CAMERATA PACIFICA
Credit: David Bazemore
Adrian Spence has a passion for skydiving having completed almost 2,000 jumps in locations that include Perris, California, Ecuador, the Maldives, Kharkiv, Venezuela, Gulf of Panama, Slovenia. By the way, he is also Artistic Director and Founder of Camerata Pacifica, an ensemble that presents diverse and relevant concerts performed by a core group of world-class soloists and chamber musicians. Programs are held at upscale venues in Santa Barbara (Music Academy of the West), Ventura (Museum of Ventura County), San Marino (The Huntington) and Los Angeles (The Colburn School) – and offer sophisticated repertoire for every musical taste.
In 1990, Santa Barbara was the place where Camerata Pacifica started its run and as audiences expanded so did innovative and creative programs that Spence peppers with a mixture of traditional, progressive and new music. In addition, commissioned works are welcome inclusions with composers such as Heggie, Harbison, Auerbach, John Luther Adams and Larsen - of which her Horn Trio will receive a world premiere during April, 2023 concerts. And there are commissions in the works from Emma-Ruth Richards (England), Clarice Assad (Brazil) and Niloufar Nourbakhsh (Iran).
Of course Baroque flutist Emi Ferguson and Ruckus will perform reimagined Bach concerts in the upcoming season since Spence, who is from County Down, Northern Ireland is an accomplished flutist, studied at London College of Music and stateside with James Galway’s teacher in Florida and David Shostak (Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra). Not too shabby for someone who once had a youthful gig in Lord Londonderry’s Own CLB Flute Band.
In conversation with Editor Leonne Lewis, Adrian Spence talks about music then and now and his vision for Camerata Pacifica.
Spence mentions the book The Overstory by Richard Powers, which received a Pulitzer Prize in Fiction in 2019 for its overriding theme of ecological-human interdependence (W.W. Norton & Company, 2018). “A while ago I read The Overstory in which the author describes the interconnected nature of trees. As I thought about where I am headed with Camerata Pacifica and where I think we’re headed as an art form, that interconnectedness spoke to me,” says Spence. He continues, “Classical music as we know it has its foundation in Western Europe; white and male, the dominion of the church and the courts, but that’s merely where the first seeds were planted. Today its root system, growing exponentially is spreading around the world. It’s a wonderful, living, growing thing. Who knows where the next sprouts will appear. And with our musical plant, no one can tell what those sprouts will become – mighty, monumental trees or the most delicate, short-lived blossom.”
Camerata Pacifica’s penchant for intriguing repertoire highlights a 2022/23 season that will contrast works like Shostakovich piano trio, Op. 67 with Bruch Kol Nidrei, Op. 47, Chopin Cello Sonata, Op. 65 with Ciupinski Wreck of the Umbria or Brahms Clarinet Quintet, Op. 115 with Schnittke Prelude in Memoriam Dmitri Shostakovich.
“I’m not so concerned about the soundscape of an individual piece as an individual piece, but I’m very interested in the soundscape of a program and of a season. Placing pieces together in a certain way or programs within a season should take the listener on a sensory-emotional journey. Certainly we can hear the difference between one piece and another but there’s intent in programming far beyond that; to stimulate the senses and elicit an emotional response. Our music can be profound and deeply moving or disturbing and challenging. It can be comforting and listened to just for sheer beauty or its purpose might be to unapologetically display sheer virtuosity and laugh-out-loud fun. Many times we’ll touch more than one of those emotional spaces in one concert.”
While Camerata Pacifica is all about personalized and inspirational musical offerings Spence carries the idea over to The Nightingale project in partnership with UCLA Health, where a video channel of the ensemble’s concert performances are made available to hospitals and retirement communities.
“The thing is, no matter the period behind the music here’s a person just like you and me. People just like you and me were listening to it. Whenever the source of the musical language, it describes the commonness of our humanity – shared across centuries, the universal nature of our most personal experiences. From any time I can draw examples from what I’ve described now and there are no boundaries. It’s all wonderfully, beautifully and humanly interconnected.”
Commissioning works by composers of our time is yet another reason why Camerata Pacifica programs are so interesting and give listeners an opportunity to zero in on trending works that often become a stylistic new normal. Spence comments, “We need to hear how today’s composers express what I’ve been describing and as our music spreads around the world, how composers from different cultures are going to contribute to our exchange of ideas.” He mentions that what a composer writes often gives off musical vibes about when it was written and that the most effective works address universal truths found in our common nature that sometimes can be too painful to confront. He adds that this type of music conveys a totally accurate emotional history and is almost always aspirational, representing the best that one can be.
“In the latter half of the 20th century a dependence developed on 18th and 19th century masterworks from the Austro-German tradition. Rather than being constrained by that limiting perspective the Camerata audience and I enjoy stepping beyond those boarders. As you’ve noticed, next season I haven’t programmed much music by Western European masters but always like to include masterworks from my adopted home country and will feature music by Russian, Georgian, Estonian, Polish and Ukrainian composers.”
Camerata Pacifica’s upcoming season will highlight works by two of Ukraine’s prominent composers – the hint only by the late Julia Gomelskaya and Postludium of Valentyn Silvestrov of which his works are currently being performed by leading musicians. Camerata Pacifica is a cutting edge ensemble with an Artistic Director who likes to think outside of the box.
“Composition has always or very often reflected its times, has it not? This music is our truest emotional history, one that cannot be rewritten by the victor. We live in a golden age for classical music. Never before has it been so easy to hear so much music of any period performed with the highest levels of artistry. In terms of both composition and presentation, innovation and creativity abound; our wildest imaginations merely scratch the surface of the wonders that lie just ahead,,” observes Spence.
Camerata Pacifica is a cutting edge ensemble led by Artistic Director
Adrian Spence who likes to think outside of the box.