Fresh Inspirations

French composer Hector Berlioz spent a miserable two years in Italy as winner of the prestigious Prix de Rome, but it inspired some of this greatest music. Roman Carnival is nine minutes of jaunty music originally intended as an overture to an opera. Viet Cuong, California Symphony’s “wildly inventive” (New York Times) and “irresistible” (San Francisco Chronicle) resident composer (2020-23) debuts his third and final composition for the orchestra...