The chamber scene is in full gear with four great local organizations in action this weekend and next: the Da Camera Society, Le Salon de Musiques, Musica Angelica, and the Pasadena Conservatory of Music. My personal program favorites are Mozart’s String Quintet in G Minor, K516 by the Capitol Ensemble led by violinist Phillip Levy and Ives’ Concord Sonata played by pianist Susan Svrcek. Details are below. What a week!
La Catrina Quartet and Cavatina Duo
The Da Camera Society Chamber Music in Historic Sites is bringing the much-acclaimed La Catrina Quartet, with Daniel Vega-Albela and Blake Espy (violins), Jorge Martinez (viola), and Cesar Bourguet (cello). The ensemble is known throughout the United States and Mexico, and is the Faculty Quartet-in-Residence at New Mexico State University. Joining them will be the Cavatina Duo with noted flutist Eugenia Moliner and guitarist Denis Azabagic.
Program
• Mozart: Flute Quartet No.1 in D Major, K285
• Boccherini: Guitar Quintet, “Fandango”
• Piazzolla: Revirado and Introducción al Angel
The Hollenbeck Chapel is a century-old domed Beaux Arts structure designed by the distinguished Los Angeles architectural firm of Morgan and Walls.
Sunday, April 10, 2 & 4 p.m.
Hollenbeck Chapel, 573 S. Boyle Ave, Boyle Heights
Tickets: $49, includes a light reception
For information, call (213) 477-2929.
Le Salon de Musiques
Le Salon de Musiques continues its season with a string program featuring the Capitol Ensemble, whose members are Phillip Levy and Julie Gigante (violins), Victoria Miskolczy and Andrew Duckles (violas), and David Low (cello).
Program
• Schubert: String Trio in B-flat Major, D581
• Mozart: String Quintet in G Minor, K516
The venue is the fifth-floor Impresario Room in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with a beautiful view of the mountains. After the performance, audience members mingle around a gourmet buffet with French Champagne. Le Salon de Musiques is a very fine event, unique in its venue and style; I highly recommend it.
Sunday, April 10, 4 p.m.
Impresario Room (fifth floor), Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 North Grand Avenue
Tickets: $65.
Musica Angelica with Ellen Hargis
Soprano Ellen Hargis will be singing with Musica Angelica to present a decidedly French spin on the stories of the ill-fated lovers from Greek mythology. The ensemble includes Debra Nagy (oboe), Janet Strauss (violin), William Skeen (cello), and Ian Pritchard (harpsichord), and the program is titled “Cantates Francaises.”
Program
• Jean-Féry Rebel: Deuxième Sonate, “La Venus”
• Michel Pignolet De Montéclair: Pan et Syrinx
• Louis-Nicolas Clérambault: Trio, “La Félicité”
• Jean-Philippe Rameau: Orphée
• Louis-Nicolas Clérambault: Leandre et Hero
There are two peformances:
Saturday, April 16, 8 p.m.
The Neighborhood Church, 301 North Orange Grove Boulevard, Pasadena
Sunday, April 17, 3 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica, 1220 Second Street, Santa Monica
Tickets: $39 / $15 students. For information and tickets, call (310) 458-4504.
Pasadena Conservatory of Music Mansions and Music Concert
An artist’s barn provides the setting for this performance of Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata by pianist Susan Svrcek, founding member of Piano Spheres and chair of both piano and chamber music at the Pasadena Conservatory. Charles Ives is an American original whose music strikes a chord that transcends musical analysis. The program is titled “The Transcendentalists,” and in it Ives sketches his impressions of Emerson, Thoreau, the Alcotts and Hawthorne.
Sunday, April 17, 4 p.m.
Pasadena Estate
For reservations and information, call (626) 683-3355.
Tickets: $75. A reception follows the performance.
For information on more great chamber concerts, see Jim Eninger’s Clickable Chamber Music Newsletter, an extensive calendar of upcoming music events, large and small, happening all around Los Angeles.
~Theodore Bell/Culture Spot LA