Camerata Pacifica Announces 2026-2027 Season

Camerata Pacifica, the Southern California-based chamber music collective celebrated for its exceptional artistry and compelling programming of legacy classics and daring new work, unveils its 2026-27 season. Founder and Artistic Director Adrian Spence announced the details of the 37th season, featuring eight thoughtfully curated programs embracing the extraordinary breadth and depth of the chamber music repertoire.

“Camerata Pacifica’s 2026-27 season invites audiences to experience music that illuminates, amuses, challenges and inspires brought to life by some of the world’s most talented and characterful chamber musicians,” says Spence. “They bridge beloved foundational touchstones and never-before-heard works on a season-long journey fueled by boundless creativity and striking virtuosity. It’s music at its most intimate and uplifting.”

Among the roster of celebrated artists appearing this season, Spence spotlights the Camerata Pacifica debuts of harpists Emmanuel Ceysson, Los Angeles Philharmonic Principal Harpist, and Cristina Montes Mateo, Valencia Opera House Principal Harpist and Royal Harpist to the King and Queen of Spain. “They are featured on a fascinating all-harp program that demonstrates the instrument’s considerable timbre and range,” Spence states.

Spence also highlights two newly appointed Camerata Pacifica principal artists: flutist Sébastian Jacot and violist Che-Yen Chen. “They absolutely floored the audience – as well as our musicians – with their exceptional artistry and masterful technique during appearances in previous seasons,” Spence underscores. “We welcome them to their new principal roles and are excited to share more of their talent with audiences throughout this season and beyond.”

Jacot, hailed as “one of the most brilliant flautists of his generation” (The Flute View), began his career as associate principal flute with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and has performed under some of the world’s most renowned conductors in principal roles with the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Berliner Philharmoniker, and other prominent orchestras.

Chen, a violist who plays “with silken finesse” (Dallas Morning News), has appeared as guest principal with Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and Toronto Symphony. He is a founding member of the Formosa Quartet and a former member of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society.

Program Descriptions

Spence notes that this season Camerata Pacifica continues its tradition of elevating its concerts with a range of subtle visual elements, such as video content, projections, and theatrical lighting “to enrich the audience’s experience and enhance and heighten the music being performed.”

Camerata Pacifica launches its 2026-27 season with two sublime works October 11-15, 2026. Pianist Irina Zahharenkova’s brings her unique artistic sensibility to Rachmaninoff’s Variations on a Theme of Chopin, Op. 22, a collection of 22 variations on Chopin’s Prelude in C that arc from melancholy to exultant. Violinist Grace Park and cellist Santiago Can~o´n-Valencia then join Zahharenkova, to perform Schubert's B-Flat Major Trio, considered one of the most celebrated chamber works in the classical repertoire. Composed at the end of Schubert’s life and published posthumously, the radiant masterwork displays the composer’s command of sonority.

The program on November 8-13, 2026, includes the world premiere of a new work for mixed octet by award-winning Iranian-American composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh, hailed for her singular musical voice. It is the first of two highly anticipated Camerata Pacifica-commissioned world premieres presented this season. In addition, Principal Oboe Nicholas Daniel is featured on multi-Grammy-winning composer Michael Daugherty’s Firecracker, a virtuosic chamber concerto that celebrates the rhythmic and explosive potential of the oboe. Other contemporary works include Grammy-nominated composer Missy Mazzoli’s Vespers for Violin, for amplified violin and electronics, as well as I prefer living in color by the late Sarah Gibson, inspired by a colorful David Hockney painting. Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat Major, K. 452, scored for piano, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn, provides musical context for these five contemporary works. The program features Alena Hove, violin; Rob Brophy, viola; Ani Aznavoorian, cello; Catherine Gregory, flute; Jose Franch-Ballester, clarinet; Eleni Katz, bassoon; Ben Goldscheider, horn; Irina Zahharenkova, piano; and Ji Hye Jung, percussion, along with Nicolas Daniel, oboe.

On December 7 and 8, 2026, Camerata Pacifica begins the second phase of “Beethoven 32,” its momentous three-year Beethoven cycle featuring Principal Piano Gilles Vonsattel performing all 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas in a hybrid blend of solo recitals and chamber programs. For the first of his two solo recitals slated this season, Vonsattel interprets three contrasting sonatas, starting with Beethoven’s breezy and humorous Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 31, No. 1, followed by Piano Sonata in D Minor, Op. 31, No. 2, “The Tempest,” composed during a particularly challenging time for Beethoven due to the progression of his hearing loss. Vonsattel wraps the recital with Piano Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 31, No. 3, “The Hunt,” considered Beethoven's brightest and most cheerful piano sonata.

