On Donato Cabrera’s opening night conducting the Las Vegas Philharmonic as its music director, his former middle school band teacher watched from the audience.
As a child, Cabrera was first exposed to music here in Las Vegas, when his piano-playing grandmother would often play her favorite songs for the family, inspiring him to take lessons. Later, in a Reno classroom, Cabrera’s love for classical music began to take shape. His middle school teacher encouraged him to pick up the French horn, he began participating in orchestra and eventually became a conductor.
This spring, Cabrera will lead Las Vegas Philharmonic for the final time. The company recently announced his impending departure from the organization, at the end of the 2023-2024 season, his 10th overall here.
When the Weekly spoke with Cabrera in late January, he was finalizing the program for his last season, the Phil’s 25th overall. He revealed that his final show will include his good friend—and Grammy-winning organist—Paul Jacobs, along with a performance of Symphony No. 3 “Organ” by Saint-Saëns.
“Ten years is a common length [of time],” Cabrera explained as to why the timing felt right for him to step away. “And for me, while I certainly love and will continue to love our audiences and our great orchestra, I felt like we’ve achieved what we can achieve together as a team. It’s time for a new artistic voice to lead the orchestra forward.”
Cabrera, who arrived the same year the Smith Center for the Performing Arts opened, recalls how, during his early days here, he could “almost hear people rattling their car keys in their pocket” as he would turn to take his bow at the end of a concert. Some Las Vegans weren’t sure what to wear to concerts, when to clap or how to enjoy this type of music. So he became determined to change that, he explains.
After sharing his own enthusiasm through audience chats—and by encouraging attendees to clap whenever they felt the urge—he says it feels like has been successful in educating the community.
“Over the course of nine years, it has grown from people racing to see who would be the first to the parking lot, to waiting to see if we do an encore and clapping enthusiastically and being allowed to enjoy that moment,” he says.
Connecting more Las Vegans to the world of classical music tops his personal list of accomplishments with the Philharmonic. Even after nine years, however, one dream event remains on his wish list—a collaboration concert with a popular Vegas rock act, like Imagine Dragons or The Killers. Even if it doesn’t happen during his final season, he says, he remains hopeful that it someday could.
As for his successor, Cabrera says he hopes the Phil’s next music director will be welcomed warmly by the community. He doesn’t yet know if he will be asked to participate in the search for his replacement, but says he will “happily” be involved if asked.
“That person, whoever it is, has to have a really strong artistic vision for the future and how that mission fits with the Las Vegas community. It is a very unique and wonderful city that’s unlike anywhere else,” he says. “I would love to see a female voice, or a person of color, take the reins. It’s time, not just in Las Vegas but nationwide, that these voices be heard.”
Cabrera, who has simultaneously served as the music director for the California Symphony in the Bay Area for the past 10 years, says he intends to continue that relationship, and to pursue guest-conducting engagements around the U.S. and in Europe.
“This really gives me a chance to explore other projects that being the music director of two orchestras hasn’t allowed me to really pursue yet,” he says.
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