Camerata Pacifica Announces 2024-25 Season Featuring Programs In Santa Barbara, Thousand Oaks, San Marino, And Downtown Los Angeles

Camerata Pacifica, a chamber music collective renowned for its musical versatility and bold programming that illuminates the limitless scope of the chamber music repertoire, unveils its 2024-25 season. Founder and Artistic Director Adrian Spence announced the details of the 35th season.

“Camerata Pacifica builds upon its storied history of adventurous programming during the 2024-25 season with a broad selection of works by emerging composers and classical giants,” says Spence. “We're delighted to welcome to our stage a dozen stellar guest artists, some new to Camerata Pacifica and others returning, who join our own esteemed chamber artists for a constellation of programs designed to inspire, amuse, surprise, and thrill audiences. And, as always, we look forward to engaging with patrons at the four distinctive Southland venues in Santa Barbara, Thousand Oaks, Los Angeles, and San Marino, where we present our concerts.”

Camerata Pacifica, comprised of virtuoso musicians from around the globe, will present a total of nine programs encompassing legacy works along with commissioned and rarely performed music.

Among numerous season highlights are two U.S. premieres -- Nibiru, for horn and electronics by Zoë Martlew, and a new work for horn and piano by British composer Oliver Leith, both commissioned for Camerata Pacifica by Judith Vida-Spence in memory of her husband Stuart Spence.  

Other contemporary offerings include Niloufar Nourbakhsh's Veiled for Solo Viola and Live Electronics with Fixed Media, a powerful work championing women who stand up to oppression both personally and politically; Orphée-Sérénade for piano and chamber orchestra by William Bolcom; and Thomas Oboe Lee's Parodia Schumanniana for oboe, viola, and piano.

Two works composed specifically for Camerata Pacifica artists provide added sonic depth with Principal Cello Ani Aznavoorian featured on Lera Auerbach's Dreammusik, for cello and chamber ensemble, commissioned in 2014 for Camerata Pacifica and the cellist, and Principal Oboe Nicholas Daniel performing Helen Grime's Two Birthday Fragments for Solo Oboe, written for him in 2022 in celebration of his 60th birthday.

Spence has also programmed a range of chamber masterworks by such classical giants as Bach, Bartók, Bowen, Chopin, Debussy, Fukushima, Gershwin, Poulenc, Rachmaninoff, Saint-Saëns, Schoenberg, Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, Stravinsky, and Weill.

Camerata Pacifica Baroque, described by Spence as the chamber collective's “period instrument annex,” which was launched last season and is curated by flute virtuoso Emi Ferguson, continues with a pair of extraordinary programs that offer a fresh perspective on baroque music. The first includes Ferguson on traverso, joined by celebrated classical and jazz keyboardist Dan Tepfer, in his Camerata Pacifica debut, on clavichord, who presents selections from his innovative 2023 solo album J.S. Bach / Dan Tepfer, Inventions / Reinventions on StorySound Records. Later in the season, the early music band RUCKUS and violinist Rachell Ellen Wong reunite with Ferguson on three sublime trio sonatas by Handel as well as Sancho's “12 Country Dances for the year 1779.”

In addition to Tepfer, artists making their Camerata Pacifica debuts on various programs are cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia, hailed as “technically flawless” (The Strad); Jolente de Maeyer, one of Belgian's leading violinists; violinist Alena Hove, applauded for her “rich, smooth tone” (CityArts); celebrated German soprano Sarah Maria Sun; Grace Park, a violinist described as “fresh, different, and exhilarating” (San Francisco Classical Voice); Sooyun Kim, “a rare virtuoso of the flute” (Libération); and, as a husband-and-wife piano duo, Ran Dank and Soyeon Kate Lee, who “produce an entirely unified sound” (The Berkshire Edge).

Along with period instrument headliners RUCKUS and Wong, guest artists returning to Camerata Pacifica this season include leading violists Che-Yen Chen and Timothy Ridout; hornist Benjamin Goldscheider, “a musical Bear Grylls…fearlessly leaping through dangerous terrain” (Huffington Post); Berlin Philharmonic Principal Flute Sébastian Jacot, heralded as “flute rock star” by his peers; Sooyun Kim, “a rare virtuoso of the flute” (Libération); internationally recognized bassoonist Kathleen McLean; and multifaceted percussionist W. Lee Vinson.

Featured from Camerata Pacifica's own roster of stellar musicians, in addition to Aznavoorian and Daniel, are Paul Huang, The Bob Christensen Chair in Violin; Principal Clarinet Jose Franch-Ballester; Percussionist Ji Hye Jung; and Principal Pianos Gilles Vonsattel and Irina Zahharenkova.

Each of Camerata Pacifica's nine programs is presented at four leading Southern California venues: Downtown L.A.'s Zipper Hall; San Marino's The Huntington; Santa Barbara's Music Academy of the West; and Thousand Oaks' Janet and Ray Scherr Forum. According to Spence, Camerata Pacifica also continues to elevate its concerts with a range of visual elements, such as video content, projections, and theatrical lighting “to enrich the audience's experience and enhance and heighten the music being performed without detracting from it.”

