Breaking: Guest conductor will replace Rei Hotoda for 1st Fresno Philharmonic concert of the season

September 28, 2024

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A bit of breaking Fresno Philharmonic news: Music director and conductor Rei Hotoda will not be on the podium this weekend as the orchestra kicks off the 2024-25 season:

Rei Hotoda has unexpectedly taken ill and will be unable to conduct this weekend’s concerts. We are delighted to have engaged Donato Cabrera, Music Director of the California Symphony, to conduct the program. Rei sends her very best for a fantastic season opener and looks forward to seeing everyone for November’s concerts!

That’s the word from Ellen A. Armour, the orchestra’s development and marketing director.

Pictured above: Donato Cabrera conducts the California Symphony. Photo: Kristen Loken.

Maestro Cabrera is artistic and music director of the California Symphony, based in Walnut Creek. As resident conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, Cabrera he 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, according to his website. He served for 10 years as music director of the Las Vegas Philharmonic.

This Fresno Philharmonic concert (7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29, at Shaghoian Hall) opens the 70th anniversary season with a concert celebrating the orchestra’s Armenian heritage. Famed pianist Sergei Babayan, a favorite of Fresno audiences, performs Rachmaninoff’s towering Piano Concerto No. 3, and the orchestra will also play Armenia’s favorite-son composer Aram Khachaturian’s Spartacus Suite No. 2. Also on the program: Yūzō Toyama’s Rhapsody for Orchestra, based on Japanese folk songs, sets the stage for the orchestra’s February concert honoring Fresno’s Japanese American history.