Pacific Serenades presents World Premiere of new work by film composer Paul Chihara
Jenine Baines
May 09, 2009
"I´m a real child of the 60s," explains Chihara, who has composed scores for over 100 motion pictures and was the first composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. "That was an era in which we were breaking rules and combining conventions. That particular sensibility made it comfortable for me to combine classical tradition which is what I was trained in with those things that I did for fun, like go to the movies. It now has a very nice title called post modernism, but we just thought we were having fun."
Forty years later, Chihara is still breaking new ground and having fun doing it. "Paul is a versatile and eclectic composer, equally at home composing for film and television, the Broadway stage, the San Francisco Ballet and the concert hall," says Mark Carlson, Founder of Pacific Serenades. "This new work is very different from anything he has done in the past. I don´t want to give too much away, but I can tell you that it will include a fugue and a what Paul calls ´a big romantic melody.´ We look forward to hearing it and, even more importantly, sharing it with the community."
Performing the quintet are violinists Miwako Watanabe and Connie Kupka, Roland Kato on viola, David Speltz on cello and Edith Orloff on piano. Audiences attending "Woven of Many Strands" will also hear the ensemble perform Dvorak´s Piano Quintet in A major, Op. 81 and Haydn´s Piano Trio in A major, H.XV: 9.
"Dvorak´s music, which is Bohemian Czech, in today´s language means that it had both western and eastern European influences in it," says Carlson. "It was quite literally ´woven of many strands.´ The same holds true for Paul´s music, which draws not only from avant-garde classical music of the 60s and 70s, Broadway, jazz and the American Songbook but from his Japanese roots, too."
Tickets for the June 6 concert and post concert reception at a private home are available for $55/person. Tickets for performances at The Neighborhood Church in Pasadena on June 7 and the UCLA Faculty Center on June 9 are $32/person. Full time student tickets are available at the door only, at Neighborhood Church and UCLA, for $5. To purchase tickets or learn more about season subscriptions, visit www.pacser.org or call 213.534.3434.
The Neighborhood Church is located at 301 N. Orange Grove Blvd. in Pasadena. The Gamble House museum, next door to the church, offers a discounted tour at $8/person to Pacific Serenades patrons on concert dates only. Tours begin promptly at 2 pm and at 2:40 pm and last approximately one hour. Reservations are required and must be made at least 48 hours in advance of the concert date by calling 626.793.3334, ext. 16.
The UCLA Faculty Center is located at 405 N. Hilgard Ave. on the UCLA campus in Westwood. Parking is available for $9 in Lot 2. In addition, prior to each concert, dinner at the UCLA Faculty Center is available for Pacific Serenades patrons. Reservations can be made by calling 310.825.0877.
Directions and additional information about private home concerts are mailed to ticket holders upon receipt of their order.
The mission of Pacific Serenades is to generate new chamber music by commissioning works and presenting them alongside standard repertoire in intimate concert settings, emphasizing Southern California musicians. For more information about Pacific Serenades, its upcoming season, musicians and composers, visit www.pacser.org or call 213.534.3434.
ABOUT COMPOSER PAUL CHIHARA:
Paul Chihara's prize-winning concert works have been commissioned by major arts organizations worldwide including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New Japan Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In addition, as composer-in-residence at the San Francisco Ballet from 1973-1886, Chihara wrote such trailblazing works as i Shin-ju (based on "the lover's suicide" plays by great Japanese dramatist Chikamatsu) and the first full-length America ballet, The Tempest.
In the world of television and film, Chihara has worked with directors Sidney Lumet, Louis Malle, Michael Ritchie, and Arthur Penn, writing soundtracks for such films as "Prince of the City", "The Morning After" and "Crossing Delancy". His works for television include "China Beach, Noble House "," Brave New World and "100 Centre Street". Chihara has also served as music supervisor at Buena Vista Pictures.
Chihara is equally at home composing for musical theater. He served as musical consultant and arranger for Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies and was the composer for James Clavell's Shogun, the Musical.
The composer´s works have been widely recorded as well. Labels with which he has worked include BMG Records, Reference Recordings, CRI, Music and Art, Vox Candide, New World Records, The Louisville Orchestra First Editions Records, and Albany Records.
"The frontier is technology. Technology permits me to move easily from one genre to another," explains Chihara. "We create vivid moments and we put them together. We cut and paste them. We layer them to the betterment of art, by the way. We are going to the main event at every moment."
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS:
Edith Orloff, piano:
Known for her versatility as a performer, pianist Edith Orloff has earned acclaim in the United States and Europe. She has concretized with equal success as a recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with orchestra. Her solo German debut in 1998 was received as "elegant, a pleasure to hear", and her music-making has won praise for its interpretive vitality and perceptive musicianship.
Orloff has appeared as guest artist with many notable ensembles, including the Houston Symphony Chamber Players, the Ensemble Con Brio of Bruchsal, Germany, and the Czech String Trio, and is a regular guest performer at Festival Mozaic (formerly, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival). In keeping with her interest in promoting new music, the pianist has helped to launch several series devoted to the works of contemporary composers. She also enjoys a long-standing musical collaboration with her husband, Houston Symphony principal clarinetist David Peck. Their CD of modern works for clarinet and piano was released in 2004.
In 1980, Orloff became a member of the Los Angeles-based Pacific Trio. The ensemble with violinist Roger Wilkie and cellist John Walz annually tours the U.S. and Europe. Most recently, the ensemble recorded the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Czech National Orchestra, plus a CD of trios by American composers. For many years the group served as ensemble-in-residence of the Idyllwild Arts summer festival, where Orloff taught.