2024-25 PROGRAMS DETAILED (in chronological order)  

September 2024:

Sunday, September 15, 3:00 pm, Janet and Ray Scherr Forum, Thousand Oaks

Tuesday, September 17, 7:30 pm, The Huntington, San Marino

Thursday, September 19, 8:00 pm, Zipper Hall, Los Angeles

Friday, September 20, 7:00 pm, Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara

Paul Huang, violin

Santiago Cañón-Valencia, cello

Gilles Vonsattel, piano

RAVEL Sonata for Violin and Cello

DEBUSSY Images, Book II

RAVEL Piano Trio in A Minor

Camerata Pacifica launches its 2024-25 season with an all-French chamber program bursting with aural texture and bravura. Debussy's brilliant and painterly Images, Book II, is bookended by Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Cello, a spare but captivating work dedicated to Debussy featuring cyclical themes punctuated by memorable melodies, and Ravel's poetic Piano Trio in A Minor, a masterpiece that shimmers with harmonic originality. Showcasing their virtuosity on the technically demanding repertoire are Paul Huang, Camerata Pacifica's Bob Christensen Chair in Violin, “a compelling podium presence” (Culture OC), and recipient of the 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 2017 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists; Columbian cellist Santiago Cañón- Valencia, hailed as “technically flawless” (The Strad), named Silver Medalist and “Audience Favorite” at the 2019 XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition; and Principal Piano Gilles Vonsattel, “a pianist well worth watching” (The New York Times).

October 2024:

Friday, October 25, 7:00 pm, Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara

Sunday, October 27, 3:00 pm, Janet and Ray Scherr Forum, Thousand Oaks

Tuesday, October 29, 7:30 pm, The Huntington, San Marino

Thursday, October 30, 8:00 pm, Zipper Hall, Los Angeles
Alena Hove, violin

Ani Aznavoorian, cello

Sooyun Kim, flute

Jose Franch-Ballester, clarinet

Irina Zahharenkova, piano

FUKUSHIMA Mei for Solo Flute

RACHMANINOFF Moments musicaux, Op. 16

STRAVINSKY Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet

SCHOENBERG, arr. Webern Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9. 

Camerata Pacifica traverses groundbreaking music from the 20th century and the dawn of the era, including three works for solo instrument. The program opens with Sooyun Kim, “a rare virtuoso of the flute” (Libération) performing Kazuo Fukushima's mysterious Mei for Solo Flute written in 1962 by the self-taught Japanese composer. Then, turning back in time to 1896, Rachmaninoff's Moments musicaux, Op. 16, a set of deeply expressive solo piano pieces, showcases celebrated Principal Piano Irina Zahharenkova, heralded for her “impressive…musical colour” (Bachtrack). The third solo work, Stravinsky's 1918 jazzy tour-de-force Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet, is interpreted by Camerata Pacifica Principal Clarinet Jose Franch-Ballester, a captivating performer of “poetic eloquence” (The New York Sun). Schoenberg's 1906 landmark Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9, arranged by his student Anton Webern between 1922 and 1923, caps the program with the three solo artists joined by Alena Hove, a rising violinist applauded for her “rich, smooth tone” (CityArts), and Principal Cellist Ani Aznavoorian, whose

November 2024: 

Sunday, November 10, 3:00 pm, Janet and Ray Scherr Forum, Thousand Oaks

Tuesday, November 12, 7.30 pm, The Huntington, San Marino

Thursday, November 14, 8:00 pm, Zipper Hall, Los Angeles

Friday, November 15, 7.00 pm, Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara

Nicholas Daniel, oboe

Timothy Ridout, viola

Irina Zahharenkova, piano

SAINT-SAËNS Sonata for Oboe and Piano in D Major, Op. 166

NILOUFAR NOURBAKHSH Veiled for Solo Viola and Live Electronics with Fixed Media

BOWEN Viola Sonata No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 18

HELEN GRIME Two Birthday Fragments for Solo Oboe

THOMAS OBOE LEE Parodia Schumanniana

Camerata Pacifica's season continues with four wide-ranging and deeply creative works highlighting the oboe and viola. Saint-Saëns' Sonata for Oboe and Piano in D Major, Op. 166, a brilliant three-movement piece is performed by Principal Oboe Nicholas Daniel, whose playing “bursts with exuberant charisma and optimistic allure” (MusicalCriticism.com), and Principal Piano Irina Zahharenkova, in her second appearance of the season. Daniel also reprises Helen Grime's rhapsodic Two Birthday Fragments, which she composed for him in celebration of his 60th birthday and he premiered at London's Wigmore Hall in 2022.

British violist Timothy Ridout, “that rare kind of musician who could play a cardboard box and make it sing” (Guardian) takes centerstage for two solo works, including Bowen's vivacious Viola Sonata No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 18, and Iranian composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh's impassioned Veiled for Solo Viola and Live Electronics with Fixed Media. Nourbakhsh explains the piece has a message of empowerment, “It takes a lot of courage to stand up against something that everyone has accepted as normal. Personally, as an Iranian woman, I carry a lot of anger with me: the anger that comes from things I've witnessed happen to the women in my personal life, to larger scale growing up in a country that actively veils women's presence — be it through compulsory hijab or banning solo female singers from pursuing a professional career. For me it's important to transform this anger into a collective force that is both beautiful and resilient. Veiled is a tribute to Iranian women who made such transformations possible.”

