Visions of Elysium

Visions of Elysium

Sunday, September 14, 2025 at 4:00PM

Visions of Elysium is officially sold out!

There is a good chance that standby tickets will be available. Please visit us at Will Call before the performance to see if we can seat you!

Berkeley Symphony’s opening concert, conducted by Montreal’s Dina Gilbert, invites audiences on a quest for transcendence that spans from tranquility to triumphant heroism. The evening opens with Samy Moussa’s otherworldly vision of Elysium, the paradisiacal afterlife of Grecian heroes. Next, cello soloist Gabriel Cabezas leads listeners through shadow and fog in Alyssa Weinberg’s Caligo and to emotional heights in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Pezzo capriccioso. We conclude with Ludwig van Beethoven’s monumental Symphony No. 3, a bold declaration of humanity’s aspiration toward an ideal world.

About the Artists

Dina Gilbert

Conductor Dina Gilbert has received critical acclaim for her energy, presence on the podium, and the breadth of her repertoire. From Québec, she is currently Principal Conductor of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Associate Conductor of the Orchestre symphonique deMontréal andMusic Director of the Walla Walla Symphony where she is known for her contagious dynamism and innovative programming.

Regularly invited to conduct internationally, she has conducted the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the national orchestras of Lyon, Pays de la Loire, and Metz, as well as on tour in with Japan the Sinfonia Varsovia. In addition to premiering more than 40 works by Canadian composers, she has reached thousands of children with her interactive and participative Conducting 101 workshops across Canada.

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Gabriel Cabezas

Zoe Prinds-Flash

Cellist Gabriel Cabezas is a true 21st century musician. Named one of “23 Composers and Performers to Watch in ’23” by the Washington Post, he is a prolific and sought-after soloist and collaborator, as comfortable interpreting new works as he is with the pillar scores of the cello repertoire. Gabriel is co-founder of the string group Owls, described as “a dream group...” by the New York Times, and a member of the genre-leading chamber sextet yMusic. In 2016, Gabriel received the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, a career grant awarded to extraordinary classical Black and Latinx musicians.

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Zoe Prinds-Flash

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