KTEP will broadcast the California Symphony on Friday evenings during the summer of 2023. The series includes performances from their 2022 Season. The broadcast is hosted by Bass-Baritone Vocalist and part of the WFMT Announcing Staff, LaRob K. Rafael. The California Symphony, under the leadership of Music Director Donato Cabrera, is distinguished by its vibrant concert programs that combine classics alongside American repertoire and works by living composers, and for bringing music to people in new and unconventional settings.
This brand-new orchestral radio series celebrates the California Symphony’s mission of combining audience-favorite classics with works from contemporary composers supported by CA Symphony’s Artist-in-Residence program. In their debut radio season, the CA Symphony features work by Christopher Theofanidis, Kevin Puts, Nat Stookey, Dan Visconti, Gabriela Lena Frank, Katherine Balch, DJ Sparr, Viet Cuong, and Jessie Montgomery.
The orchestra includes musicians who perform with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet, and others, and is based in Walnut Creek at the Lesher Center for the Arts with additional recent performances around the region in Napa Valley, Concord, Oakland, and Berkeley.
In 2017, the California Symphony became the first orchestra with a public statement of a commitment to diversity. The statement underscores our commitment, on stage and off in order to make our organization as robust as possible. To read more about our commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion read our full statement here.
The mission of the California Symphony is to enhance the lives of those it serves in Contra Costa County and the extended San Francisco Bay Area by performing the full range of orchestral repertoire of the highest quality with special attention to the work of American composers, presenting talented young performers in their first professional concert appearances, featuring performances by world class artists, and providing education outreach programs for the children and adults of our community.
Founded in 1986 under founding Music Director Barry Jekowsky, our vision is to become a 21st-century orchestra, making classical music relevant to those we serve, bringing in new audiences along the way, and ultimately more fully living up to our name across the state of California