Camerata Pacifica welcomes the New Year on January 10-15, 2027, with a selection of venerated and never-before-heard works moored by the world premiere of a new work for mixed sextet by Howard Frazin, whose music has been called “touching” (Dallas Morning News) and “ingeniously scored” (The Boston Globe). The chamber collective also performs Bach’s Flute Sonata in E Major, featuring flutist Sébastian Jacot; de Falla’s Concerto for Harpsichord, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Violin and Cello, rooted in Spanish musical traditions; and Malcom Arnold’s Divertimento, Op. 37, a sequence of six short pieces for flute, oboe, and clarinet. Strauss’s Kaiser-Walzer, Op. 437, a waltz arranged for string quartet, piano, flute and clarinet by Arnold Schoenberg, caps the program. Appearing with Sébastian Jacot are Grace Park, violin; Jason Uyeyama, violin; Che-Yen Chen, viola; Jose Franch-Ballester, clarinet; Nicholas Daniel, oboe; Ani Aznavoorian, cello; and Irina Zahharenkova, piano.

On February 19-23, 2027, Camerata Pacifica reprises John Harbison’s String Trio, which Camerata Pacifica proudly commissioned and premiered in 2013. Acknowledged as one of his most important works, the composer notes that the piece “shadows the Mozart Divertimento, K 563, in ways both plain and hidden.” It features Jolente De Maeyer, violin, Che-Yen Chen, viola, and Ani Aznavoorian, cello. Harbison’s tour de force is bookended by another segment of the “Beethoven 32” project with Gilles Vonsattel performing Beethoven’s playful Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 49, No. 2, and Piano Sonata in B-flat Major, Op. 22, a virtuosic piece the composer himself regarded as the best of his early sonatas.

The second of two “Beethoven 32” solo piano recitals this season featuring Gilles Vonsattel takes place March 25 and 26, 2027. He illuminates four Beethoven piano sonatas, beginning with the deeply expressive Piano Sonata in C Minor, Op. 10, No. 1, noted for its glorious slow movement, and the Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 14, No. 2, a puckish work that delights with its final fortissimo crash. Vonsattel also performs Piano Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 81a, “Les Adieux,” encapsulating the emotions surrounding the departure, absence, and return of a close friend, and Piano Sonata in A-flat Major, Op. 110, Beethoven’s penultimate piano sonata.

On April 13-18, 2027, Camerata Pacifica celebrates the harp, welcoming to its stage two of the world’s leading harpists – Emmanuel Ceysson, who has served as Principal Harpist for the Paris Opera, the Metropolitan Opera and now the LA Phil, and Cristina Montes Mateo, Principal Harpist for the Valencia Opera House in Spain and Royal Harpist to the King and Queen of Spain. The rare all-harp program features them on the harp duet version of Smetana’s devoutly patriotic Die Moldau arranged by Trnecek. The mix of contemporary and classic harp works also includes Takemitsu’s Bryce for flute, two harps, marimba, and percussion; The Eye of Night by David Bruce, who has forged a unique path in contemporary classical music with a series of colorfully imaginative works inspired by folk traditions; and Walter-Kühne’s Fantasia on Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, infused with rippling arpeggios typically associated with harp. Further spotlighting the instrument’s broad sonic range are Le Tic-Toc-Choc ou Les Maillotins, Rameau’s solo harp transcription; Balakirev’s harp arrangement of Glinka’s The Lark; and Fauré’s Fantaisie, Op. 79, an exquisite chamber music jewel. Also on the program is Kembang Suling, one of Gareth Farr ’s earliest works, which embraces the composer’s passion for Indonesian gamelan music; The artists appearing with harpists Emmanuel Ceysson and Cristina Montes Mateo include percussionists Ji Hye Jung and W. Lee Vinson, violist Che-Yen Chen, and flutist Sébastian Jacot.

Camerata Pacifica wraps its 2025-26 season with timeless treasures by Beethoven, Barber, and Shostakovich on May 9-14, 2027. The program opens with the season’s final “Beethoven 32” component, featuring pianist Gilles Vonsattel performing the last of Beethoven's Op. 2 sonatas: Piano Sonata in C Major, Op. 2, No. 3, an expansive work ending in a burst of enthusiasm. The focus then shifts to strings with Samuel Barber's String Quartet in B Minor, Op. 11, the slow movement of which is the original version of the now-iconic Adagio for Strings “one of the most recognizable pieces of classical music in the world” (NPR). Shostakovich’s dynamic Piano Quintet in G Minor, Op. 57, a beguiling chamber-music classic of the 20th century, adds a final flourish to the concert and the season. One of the composer’s most popular works, it pays homage to the musical past while also glancing forward. The season finale features violinists Jolente De Maeyer and Jason Uyeyama; violist Che-Yen Chen; and cellist Ani Aznavoorian, in addition to Gilles Vonsattel.

TICKETS/INFORMATION
For information about Camerata Pacifica and to purchase single tickets ($75 - $85) and subscriptions (beginning at $328), please visit cameratapacifica.org.

VENUE ADDRESSES:
Bank of America Performing Arts Center, Janet and Ray Scherr Forum, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91362
Colburn School, Zipper Hall, 200 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Music Academy of the West, Hahn Hall, 1070 Fairway Rd., Santa Barbara, CA 93108
The Huntington, Rothenberg Hall, 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, CA 91108