Camerata Pacifica Announces 2026-2027 Season

Camerata Pacifica, the chamber music collective celebrated for its exceptional artistry and compelling
programming, unveils its 2026-27 season. Founder and Artistic Director Adrian Spence announced the details of
the 37 th season, featuring eight programs embracing new and legacy works spanning three centuries, including
two world premieres.

Camerata Pacifica launches its 2026-27 season on October 11-15, 2026. Pianist Irina Zahharenkova performs
Rachmaninoff’s Variations on a Theme of Chopin, Op. 22. Violinist Grace Park and cellist Santiago Cañón-
Valencia then join Zahharenkova, to play Schubert's B-Flat Major Trio.

The program on November 8-13, 2026, includes the world premiere of a new work for mixed octet by composer
Niloufar Nourbakhsh. In addition, Principal Oboe Nicholas Daniel is featured on Michael Daugherty’s
Firecracker. Other contemporary works include Missy Mazzoli’s Vespers for Violin, as well as I prefer living in
color by the late Sarah Gibson. Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat Major, K. 452, provides musical
context to the program. Featured artsist include 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 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 this program, Vonsattel interprets three contrasting
sonatas, starting with Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 31, No. 1, followed by Piano Sonata in D Minor,
Op. 31, No. 2, “The Tempest.” Vonsattel wraps the recital with Piano Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 31, No. 3, “The
Hunt.”

Camerata Pacifica’s season continues on January 10-15, 2027, with the world premiere of a new work for mixed
sextet by Howard Frazin. 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; 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 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
commissioned and premiered in 2013. 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 Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 49, No. 2, and Piano Sonata in B-flat
Major, Op. 22

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, and the Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 14, No. 2. Vonsattel also performs Piano
Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 81a, “Les Adieux,” and Piano Sonata in A-flat Major, Op. 110.

On April 13-18, 2027, Camerata Pacifica celebrates the harp with 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 Smetana’s Die Moldau
arranged by Trneček; Takemitsu’s Bryce for flute, two harps, marimba, and percussion; The Eye of Night by
David Bruce; and Walter-Kühne’s Fantasia on Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. Further spotlighting the
instrument’s broad sonic range are Rameau’ Le Tic-Toc-Choc ou Les Maillotins; Balakirev’s harp arrangement of
Glinka’s The Lark; and Fauré’s Fantaisie, Op. 79. Also on the program is Kembang Suling, one of Gareth Farr. The
artists appearing with the two harpists are percussionists Ji Hye Jung and W. Lee Vinson, violist Che-Yen Chen,
and flutist Sébastian Jacot.

Camerata Pacifica wraps season on May 9-14, 2027, with another “Beethoven 32” component, featuring pianist
Gilles Vonsattel playing Piano Sonata in C Major, Op. 2, No. 3. It concludes with Samuel Barber's String Quartet
in B Minor, Op. 11, and Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G Minor, Op. 57, featuring violinists Jolente De Maeyer
and Jason Uyeyama; violist Che-Yen Chen; and cellist Ani Aznavoorian, in addition to Gilles Vonsattel.

For tickets and information, please visit cameratapacifica.org.