Connie Kupka, violin:
Violinist Connie Kupka has been a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for 14 seasons. Orchestras where she has served as Principal Violinist include not only LACO but The Pasadena Symphony and the Colorado Music Festival. She has also appeared as soloist with the South Bay Symphony and Colorado Chamber Orchestra, participated in many summer chamber music festivals including the Oregon Bach Festival, the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, and the Ojai Music Festival.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, where she studied at UCLA, Kupka won a scholarship to study chamber music with the Guarneri Quartet and concurrently worked with the violin pedagogue, Broadus Earle. In 1973, she joined the Arriaga Quartet, which won First Prize in the Coleman competition in Pasadena, and, the following year, debuted at Town Hall in New York with the ensemble.
Miwako Watanabe, violin:
Los Angeles audiences may already be familiar with Miwako Watanabe since she appears regularly as the Concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra of the South Bay and was a frequent soloist with Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under Neville Marriner. She has also appeared at the Music for Mischa series at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Martha's Vineyard Chamber Music Society, and the Naumburg Foundation's 75th Anniversary concert at Alice Tully Hall in New York.
Meanwhile, in her native country of Japan, Watanabe has been active as a member of the Mito Chamber Orchestra and the Saito Kinen Orchestra.
In addition, Watanabe was a member of the Sequoia Quartet, which was a winner of the 1976 Walter Naumburg Chamber Music Award. In 1986, she joined cellist Bonnie Hampton and pianist Nathan Schwartz as the new Francesco Trio, which made its debut at Chamber Music West in San Francisco. Appearances included the Gardner Museum in Boston, the Chevron Museum Concerts in San Francisco, the Chamber Music Historic Sites series in LA, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. In 1988 the Francesco Trio was the winner of commissioning grants from Chamber Music America and Meet the Composer Reader's Digest Commissioning Programs in partnership with the NEA.
Roland Kato, viola:
Roland Kato, described by the Los Angeles Times as "a brilliant virtuoso, playing with the perfect combination of energy and eloquence," has been a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra since 1976 and, in 1987, was appointed Principal Violist by Iona Brown. As a guest artist, Kato has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the New York New Music Ensemble and has appeared as a soloist at such festivals as the Festival Casals in Puerto Rico, the Grand Canyon Chamber Music Festival, the Oregon Bach Festival, and the Festival Internacional de Musica in Costa Rica, among many others. Kato´s transcription of Prokofiev's Music for Children was recently given its New York premiere, while his arrangement of Ravel's Mother Goose Suite was premiered at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts by the New Hampshire-based Apple Hill Chamber Players in Washington D.C.
David Speltz, cello:
Cellist David Speltz, earned a master's degree in mathematics from UCLA but soon realized that his heart and career lay in music. A member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra during Sir Neville Marriner's tenure and principal cellist of the California Chamber Symphony for eight seasons, Speltz has participated in chamber music series throughout Los Angeles, including Pacific Serenades, Chamber Music in Historic Sites, the Bing series, and the IMA, South Bay, and LACMA chamber music series. In addition, during the summer months, the cellist participates in music festivals in Santa Fe, the Grand Canyon, and Oregon. As a member of the Musical Offering ensemble, the cellist has performed at the Library of Congress and Lincoln Center in Washington D.C., the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, and recorded on the Nonesuch label. In 1989, Speltz was invited by Helmuth Rilling to serve as principal cellist of the Bachakademie in Stuttgart, Germany.
ABOUT PACIFIC SERENADES
Founded in 1982, Pacific Serenades is one of the longest performing ensembles on the west coast, featuring many of the most acclaimed musicians in Southern California including principals from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, The Pasadena Symphony and the Long Beach Symphony. Yet, while most chamber ensembles offer either all-new music or all-traditional repertoire, Pacific Serenades makes a point of including both at each concert.
"It´s very important for people to hear—and play—a new piece in the context of masterpieces of the past," says founder Mark Carlson. "I really want new music to be heard as part of an ongoing tradition, rather than as a new art form with no roots."
By June 2009, Pacific Serenades will have commissioned and premiered 94 new works by 51 different composers, with many of these works receiving as many as 50-60 additional performances worldwide following their premieres. Carlson, himself, is the recipient of more than 40 commissions and has composed works for the National Shrine in Washington, DC and the New West Symphony, among others, as well as many individual musicians.
Concerts currently take place at three venues, each selected to replicate the smaller, more intimate environment in which chamber music historically was performed: the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena; the UCLA Faculty Center; and a private home in Los Angeles. In addition, Pacific Serenades gave its first New York concert, at Carnegie Recital Hall, in September of 1994, and its first San Francisco concert in January of 1998.
Recently, Pacific Serenades won its second Adventurous Programming Award from ASCAP and Chamber Music America, in addition to a CMA/WQXR Record Award, in 2001, for its first CD, Mark Carlson´s The Hall of Mirrors. The ensemble´s latest CD, Border Crossings featuring new works by Enrique Gonzalez-Medina, Robert Livingston Aldridge, Mark Carlson, and Miguel del Aguila illustrates how the composers two, Latin American-born and two, overtly influenced by Latin American music have artistically crossed the border between the United States and Latin America.
"The Latin-born composers brought those influences with them when they moved here, and the others of us actively went to Latin America, seeking them," explains Carlson.
A third CD, entitled "War Scrap: that we may have peace", will include music by John Steinmetz, Larry Lipkis, and Mark Carlson. CDs may be purchased through Pacific Serenades´ website, www.pacser.org or by calling 213.534.3434.
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