Camerata Pacifica Presents World Premiere by Howard Frazin

Camerata Pacifica rings in the New Year with a program of venerated and never-before-heard works anchored 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), January 10-15, 2027, at four Southland venues. It is the second of two Camerata Pacifica-commissions to be premiered this season.

The concerts are Sunday, January 10, 3:00 pm, at Thousand Oaks’ Janet and Ray Scherr Forum; Tuesday, January,12, 7:30 pm, at The Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall in San Marino; Thursday, January 14, 8:00 pm, at Zipper Hall in downtown Los Angeles; and Friday, January 15, 7:00 pm, at Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West.

“Howard Frazin’s music and orchestrations are notably beautiful, perhaps hearkening back to the 19th century,” says Camerata Pacifica Founder/Artistic Director Adrian Spence. “This program’s mix of instruments will provide an unusually diverse display of sounds and textures, concluding with a smiling Schoenberg.”

The chamber collective’s program also includes Bach’s Flute Sonata in E Major, featuring Principal Flute Sébastian Jacot, and Manuel de Falla’s Concerto for Harpsichord, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Violin and Cello, which is rooted in Spanish musical traditions.

Malcom Arnold’s Divertimento, Op. 37, a sequence of six short pieces for flute, oboe, and clarinet, and Strauss’s Kaiser-Walzer, Op. 437, a soaring waltz arranged for string quartet, piano, flute and clarinet by Arnold Schoenberg, cap the program.

Appearing with Jacot are violinists Grace Park and Jason Uyeyama; Che-Yen Chen, viola; Jose Franch-Ballester, clarinet; Nicholas Daniel, oboe; Ani Aznavoorian, cello; and Irina Zahharenkova, piano.

Camerata Pacifica, an international chamber music collective celebrated for its exceptional artistry and compelling programming of legacy classics and daring new work, was named 2026 Ensemble of the Year by the national service organization Chamber Music America. Praised as “innovative and intrepid” (The Daily Telegraph), “visceral and powerful” (The Economist), the ensemble has a considerable commissioning portfolio that includes more than 20 works by such established and rising composers as John Harbison, Jake Heggie, Huang Ruo, Lera Auerbach, Bright Sheng, Ian Wilson, David Bruce, Libby Larsen, and John Luther Adams. Camerata Pacifica was founded in 1990 by Adrian Spence, who was named to Musical America’s prestigious list of Top 30 Professionals in Classical Music in January 2026.

For tickets ($85 at The Huntington, Music Academy of the West, and Zipper Hall; $75, at Janet and Ray Scherr Forum) and information, visit www.cameratapacifica.org.