Camerata Pacifica Performs Chamber Works by William Bolcom, Frédéric Chopin, and Lara Auerbach May 16-22, LA/San Marino/Santa Barbara/Thousand Oaks

Camerata Pacifica, a chamber music collective renowned for its musical versatility and bold programming, caps its 2024-25 season with an unexpected mix of humorous, emotional, and virtuosic chamber works by Frédéric Chopin, William Bolcom, and Lara Auerbach, May 16-22, 2025, at four Southern California locations. The performances are Friday, May 16, 7:00 pm, at Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West; Sunday, May 18, 3:00 pm, at Thousand Oaks’ Janet and Ray Scherr Forum; Tuesday, May 20, 7:30 pm, at The Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall in San Marino; and Thursday, May 22, 2025, 8:00 pm, at Zipper Hall in Downtown Los Angeles. 

William Bolcom’s irreverent Orphée-Sérénade, composed in 1984 for piano and chamber orchestra, which deftly shifts from lyrical to witty, and flippant to propulsive, sets the tone for the program.

A National Medal of Arts, Pulitzer Prize, and Grammy Award-winner, Bolcom is noted for composing “music in a range of styles that all but erases the lines between art music and popular music” (WOSU).

Providing a luscious musical palate cleanser, Camerata Pacifica Principal Pianist Irina Zahharenkova is spotlighted on Chopin’s virtuosic Andante spianato et Grande polonaise brillante in E Flat Major, Op. 22. The kaleidoscopic work combines technical brilliance, rich harmonies and tremendous emotional depth.

Concluding the program and the 2024-25 season is Lera Auerbach’s Dreammusik, for cello and chamber ensemble written in 2014 for Camerata Pacifica and Principal Cellist Ani Aznavoorian, who is featured on the work. Commissioned by Sandra Tillisch Svoboda in memory of her husband Al, it reflects the broad musical sensibilities of Auerbach, “an artist of her time” (Gramophone) who creates “music of extraordinary power and intensity” (The New Yorker).

In addition to Zahharenkova and Aznavoorian, the artists featured on the season finale include Jolente De Maeyer, violin; Jason Uyeyama, violin; Che-Yen Chen, viola; Ani Aznavoorian, cello; Andrew Janss, cello; Tim Eckert, double bass; Sooyun Kim, Flute; Nicholas Daniel, Oboe; Kathleen McLean, Bassoon; Jose Franch-Ballester, Clarinet; Irina Zahharenkova, Piano; and Ji Hye Jung, Percussion.

For tickets ($75 at The Huntington, Music Academy of the West, and Zipper Hall; $91, including fees, at Janet and Ray Scherr Forum) and information, visit www.cameratapacifica.org.