CAMERATA PACIFICA
OPENS 2024-25 SEASON WITH
ALL-FRENCH CHAMBER PROGRAM
FEATURING THREE VIRTUOSIC ARTISTS
SEPTEMBER 15-20, 2024,
AT FOUR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LOCATIONS
Violinist Paul Huang, Cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia, and Pianist Gilles Vonsattel
Perform Works by Debussy and Ravel
Sunday, September 15, 3:00 pm, Janet and Ray Scherr Forum (Thousand Oaks)
Tuesday, September 17, 7:30 pm, The Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall (San Marino)
Thursday, September 19, 8:00 pm, Zipper Hall (Downtown Los Angeles)
Friday, September 20, 7:00 pm, Music Academy (Santa Barbara)
(Santa Barbara, CA, August 12, 2024) – Camerata Pacifica launches its 2024-25 season with an all-French chamber program bursting with aural texture and musical bravura September 15-20, 2024, at four Southern California venues. Debussy’s brilliant and painterly Images, Book II, is bookended by Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello, a spare but captivating work with memorable melodies dedicated to Debussy, and Ravel’s poetic Piano Trio in A Minor, a masterpiece that shimmers with harmonic originality.
The performances are Sunday, September 15, 3:00 pm, at Thousand Oaks’ Janet and Ray Scherr Forum; Tuesday, September 17, 7:30 pm, at The Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall in San Marino; Thursday, September 19, 8:00 pm, at Zipper Hall in Downtown Los Angeles; Friday, September 20, 7:00 pm, at Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West.
Showcasing their virtuosity in 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 a 2022 BBC New Generation Artist, and 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). Camerata Pacifica is a chamber music collective renowned for its musical versatility and bold programming that illuminates the limitless scope of the chamber music repertoire.
“France has been a center of music and culture for centuries with Ravel and Debussy, among the country’s most well know composers,” says Camerata Pacifica Artistic Director Adrian Spence. “They were acquaintances for more than a decade beginning in the 1890s. While they shared a mutual admiration for one another, they also found themselves as rivals on occasion.”
Camerata Pacifica’s next program, October 25-30, 2024, traverses groundbreaking music from the 20th century and the dawn of the era with works by Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Mei Fukushima.
For tickets ($75 at The Huntington, Music Academy of the West, and Zipper Hall; $80 at Janet and Ray Scherr Forum) and information, visit www.cameratapacifica.org.
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:
Camerata Pacifica Presents Three Virtuosic Artists on Works by Ravel and Debussy
Paul Huang, violin
Santiago Cañón-Valencia, cello
Gilles Vonsattel, piano
PROGRAM:
RAVEL Sonata for Violin and Cello
DEBUSSY Images, Book II
RAVEL Piano Trio in A Minor
WHEN/WHERE:
Sunday, September 15, 3:00 pm
Janet and Ray Scherr Forum, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd, Thousand Oaks, CA 91362
Tuesday, September 17, 7:30 pm
The Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall, 1151 Oxford Rd, San Marino, CA 91108
Thursday, September 19, 8:00 pm
Zipper Hall, The Colburn School, 200 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Friday, September 20, 7:00 pm
Music Academy of the West, 1070 Fairway Rd, Santa Barbara, CA 93108
TICKETS AND INFORMATION:
$75 at The Huntington, Music Academy and Zipper Hall
$80 at Janet and Ray Scherr Forum
805-884-8410
PLEASE NOTE:
Venue, artists, program, ticket prices subject to change.
# # #
Camerata Pacifica, considered one of the nation’s leading chamber ensembles, has been hailed as “innovative and intrepid” (The Daily Telegraph), “visceral and powerful” (The Economist). Its considerable commissioning portfolio includes more than 20 works by such established and rising composers as John Harbison, Jake Heggie, Huang Ruo, Lera Auerbach, Bright Sheng, Ian Wilson, David Bruce, Libby Larsen, and John Luther Adams. Two new commissions for the ensemble are currently in process from Clarice Assad and Niloufar Nourbakhsh. The chamber collective has also been lauded for its warm and engaging rapport with audiences, bringing context and immediacy to the music it performs. Based in Santa Barbara, California, the ensemble enjoys a busy performance schedule throughout Southern California and beyond. Camerata Pacifica’s flagship annual series showcases its exceptional musicians as well as a range of distinguished guest artists. Each program is structured as a week-long residency with the ensemble performing in four Southern California locales: The Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall in San Marino; Colburn School’s Zipper Hall in downtown Los Angeles; Janet and Ray Scherr Forum in Thousand Oaks; and Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West. The chamber ensemble has previously toured to Hong Kong and appeared at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., Morgan Library & Museum in New York City, and major concert halls in London, Dublin and Belfast. Camerata Pacifica was founded by Artistic Director Adrian Spence, an acclaimed “high-flying flautist” (The Irish Times) applauded for his “unstoppable energy, his organizational genius, his taste in music and musicians” (Noozhawk). A native of Northern Ireland, Spence’s keen artistic sensibilities are evident in every aspect of Camerata Pacifica, from the ensemble’s stellar roster of international chamber artists and thoughtfully curated musical offerings to its authentic connection with audiences. He also sets the tone for the deep comradery among the collective’s musicians, which is evident both on and off stage.
In addition to its busy performance schedule, Camerata Pacifica is committed to serving the community. In 2021, Camerata Pacifica, in collaboration with UCLA Health, developed The Nightingale Channel, a landmark resource for hospitals providing programming drawn from the ensemble’s extensive video library of its performances delivered via iPads to patient bedsides and care teams. Based on the well-documented positive effects of music in healing, The Nightingale Channel has been adopted by UCLA Health, UC Davis Health, Keck Medicine at USC, Loma Linda University Medical Center, City of Hope National Medical Center, and Augusta University Health, and is being introduced to other hospitals across the country.
# # #
