21st Season Opens With Founder Mark Carlson’s Songs of Rumi

Pacific Serenades Begins 21st Season with world premiere of founder Mark Carlson’s Songs of Rumi for baritone, clarinet, cello and piano.

Saturday, January 27, 8 p.m., at a Brentwood home
Sunday, January 28, 4 p.m., at The Neighborhood Church in Pasadena
Tuesday, January 30, 8 p.m., at The UCLA Faculty Center

Pacific Serenades, one of the West Coast’s leading chamber ensembles, opens its 21st season with the world premiere of Songs of Rumi for baritone, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano by the orchestra’s Founder and Music Director Mark Carlson on Saturday, January 27, 8 p.m., at a Brentwood home; Sunday, January 28, 4 p.m., at The Neighborhood Church in Pasadena; and Tuesday, January 30, 8 p.m., at The UCLA Faculty Center. The program, titled We all inhabit this small planet, also features Brahms’ Sonata for clarinet and piano, Op. 120, No. 2; Fauré’s Piano Trio, Op. 120; and selected songs by Schumann, with Gary Gray, clarinet; Miwako Watanabe, violin; David Speltz, cello; Ayke Agus, piano, and guest artist Michael Dean, bass-baritone.

Carlson’s lyrical, emotionally powerful, and stylistically unique music-making has earned him the admiration of audiences and musicians throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. A versatile composer, his nearly 90 works include art songs, chamber and choral music, concertos, large ensemble works, and songs for musical theater. Dean has appeared with the leading opera companies and orchestras of the U.S. and Europe, including frequent appearances at New York City Opera. His powerful voice and commanding stage presence have garnered him wide acclaim from audiences and critics alike, in repertoire ranging from early to contemporary music.

Pacific Serenades presents three additional world premieres during its 2007 season, including Peter Schickele’s new work for three cellos in June; Adrienne Albert’s new work for flute, harp, violin, viola, and cello in April; and David Lefkowitz’s new work for piano quintet in March. By the end of the 2007 season, the ensemble will have commissioned and presented 86 world premieres by 44 different composers since its inception, more than any other organization of its kind in the country. “Common Link” is the season’s theme, inspired by the John F. Kennedy quote, “And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”

The new season marks the second year of Pacific Serenades’ “Border Crossings” project, an innovative endeavor funded by the Irvine Foundation challenging composers from outside the classical music mainstream to compose for a traditional chamber music ensemble, and for classical composers to enrich their vocabularies with musical influences from non-classical sources. “Last season, we reached across boundaries of style, blending elements of jazz, rock, and world music with our ‘own’ classical roots,” notes Carlson. “This year, we cross boundaries of culture and nationality. Music from three different countries fills each program, and we have invited our living composers to open their ears to influences from non-Western worlds.”

Flutist and composer MARK CARLSON, founder and artistic director of Pacific Serenades, is the recipient of more than 40 commissions and has composed works for the National Shrine in Washington, DC, the New West Symphony, Westwood Presbyterian Church, First Methodist Church of Santa Monica, the UCLA Wind Ensemble, the Santa Monica College Orchestra, among others, and for many individual musicians. His recent works include Concerto for Trumpet, Piano, and Orchestra, for Jens Lindemann, Jennifer Snow, and the UCLA Philharmonia, and Welcome Winter!, commissioned by the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus. One of six recordings of his works, The Hall of Mirrors, was a winner of the Chamber Music America/WQXR Record Awards for 2001. Sueños y canciones, commissioned by the Mexico City chamber ensemble Signos was released on their recent CD Espejo/Mirror, and the American Celebration Duo performed From the Song of Songs for soprano and piano on though love be a day (innova recordings). Carlson is an avid performer of chamber music including numerous works written for him. He was a member of the Pasadena Symphony, the YMF Debut Orchestra, and the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. Active as a private teacher, he is also on the faculty at Santa Monica College and UCLA where he has taught music theory and composition for many years. Since 1982 he has served on the Board of Directors of Design for Sharing, UCLA’s Performing Arts community outreach program.

Under Carlson’s direction, PACIFIC SERENADES has become one of the foremost chamber music organizations in the nation since its inception in 1982 and one of the longest performing on the west coast. Twice winner (2003 and 2005) of the prestigious Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, the ensemble has achieved critical acclaim for its concerts at which new music is played alongside traditional chamber repertoire in intimate settings, including private homes. Among its musicians are principals of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony and Long Beach Symphony. Pacific Serenades’ CD, The Hall of Mirrors, won the 2001 Chamber Music America/WQXR Records Awards. A new recording, funded by The Argosy Foundation Contemporary Music Fund and The Aaron Copland Fund for Recording, is planned for the 2007 season.

The Neighborhood Church in Pasadena is located at 301 N. Orange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena, the UCLA Faculty Center is located at 405 N. Hilgard Avenue in Westwood. Directions to the home concert in Brentwood (which is open to the public) will be sent to ticket buyers prior to the performance.

Pacific Serenades concerts are supported in part by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and by The James Irvine Foundation, Los Angeles Center Studios and Keyboard Concepts.

Season subscriptions are available for $175 (home series) and $98 (Neighborhood Church and UCLA Faculty Center series), with special “Mix-and-Match Series” and other packages. Single tickets are $55 (home concerts) and $32 (Neighborhood Church and UCLA Faculty Center series). Student rush tickets are available for $5 (at the door only) for programs held at the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena and the UCLA Faculty Center. To purchase tickets, more information, or to request a brochure, call (213) 534-3434. www.pacser.org.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

We all inhabit this small planet
Saturday, January 27, 8 p.m., at a Brentwood home

Sunday, January 28, 4 p.m.
The Neighborhood Church in Pasadena, 301 N. Orange Grove Boulevard, Pasadena

Tuesday, January 30, 8 p.m.
The UCLA Faculty Center, 405 N. Hilgard Avenue, Westwood

Brahms: Sonata for clarinet and piano, Op. 120, No. 2
Fauré: Piano Trio, Op. 120
Schumann: slected songs
Mark Carlson: Songs of Rumi, for baritone, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
World Premiere-commissioned by Pacific Serenades

Michael Dean, bass-baritone
Gary Gray, clarinet
Miwako Watanabe, violin
David Speltz, cello
Ayke Agus, piano

Season subscriptions are available for $175 (home series) and $98 (Neighborhood Church and UCLA Faculty Center series), with special “Mix-and-Match Series” and other packages. Single tickets are $55 (home concerts) and $32 (Neighborhood Church and UCLA Faculty Center series). Student rush tickets are available for $5 (at the door only) for programs held at the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena and the UCLA Faculty Center. To purchase tickets, more information, or to request a brochure, call (213) 534-3434.