Both Ridout and Daniel join Zahharenkova on the finale, Thomas Oboe Lee's dazzling trio Parodia Schumanniana.

January 2025: 

Camerata Pacifica Baroque: Emergence

Sunday, January 12, 3:00 pm, Janet and Ray Scherr Forum, Thousand Oaks

Tuesday, January,14, 7:30 pm, The Huntington, San Marino

Thursday, January 16, 8:00 pm, Zipper Hall, Los Angeles

Friday, January 17, 7:00 pm, Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara

Emi Ferguson, music director/traverso

Dan Tepfer, keyboard

UCCELLINI La Lacriminia contenta, Op. 4

FONTANA Sonata Seconda

VIRGILIANO Selections from Il Dolcimelo

BACH / TEPFER Inventions / Reinventions

Camerata Pacifica launches the New Year with the first of two programs on its Camerata Pacifica Baroque series curated by acclaimed flutist Emi Ferguson. Bringing a fresh perspective and new interpretations of music from the Baroque era, Ferguson, on traverso, is joined by celebrated classical and jazz keyboardist Dan Tepfer, who presents on clavichord selections from his 2023 solo album J.S. Bach / Dan Tepfer, Inventions / Reinventions on StorySound Records.

Tepfer explains the album's concept, “Each of Bach's Inventions, is a brilliant miniature demonstration of classical narrative form in music, carried out in under two minutes. I perform the Inventions as Bach wrote them, and, for the nine missing keys, improvise my own inventions. Not in Bach's style but rather in my own voice. They don't react directly to Bach's miniatures; instead, they react to the abstract and general structural concept that supports them.” He notes “that Bach was well known in his lifetime as an improviser… it was at the core of his being.” The unique project demanding consideration skills as both a jazz and classical pianist bolsters Tepfer's reputation as “one of the moment's most adventurous and relevant musicians” (New York Magazine).

Three virtuosic but lesser-known works complete the program, including Uccellini's La Lacriminia contenta, Op. 4, Fontana's Sonata Seconda, and selections from Virgiliano's Il Dolcimelo.

February 2025: 

Friday, February 7, 7:00 pm, Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara

Sunday, February 9, 3:00 pm, Janet and Ray Scherr Forum, Thousand Oaks

Tuesday, February 11, 7:30 pm, The Huntington, San Marino

Thursday, February 13, 8:00 pm, Zipper Hall, Los Angeles

Sarah Maria Sun, soprano

Jolente de Maeyer, violin

Ani Aznavoorian, cello

Sébastian Jacot, flute

Jose Franch-Ballester, clarinet

Irina Zahharenkova, piano
LARA MORCIANO Embedded Tangles
GERSHWIN Prelude No. 2 in C Sharp Minor

WEILL Lied des Lotteriagenten from Der Silbersee

WEILL Die stille Stadt

WEILL Der Abschiefdsbrief

WEILL It Never Was You

DEBUSSY Clair de Lune

SCHOENBERG Little Piano Piece, Op. 19, No. 6

SCHOENBERG Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21

Strains of Gershwin, Weill, Debussy, and Schoenberg, composers whose lives and work were inextricably linked in the early 20th century, bring emotional depth to this Camerata Pacifica program. The musical gems familiar and less familiar include Debussy's Clair de Lune, Gershwin's Prelude No. 2 in C Sharp Minor, as well as two Schoenberg works, Little Piano Piece, Op. 19, No. 6, and Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21, and four Weill songs, among them “It Never Was You” from the musical Knickerbocker Holiday, later made into a film version starring Nelson Eddy. The program features Sébastian Jacot, Berlin Philharmonic Principal Flute, who returns to Camerata Pacifica following his critically acclaimed West Coast recital debut with the chamber collective last February; Jolente de Maeyer, one of Belgium's leading violinists, and celebrated German soprano Sarah Maria Sun, among the foremost interpreters of contemporary music, both making their Camerata Pacifica debuts; Principal Cello Ani Aznavoorian, Principal Clarinet Jose Franch-Ballester; and Principal Piano Irina Zahharenkova.

February/March 2025: 

Camerata Pacifica Baroque: Strawberry Fields

Tuesday, February 25, 7:30 pm, The Huntington, San Marino

Thursday, February 27, 8:00 pm, Zipper Hall, Los Angeles

Friday, February 28, 7:00 pm, Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara

Sunday, March 2, 3:00 pm, Janet and Ray Scherr Forum, Thousand Oaks

Emi Ferguson, music director/traverso

Rachell Ellen Wong, violin

RUCKUS

SANCHO 12 Country Dances for the year 1779

HANDEL Trio Sonata in G Major, Op. 5, No.

HANDEL Trio Sonata in E Minor, Op. 5, No. 3

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