Camerata Pacifica Caps Inaugural Baroque Series With Milestone and Rarely Heard French Baroque Vocal and Instrumental Chamber Works

“Camerata Pacifica Baroque: The French Dispatch” explores French Baroque repertoire both rarely heard and familiar in the second and final offering in the acclaimed chamber collective’s inaugural period instrument Baroque series curated by and featuring eminent flutist Emi Ferguson, known for her fresh approach to programming and boundary-stretching performances. This engaging program of 17^th and 18^th century French vocal and instrumental works performed by some of the country’s leading Baroque experts is presented on Sunday, April 21, 3 pm, at Thousand Oak’s Janet and Ray Scherr Forum; Tuesday, April 23, 7:30 pm, at The Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall in San Marino; Thursday, April 25, 8 pm, at Zipper Hall in Downtown Los Angeles; Friday, April 26, 2024, 7:30 pm, in Hahn Hall at Santa Barbara’s Music Academy.

Clérambault’s breathtaking cantata Pirame et Tisbé features acclaimed Grammy-winning Lebanese-American tenor Karim Sulayman, whose voice is “pure heaven” (The Arts Desk). He also performs four works by Anne Madeleine Guédon de Presles, a French composer, singer, and actress, who in the early 18^th century became the first known French woman to publish a collection of arias.

Ferguson says, “This program really has it all!  It’s bookended by some of my absolute favorite chamber music works by Rameau and Telemann. But what is really exciting is getting to premiere 4 songs by Baroque French female composer Mde. Guedon de Presles that have been forgotten for centuries. All alongside a rockstar team of performers!”

Joining Ferguson and Sulayman are violinist Rachell Ellen Wong, noted for performances that are “scorching hot, accurate, and thrilling” (Broadway World) and the first Baroque violinist to receive a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant; harpsichordist Michael Sponseller, acclaimed for his “remarkable spectrum of sounds” (Cleveland Classical); Grammy-winning guitarist Stephen Stubbs, a leading figure in the American early music scene for three decades; and, on viola da gamba, Doug Balliett, a professor of baroque bass at The Juilliard School hailed for his “elegantly played” performances (The New York Times).

The program opens with Third Suite in A Major from Pièces de Clavecin en Concert, Rameau’s adaptations of his keyboard works for chamber ensemble, and concludes with Telemann’s Paris Quartet No. 12 in E Minor, TWV 43:e4, a milestone of the chamber genre.

Camerata Pacifica is renowned for its musical versatility and bold programming that demonstrate the limitless scope of the chamber music repertoire.

“Camerata Pacifica Baroque: The French Dispatch” tickets ($75 at The Huntington, Hahn Hall and Zipper Hall; $80 at Janet and Ray Scherr Forum) are available at www.cameratapacifica.org or 805-884-8410.

About Emi Ferguson, Curator of Camerata Pacifica’s Baroque Series  

A 2023 recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Emi Ferguson can be heard live in concerts and festivals with groups including AMOC*, Ruckus, the Handel and Haydn Society, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Manhattan Chamber Players, and as the music director of Camerata Pacifica Baroque. Her recordings celebrate her fascination with reinvigorating music and instruments of the past for the present. Her debut album, Amour Cruel, an indie-pop song cycle inspired by the music of the 17th-century French court, was released by Arezzo Music in September 2017, spending four weeks on the classical, classical crossover, and world music Billboard charts. Her 2019 album Fly the Coop: Bach Sonatas and Preludes, a collaboration with continuo band Ruckus, debuted at #1 on the iTunes classical charts and #2 on the Billboard classical charts, and was called “blindingly impressive ... a fizzing, daring display of personality and imagination” by The New York Times. Emi has been a featured performer at the Marlboro, Lucerne, Ojai, Lake Champlain, Bach Virtuosi, and June in Buffalo festivals, often premiering new works by composers of our time. Emi has spoken and performed at several TEDx events and has been featured on media outlets including the Discovery Channel, Amazon Prime, WQXR, and Vox talking about how music relates to our world today. As part of WQXR’s Artist Propulsion Lab, she created the series “This Composer is SICK!” with Max Fine that explored the impact of Syphilis on composers Franz Schubert, Bedrich Smetana, and Scott Joplin, and has also guest hosted WQXR’s Young Artists Showcase. Her book, “Iconic Composers,” co-written with Nicholas and David Csicsko, was released in June 2023, introducing music lovers of all ages to 50 incredible composers. Born in Japan and raised in London and Boston, she now resides in New York City.

About Camerata Pacifica
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, Hahn Hall. 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.