Camerata Pacifica Caps Season with World Premiere

Camerata Pacifica’s 2023-24 season wraps with the highly anticipated world premiere of “Petite Suite” by GRAMMY-nominated Brazilian-American composer Clarice Assad written for a unique mix of instruments, including accordion, clarinet, cello, and marimba. Commissioned by Camerata Pacifica, it was composed for and features Julien Labro, one of the world’s foremost accordion players in both jazz and classical genres. The program is presented at four Southland venues: Friday, May 17, 7:30 pm, at Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West; Sunday, May 19, 3 pm, at Thousand Oaks’ Janet and Ray Scherr Forum; Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 7:30 pm, at The Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall in San Marino; and Thursday, May 23, 8 pm, Zipper Hall in downtown Los Angeles.

Assad, renowned for her significant artistic voice in the classical, world music, pop, and jazz genres, says, “’Petite Suite’ brings together elements of French chanson and Latin-American music, combining classical and jazz notation with room for improvisation by the accordion player, the amazing Julien Labro. It’s a playful, and nostalgic work that draws on my memories of childhood and adolescence spent visiting and living in France. This first part explores a simple idea: all players in unison before they all get into different roles.”

Additionally, Camerata Pacifica presents the U.S. premiere of British composer Martin Butler’s scintillating Remember This Fire for oboe and percussion, which was inspired by Ezra Pound’s poem The Alchemist.

The season finale also features New Zealand-Greek composer John Psathas’ One Study, a virtuosic work for marimba, with junk percussion and digital audio, and Listen, Quiet for cello and electronics by Paola Prestini, named one of the Top 35 Female Composers in Classical Music (Washington Post) and known for her “otherwordly…outright gorgeous music” (The New York Times).

In addition to Labro, featured artists include Camerata Pacifica Principal Cello Ani Aznavoorian; Principal Oboe Nicholas Daniel; Principal Clarinet Jose Franch-Ballester; and Principal Percussion Ji Hye Jung.

Camerata Pacifica is renowned for bold programming that demonstrates the limitless scope of the chamber music repertoire.

Tickets ($75 at The Huntington, Music Academy of the West, and Zipper Hall; $80 at Janet and Ray Scherr Forum) are available at www.cameratapacifica.org or 805-884-8410.