Here is a great idea – treat your Valentine to a romantic evening of fine music this weekend. There are some great choices to choose from all around town.
What better coquetry than the Capella Artemisia from Bologna, Italy? This all-female choir will be singing about spiritual love at USC’s United University Church Friday.
A Musica Angelica concert is always sweet; they are among the best of the Baroque ensembles in the West, and for our Baroque hearts this week they feature trumpeter Kathryn Adduci and tenor Jesus Leon in concerts Saturday and Sunday at Zipper Hall and the Broad Stage. Musica Angelica is always fantastic, and conductor Martin Haselböck put together another fascinating program.
The Da Camera Society brings two great ensembles for our amorous outings this weekend: the Alexander String Quartet Saturday in Beverly Hills, and the Gryphon Trio Sunday in Los Feliz. The Alexander Strings are Beethoven specialists, and the all-Beethoven program will certainly move your beloved a little closer to you.
Myself? I will be groovin’ to the phenomenal Quatour Ebéne at the UCLA Clark Library on Valentine evening, listening to Debussy, Ravel and Fauré au fait! I had featured this concert in Classical Focus last month, and, if you didn’t get tickets yet, it is sold out. Look for my review here at Culture Spot LA next week.
Capella Artemisia
Capella Artemisia performs at USC on Feb. 12.
The USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute and the Thornton School of Music Early Music Program present the women’s vocal ensemble Capella Artemisia from Bologna, Italy. Cappella Artemisia has performed at important festivals of Early Music throughout Europe and North America. The program titled “My Sister, My Spouse: The Song of Songs in the Convents” is based on the texts of the Canticum Canticorum.
Friday, Feb. 12, 7:30 p.m.
United University Church, University of Southern California
Free admission.
Alexander String Quartet
The Da Camera Society Chamber Music in Historic Sites brings the Alexander String Quartet to Beverly Hills Saturday afternoon with a delightful all-Beethoven program that features the String Quartets in F Major, Op.18 No.1; F Major, Op.59 No.1; and C-sharp Minor, Op.131. The musicians of the group include Frederick Lifsitz and Zakarias Grafilo playing violin, Paul Yarbrough on viola, and cellist Sandy Wilson. The Alexander Quartet has performed at venues worldwide and recorded several critically acclaimed CDs, including a Beethoven cycle, Mozart’s quartets dedicated to Haydn, and the complete Shostakovich string quartets.
Saturday, Feb. 13, 4 p.m.
Beverly Hills Women’s Club, 1700 Chevy Chase Drive, Beverly Hills
Tickets: $49. For information, call (213) 477-2929.
Musica Angelica
Trumpeter Kathryn Adduci and tenor Jesus Leon join Musica Angelica for concerts Saturday at Zipper Hall and Sunday at the Broad Stage.
“Glory of the Hapsburgs” is the theme for the program that includes Antoni Bertali’s Sonata e Ciacona for trumpet and strings from “Prothimia Suavissima” and Lamento della Regina d’Inghilterra for tenor, four viols and basso continuo. Also on the program are Johann Heinrich Schmelzer’s “Musikalische Fechtschul” (Musical Fighting School) for strings and continuo and “Lamento sulla morte del Imperatore Ferdinando III”; Alessandro Poglietti’s “Capriccio über das Hühner und Hähnergeschrey” (on the sounds of chicken and roosters); Johann Josef Fux’s “Plaudite, sonat tuba” Motet for tenor, trumpet and orchestra; Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber’s Battaglia Serenata “Der Nachtwächter” (The Night Watch Man); two arias from the Opera “L’Angelica” by Nicola Porpora; and “Il gioco del quadriglio” Cantata for tenor, trumpet and strings by Antonio Caldara.
Saturday, Feb. 13, 8 p.m.
Zipper Concert Hall, The Colburn School, 200 S. Grand Ave., LA
Sunday, Feb. 14, 4 p.m.
The Broad Stage, 1310 11th St., Santa Monica
Tickets: $55, $49. For information and to purchase tickets, call (310) 458-4504.
Gryphon Trio
The Da Camera Society Chamber Music in Historic Sites will also present Annalee Patipatanakoon (violin), Roman Borys (cello), and Jamie Parker (piano) – The Gryphon Trio – in concert Sunday evening in Los Feliz. The program includes Chopin’s Piano Trio in G Minor, Op.8; Schubert’s Andante un poco mosso from Trio in B-flat Major, Op.99, D898; and Astor Piazzolla’s “Verano Porteño,” “Oblivion,” and “Otoño Porteño.”
The Gryphon Trio regularly tours throughout Canada and the United States and has also performed in venues worldwide. They are committed to expanding the piano trio repertoire and have commissioned more than 40 works. The Trio is the ensemble-in-residence at Music Toronto, and all are members of the University of Toronto Music Faculty.
Sunday, Feb. 14, 2 and 4 p.m.
Canfield-Moreno Estate, “The Paramour,” 1923 Micheltorena St., LA
Tickets: $89. For information and driving directions, call (213) 477-2929.