 2018.Upon graduating from Northwestern, Luchi has experienced playing for sessions and gigs all over Southern California. She most recently recorded at the Warner Bros. Studios Eastwood Scoring Stage as part of the LAFCI Studio Intensive program in 2024, subsequently releasing a full-length album.
At the University of Redlands, Luchi serves as one of the co-concertmasters of the school’s Symphony Orchestra and plays in the first violin section of the Redlands Symphony Orchestra as a student musician. She was also one of the winners of the President’s Honors Recital in 2025.
As a cover artist, Luchi manages and creates content for her Youtube channel “LuJi Music”. She enjoys playing Korean pop music, soundtracks from anime, video games, and many other genres. Within four years of actively producing videos, she has gained over 3000 subscribers. She also loves to serve on the worship team at her church on the weekends and uses music as an avenue to share her faith with others. When not performing on her instrument, Luchi avidly works in the music marketing and education fields.
Luchi has worked part-time as a Violin Tutor at Home School Coaches and as the Social Media Coordinator for the Irvine Music Festival. She also has experience coaching high school student ensembles and teaching private violin students. For LuJi Music, Luchi creates social media marketing content, manages a membership program for her channel supporters on Ko-fi, and runs her own merchandise store Shop LuJi.
Outside of music, Luchi enjoys watching shows and playing video games. Luchi is thankful for where music has taken her so far, and is excited to see what the future holds!