Cristian Măcelaru, director and conductor of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, calls the annual gathering in Santa Cruz a unicorn in the industry.
“We foster creativity, are dedicated to bringing audiences closer to the process and maintain a spirit of love and respect as a starting point,” he says. “Its unique ability to serve the community, redefine the orchestral experience for the musicians involved, celebrate the composers who bring a part of themselves with each note they write is what has contributed to our success.”
The 63rd Cabrillo Festival, continuing through Aug. 10, hosts five concerts at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium including three world premieres, five West Coast premieres and nine composers-in-residence.
Founded by queer artist Lou Harrison, the festival also celebrates the 50th anniversary of LGBTQIA Pride in Santa Cruz.
“His vision to create a place where we celebrate each other, united in respect and acceptance, rings true even now,” Măcelaru says of Harrison. “Over the history of the festival, (queer) composers like John Corigliano, Jennifer Higdon and Jake Heggie have continued to play a significant role in the quality of music we create but also the spirit in which we present it.”
Heggie, a 2025 composer-in-residence, created three songs for the festival to complete a song cycle that premiered with “Good Morning, Beauty” at London Classical Pride in 2024.
He’s proud about the timing of the premiere work, his third for the festival after the orchestral suite from the opera “Moby Dick” in 2017 and the completion of the song cycle “Intonations: Songs from the Violins of Hope” in 2021.
“To have another piece with the Cabrillo Festival is an extraordinary honor and gift,” he says. “But the fact that my piece was commissioned to specifically coincide with Pride celebrations, that it is about the celebration of queers in a long-term relationship, and coincides with Santa Cruz’s 50th anniversary of Pride is really special.”
Heggie has known Măcelaru since 2010, when Măcelaru was the assistant conductor for the Dallas world premiere of the opera “Moby Dick.” Măcelaru went on to arrange and conduct the orchestral suite from the opera in his first year as Cabrillo’s music director.
“He arranged the whole orchestral suite from the original score because he knows it so well,” Heggie says of Măcelaru. “It’s been wonderful to watch his career blossom and take off internationally.”
The festival began with free rehearsals on July 27 (with more through Aug. 8).
Opening night, at 8 p.m. Aug. 1, features “Lumina,” Nina Shekhar’s 2020 orchestral work; the West Coast premiere of composer-in-residence Missy Mazzoli’s 2021 Violin Concerto (“Procession”) she wrote for Jennifer Koh, who will solo; and works by composer-in-residence Corigliano: “Phantasmagoria” (2000), an orchestral suite from his 1991 opera “The Ghosts of Versailles,” and “Three Hallucinations,” based on music written for the 1980 Kurt Russell film “Altered States.”
“Chasing Light” at 7 p.m. Aug. 2 is named after composer-in-residence and festival debuting Rene Orth’s 2015 large ensemble piece. The concert also includes composer-in-residence Alexandra Vrebalov’s 2022 symphonic work “This Kiss for the Whole World” and the West Coast premiere of Julia Wolfe’s 2023 opus “Pretty.”
Also on the program: the world premiere of festival veteran and composer-in-residence Stacy Garrop’s song cycle “Frederick and Susan B.” for baritone Sidney Outlaw and soprano Michelle Areyzaga, a commission about the social activism and 45-year friendship of Frederick Douglas and Susan B. Anthony.
“We commissioned Stacy a few seasons ago and the idea for this new piece stemmed from her previous work, which focused on the suffragette movement,” Măcelaru says. “In some ways, this idea was conceived in Santa Cruz and it’s wonderful to see it come full circle.”
A free “Family Concert” conducted by Octavio Mas-Arocas and annual “Tour of the Orchestra” for all ages is at 1 p.m. Aug. 3. The concert includes Karen LeFrak’s “Sleepover at the Museum,” a scavenger hunt brought to life through storytelling and music based on her 2019 book; and the West Coast premiere of Frank Duarte’s “Xhnisa,” his 2024 musical reflection on the changing nature of water inspired by his poem steeped in Latino and Indigenous heritage.
Composer Daniela Candillari, principal conductor for Opera Theatre of St. Louis who helped select the 2025 Cabrillo fest composers, leads the first two concerts, while Măcelaru returns to the podium for the last two concerts.
“Daniela was the clear choice when we were considering a guest conductor, as she also understands the spirit of Cabrillo from her days as a fellow in the Conductor/Composer Workshop,” Măcelaru says. “We collaborated on the repertoire, and she is introducing new composers to the festival, which is a wonderful way to broaden our audiences’ experience.”
“Becoming,” at 7 p.m. Aug. 9, features Harrison’s 1950 Concerto for Violin with Percussion Orchestra with soloist Justin Bruns; the West Coast premiere of Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s 2021 “Catamorphosis”; and the world premiere of an unnamed piece by composer-in-residence Darian Donovan Thomas; the commission is a product of the second season of the festival’s Creative Lab.
“The idea behind this project was to give full rein to a composer-performer to create something unique for the Cabrillo audience, for our performance space and our orchestra,” Măcelaru says. “We begin with sketches of ideas and kernels of emotions and explore them all further during the rehearsal process.”
“Rising,” at 7 p.m. Aug. 10, wraps up the festival with four works: the West Coast premiere of Adolphus Hailstork’s 2024 Saxophone Concerto for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra with soloist Tim McAllister, a Grammy Award winner; Higdon’s 2015 “Cold Mountain Suite” from her opera; the world premiere of the festival-commissioned “As Juniper Storms” by composer-in-residence Tyson Gholston Davis, the second winner of the Cabrillo Emerging Black Composers Prize; and Heggie’s “Good Morning, Beauty” song cycle.
“Rising” is the second song of the Heggie’s cycle, which rounds out with “Am I in a Rut?” and “Dearly, Queerly.” The cycle’s lyrics come from poems by author, actor, drag artist and activist Taylor Mac; guest mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz sings the work.
“It explores the human journey of being in a long-term relationship,” Heggie says. “Everything from the bliss and gratitude to the very difficult parts of it in terms of bodies changing, getting older, being with the same person for a long time, how things evolve, how emotions shift and change, how there can be a lot of frustration as well as joy, especially in a queer relationship.”
In today’s world of faster forms of entertainment, Măcelaru says there is a need for the counterweight of an art form whose purpose is to make one think, not just feel, and that contemporary music is a key, relatable example of such a form.
“Contemporary music is mostly perceived as a niche in a genre already considered elitist,” he says. “Yet I have learned year after year that composers alive today are the closest to our voice, to our communities, and when we allow them to speak through their music, we actually understand it immediately.”
The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music runs through Aug. 10 at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, 307 Church St., Santa Cruz. For tickets ($24-$92 for concerts, $312-$368 for subscriptions) call (831) 420-5260 X5, or visit cabrillomusic.org. (The schedule for free rehearsals, which are on a first-come, walk-in basis, is on the web site.)