On Freedom – Opening Night

6:30PM • PRE-CONCERT PICNIC + TALK: A free outdoor pre-concert experience featuring a brass sextet and a special welcome by Music Director Cristian Măcelaru. Bring takeout or some snacks from home. Table seating available.
The 64th season kicks off with Music Director Cristian Măcelaru leading the Festival Orchestra and audience in a powerful meditation on the distance between national ideals and lived reality. Vivian Fung's "America the Beautiful?" (Festival Commission / world premiere), challenges the tension between patriotic tradition and the struggle for true equality. Pedro Emanuel Pereira's Clarinet Concerto (Festival Commission / world premiere), featuring clarinetist Carlos Ferreira, fuses Portuguese tradition with experimental innovation. Philip Glass's Symphony No. 15 "Lincoln" (West Coast premiere), featuring baritone Zachary James, weaves Abraham Lincoln's own words into music of urgent resonance.