Camerata Pacifica Presents Chamber Masterworks

Camerata Pacifica rings in the New Year with a compelling and unexpected mix of chamber masterworks both time-honored and contemporary featuring the highly anticipated Camerata Pacifica debut of South Korean-born violinist YuEun Gemma Kim, admired for “her exceptional virtuosity” (LA Opus). Four performances across Southern California are set for Sunday, January 14, 3 p.m., at Janet and Ray Scherr Forum in Thousand Oaks; Tuesday, January 16, 7:30 p.m., at The Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall in San Marino; Thursday, January 18, 8 p.m., at Zipper Hall in Downtown Los Angeles; and Friday, January 19, 2024, 7:30 p.m., Hahn Hall at Santa Barbara’s Music Academy.

The program opens with Mendelssohn’s beloved Piano Trio in D Minor, Op. 49, laced with driving energy, which spotlights Kim along with Principal Piano Gilles Vonsattel, “a pianist well worth watching” (The New York Times), and Principal Cello Ani Aznavoorian, whose “scorchingly committed performances…wring every last drop of emotion out of the music” (The Strad). Principal Clarinet Jose Franch-Ballester interprets Brahms’ lyrical and timeless Clarinet Sonata in E Flat Major, Op. 120, considered a touchstone of the clarinet repertoire.

The performance then takes a delightfully avant-garde turn with Principal Percussion Ji Hye Jung, an audience favorite, playing French-Slovenian composer Vinko Globokar’s ?Corporel, a mesmerizing performance art piece for solo percussionist in which the artist uses her own body and voice as instruments. Jung is also featured on Christos Hatzis’ Fertility Rites, a “compositional tour de force” (San Francisco Classical Voice) for five-octave marimba and tape that weaves in the haunting aural textures of prerecorded and manipulated Inuit throat singing.

For tickets ($75 at The Huntington, Hahn Hall and Zipper Hall; $80 at Janet and Ray Scherr Forum) and information visit www.cameratapacifica.org.