Music Director Donato Cabrera will debut with the GBSO during the 2011/12 concert season. He is the 10th music director in the Orchestra's 98-year history. Cabrera joined the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) conducting staff in 2009 and will continue in his current role. As Bruno Walter Resident Conductor Chair, he works closely with SFS Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and leads the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra as Wattis Foundation Music Director.

In December 2009, he made his debut with the San Francisco Ballet, conducting performances of "The Nutcracker" and is one of few conductors who have conducted performances at all three San Francisco institutions: The Orchestra, Opera, and Ballet.

Cabrera made his South American debut in 2008, conducting Madame Butterfly with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Concepción in Chile, and he returns yearly to conduct symphonic and operatic repertoire.

From 2005 to 2008, he was associate conductor of the San Francisco Opera, participating in the world premiere of John Adams's "Doctor Atomic" and conducting performances of Die Fledermaus, Don Giovanni, Tannhäuser, and The Magic Flute. Cabrera has also assisted in productions at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 2002, he was a Herbert von Karajan conducting fellow at the Salzburg Festival and has also served as an assistant conductor at the Ravinia, Spoleto (Italy), and Aspen Music Festivals, and the Music Academy of the West.

Cabrera is dedicated to music education and community outreach and has worked with members of the young artist programs of the San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Portland Opera. He was also a frequent conductor of Young People’s Concerts with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

A champion of new music, Cabrera was a co-founder and music director of the New York-based American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), and has led that ensemble in works of John Adams, Jacob Druckman, Donald Martino, Frederic Rzewski, and Elliott Carter.

To read more about Cabrera's career, go here.