22nd Season Begins With Jazz Trumpet Virtuoso John Daversa’s New Work for Flute and String Quartet

Saturday, January 26, 8 p.m., at a residence in Encino
Sunday, January 27, 4 p.m., at The Neighborhood Church in Pasadena
Tuesday, January 29, 8 p.m., at The UCLA Faculty Center

Pacific Serenades, one of the West Coast’s leading chamber ensembles, opens its 22nd season with its 87th world premiere, “Between the Thoughts,” a new work for flute and string quartet by jazz trumpet virtuoso John Daversa, on Saturday, January 26, 8 p.m., at a residence in Encino; Sunday, January 27, 4 p.m., at The Neighborhood Church in Pasadena; and Tuesday, January 29, 8 p.m., at The UCLA Faculty Center. The program, titled To the victims of war, a dedication to life, also features two diverse masterpieces, Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110, a work whose dedication reads “to the victims of fascism and war,” and Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in E minor, Op. 44, No. 2. By the end of the 2008 season, Pacific Serenades will have commissioned and presented 90 world premieres by 48 different composers since its inception, more than any other organization of its kind in the country.

Performing the program are Kathleen Lenski and Connie Kupka, violin, David Walther, viola, David Speltz, cello and Pacific Serenades Founder and Artistic Director Mark Carlson, flute. Lenski was a founding member and first violinist of the acclaimed Angeles String Quartet, which toured in the U.S. and abroad, recorded the complete string quartets of Joseph Haydn for Philips Classics and won the 2001 classical chamber music Grammy Award.

Daversa, a nationally-known Los Angeles-based jazz trumpet player and leader of the critically-acclaimed John Daversa Contemporary Big Band, faced a unique challenge reconciling jazz and other improvisatory music he has been influenced by with music for a classical chamber ensemble. Accustomed to writing and orchestrating for his own band, he used this opportunity to experiment with texture and color in a completely different context, resulting in “Between the Thoughts,” a song-form jazz tune evocative of the “Great American Songbook” of enduring popular tunes of the 1920s-1950s.

“In order to keep the orchestration as elastic as possible and the harmonic element of the work true to my own initial conception, I started with two interacting lines and added the other parts one by one,” Daversa says. “I wanted to find the balance between counterpoint and harmony that worked best for this piece and to find a way to allow the melody to weave in and out of the overall texture. In this respect, I took inspiration from a ballad, Most of All, that I wrote for my contemporary big band, which features the bass clarinet as the work’s principal voice.”

Daversa, the founder and leader of the John Daversa Big Band, is an active performer, composer, arranger, director, producer, and educator based in Los Angeles. He has performed or recorded with Bobby Caldwell, Glen Campbell, Dr. Dre, Paquito D’Rivera, Bob Florence, Dizzy Gillespie, J.J. Johnson, Andre Manga, Justin Morell, Renee Olstead, Bill Perkins, Kim Richmond, Lalo Schifrin, Jack Sheldon, Shogun Warrior, Solsonics, Andy Williams and Gerald Wilson. As a trumpeter, Daversa has won coveted awards and competitions, among them the Herb Alpert Award, the David Joel Miller Award, the National Trumpet Competition, and the ITG Jazz Soloist Competition. He was also a finalist in the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. He has worked as an arranger/composer for Fiona Apple and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, among others.

Pacific Serenades presents three additional world premieres during its 2008 season.

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 coming season. Pacific Serenades was founded by flutist and composer MARK CARLSON, who serves as artistic director. Carlson 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.

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 Encino (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 (residence series) and $98 (Neighborhood Church and UCLA Faculty Center series), with special “Mix-and-Match Series” and other packages.

Single tickets are $55 for concerts in residences, which include refreshments, and $32 for concerts at the Neighborhood Church and UCLA Faculty Center. Student rush tickets are available for $5 (at the door only) for programs held at the Neighborhood Church 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:

To the victims of war, a dedication to life
Saturday, January 26, 8 pm, at a residence in Encino
Sunday, January 27, 4 pm, at The Neighborhood Church in Pasadena
Tuesday, January 29, 8 pm, at The UCLA Faculty Center

Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110
Mendelssohn: String Quartet in E minor, Op. 44, No. 2
John Daversa: “Between the Thoughts,” a new work for flute and string quartet
(World Premiere-commissioned by Pacific Serenades)

Kathleen Lenski, violin
Connie Kupka, violin
David Walther, viola
David Speltz, cello
Mark Carlson, flute

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