Pittance Chamber Music Announces Fifth Anniversary Season

“An Afternoon with John Walz and Friends” is the first concert of the 2018/19 season. – Courtesy photo / Pittance Chamber Music

First concert will be “An Afternoon with John Walz and Friends”

Pittance Chamber Music, known for featuring the extraordinary resident artists of the Los Angeles Opera pit and stage, announces its fifth anniversary season with three exciting programs taking place in Barrett Hall at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music. The season consists of “An Afternoon with John Walz and Friends” on Sept. 30 at 3p.m.; “Piano Quartets with Robert Thies” on Jan. 20, 2019, at 3 p.m.; and “Evensong with Joshua Wheeker” on March 31, 2019, at 7:30 p.m.

“An Afternoon with John Walz and Friends” is the first concert of the 2018/19 season and celebrates cellist John Walz’ illustrious and wide-ranging career as a soloist and chamber music performer, and his over 30-year tenure as principal cellist with the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra. Walz will be joined by his colleagues from the orchestra’s cello section for two magnificent works, Bach’s “Chaconne in D minor,” and Wagner’s “Feierliches Stück (Celebratory Piece)” from the opera “Lohengrin.” Rossini’s virtuosic “Duo for Cello and Double Bass” will feature Walz and the orchestra’s Principal Bass, Nathan Farrington.

In tribute to the Los Angeles Opera’s GRAMMY-winning recording of John Corigliano’s “The Ghosts of Versailles,” Walz and Pacific Trio pianist Edith Orloff will perform Corigliano’s other-worldly “Phantasmagoria on Themes” from “The Ghosts of Versailles.” Finally, members of the Pacific Trio, violinist Roger Wilkie and Orloff, will join Walz for one of their signature pieces, the ever-popular “Suite from Porgy and Bess” by George Gershwin.

Among the most extraordinary musicians in the world are those you seldom see – the musicians of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra. Founder and Artistic Director Lisa Sutton, who also happens to be the assistant concertmaster of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, formed Pittance Chamber Music in 2013 to shine the spotlight on these remarkable yet invisible artists, bringing them from the pit to the stage to perform in small ensembles, hence the name Pittance. Pittance Chamber Music utilizes a roster of artists drawn from a large pool of talent including members of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra as well as Los Angeles Opera resident vocalists, resulting in a unique variety of repertoire not often heard together in one program.

The second concert of the new season, “Piano Quartets with Robert Thies,” features internationally-acclaimed concert pianist Robert Thies and members of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra in a program including piano quartets by Mozart and Fauré, and Beethoven’s dynamic “String Trio in C minor, Op. 9, No. 3.”

“Evensong with Joshua Wheeker” is the third program, an evening offering of beloved works by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Johannes Brahms, with members of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra and pianist Paul Floyd. Wheeker is a Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist at the Los Angeles Opera.

Single tickets are $35, $20 for seniors; $10 for student rush (at the door only) and series subscription tickets to all three concerts are $90 and $50 for seniors. Tickets are available online at PittanceChamberMusic.org or at the venue on the day of the concert if tickets remain. The Pasadena Conservatory of Music is located at 100 N. Hill Ave in Pasadena, California 91106.

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