The 2023 Cello│Fresno International Festival is Oct. 12 to 15 at Fresno State and includes a world premiere composition, two gala concerts, a concerto competition, two large cello ensembles and many master classes and workshops. Cellists from around the globe will enrich the community with four days of master classes, cello ensemble rehearsals, concerts and workshops for cellists of all ages and levels. Violin makers from the area will be on hand, presenting their instruments and answering questions.

The campus community and the general public are invited to experience the following events.

Cello Mania Concert featuring the Fresno State Symphony Orchestra
7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13, Fresno State Concert Hall

• Featuring Dr. Daniel Akiva, one of Israel’s most notable composers and winner of Israel’s Prime Minister Award for composers. The Fresno State Symphony Orchestra will give Dr. Akiva’s “Requests for Cello and Orchestra” its world premiere during the festival. The work is a prayer based on liturgical songs in the style of ancient Sephardic Jews, and it expresses the longing for worldwide peace.
• Works for cello and orchestra by Bragato, Bruch, Dvořák, Faure, Glazunov and Piatti.
• Tickets are $15 for general; $10 for employees, seniors, military/veterans, non-Fresno State Students and free for Fresno State students with ID.

Concerto Competition
6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14, Fresno State Concert Hall

• Free and open to the public.

Closing Gala Concert featuring the Youth Orchestras of Fresno
3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15, at the Paul Shaghoian Memorial Concert Hall

• Featuring Brinton Averil Smith, principal cellist of the Houston Symphony since 2005 and cello professor at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and the Aspen Music Festival performing Korngold’s Cello Concerto. Critics have hailed Dr. Smith as a “virtuoso cellist with few equals,” describing him as “a proponent of old-school string playing such as that of Piatigorsky and Heifetz.”
• Two cello ensembles, conducted by Cara and Emilio Colón.
• Emilio Colón’s Poema: La Garza en el Daule conducted by Dr. Thomas Loewenheim.
• Tickets are free for all. Suggested donation is $20.

Artistic directors Dr. Thomas Loewenheim, Fresno State; Emilio Colón, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and Cara Elise Colón, American Cello Institute, bring cellists from around the globe to enrich the Fresno community with four days of master classes, cello ensemble rehearsals, concerts and workshops for cellists of all ages and levels. Other faculty guest artists will include Thomas Landschoot, Jonathan Ruck, Brian Schuldt and Andrew Smith, representing many of the top music programs in the United States.