Pacific Serenades Presents World Premiere of Mark Carlson’s View from a Hilltop

Pacific Serenades to present world premiere of composer Mark Carlson’s new work for clarinet, violin, cello and piano – View from a Hilltop – written for his friends in honor of his aunt.
Performing at “Music Among Friends” are Carlson’s longtime colleagues clarinetist Gary Gray, violinist Roger Wilkie, cellist David Speltz and pianist Joanne Pearce Martin

Saturday, March 21, 2009; 8 pm; at a private home in Tarzana
Sunday, March 22, 2009; 4 pm; The Neighborhood Church in Pasadena
Tuesday, March 24, 2009; 8 pm; The UCLA Faculty Center
Calendar Summary follows press release

LOS ANGELES, Calif. By his own admission, composer Mark Carlson is often the first to leave a party – or to skip it altogether – so he can get back to work on his latest commission. Music lovers throughout Southern California will have a chance to hear Carlson’s most recent composition when the award winning chamber ensemble, Pacific Serenades, presents the World Premiere of Carlson’s View from a Hilltop for clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, cello and piano on Saturday, March 21 at 8 p.m. at a private home in Tarzana; Sunday, March 22 at 4 p.m. at The Neighborhood Church in Pasadena; and Tuesday, March 24 at 8 p.m. at the UCLA Faculty Center.

Also on the program – entitled “Music Among Friends” – are Brahms’ Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114 and Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Piano. Clarinetist Gary Gray, violinist Roger Wilkie, cellist David Speltz and pianist Joanne Pearce Martin will perform.

“The title, View from a Hilltop, just jumped into my mind,” recalls Carlson, who wrote the work after his extended family of cousins and aunts and uncles – owners of Leavens Ranches in Ventura County – commissioned View from a Hilltop in honor of his 81 year old aunt, Dr. Dorothy Leavens Carlson, who grew up in Ventura. “A person in old age has a kind of perspective on life that is similar to sitting on a hilltop, being able to see down below, as well as whatever is above.”

Carlson readily confesses to a preference for instrumentations that combine winds, strings and piano. “It’s an instrumentation that Olivier Messiaen started with his Quartet for the End of Time, which he composed while he was a prisoner of war from June 1940 to March 1941. The clarinet, violin, cello and piano were the only instruments available to him,” Carlson explains.

View from a Hilltop is Carlson’s third piece written for this type of quartet. But although Carlson claims that he is always inspired by “the sheer fun of writing for that type of quartet,” the creative process was not without its challenges. “I couldn’t figure out this piece-I struggled with it more than I usually do,” the composer admits. “It was very frustrating, and I think part of it was because I was trying so hard for it to be-not really classical-but I thought it was going to be three big movements. But it just hasn’t turned out that way.”

The completed work is five movements. “There is something to the idea that a piece, at some point, starts asserting itself, what it wants to be,” says Carlson, who teaches music theory and composition at UCLA. “Talking so much about the nuts and bolts of music and analyzing one great piece after another in class, year after year, gives me such reverence for the loving care, the amazing attention to detail, that composers take in their work. Those works are definitely inspired, but they don’t turn out so beautifully by accident, either. And I want nothing less for my own music.”

Nor is it an accident that View from a Hilltop will make its debut in the company of works by icons like Brahms and Ravel. “This allows the audience to realize what should be obvious,” explains Carlson, a professional flutist who founded Pacific Serenades in 1982. “Every composer in the past was a composer of new music, yet because of their god-like stature in our present mentality, we forget that they were cranking out new music all of the time.”

Carlson chose the title “Music among friends” because all four of the musicians performing have been involved with Pacific Serenades long enough for him to view them as friends. Gray has performed with the ensemble since 1987; Wilkie, since 1988; Speltz, since 1989. Even Pearce Martin, a relative newcomer, has been on board for 15 years, since 1993.

“I write for them with an intimacy that I wouldn’t have writing for players I don’t know well,” Carlson explains. “I have written various pieces for each of them – and often enough that I feel really comfortable writing for them. Plus they always seem eager to play whatever I come up with. I don’t feel like I have to write in a specific style to make them happy.”

The recipient of more than 40 commissions, Carlson has composed works for organizations nationwide, ranging from the National Shrine in Washington, DC and the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus to the New West Symphony, Westwood Presbyterian Church, First Methodist Church of Santa Monica, the UCLA Wind Ensemble, and the Santa Monica College Orchestra in Southern California. He has also received commissions from such artists as Canadian trumpeter Jens Lindemann and pianist Jennifer Snow.

Recent commissions include Sueños y canciones for the Mexico City chamber ensemble, Signos, and From the Song of Songs, a work for soprano and piano recorded by soprano Diana Guhin Wooley and pianist Richard Steinbach of the American Celebration Duo. Publishers of Carlson’s music include Yelton Rhodes Music, Pacific Serenades Music, and C Swigart Music in Los Angeles; Thorpe Music in Boston; and Black Squirrel Music, in Kent, Ohio.

In 2001, “The Hall of Mirrors” – one of eleven recordings of Carlson’s works – won a Chamber Music America/WQXR Record Award. At least two additional CDs are scheduled for release as well in 2009.

In addition to founding Pacific Serenades, Carlson was a member of The Pasadena Symphony, the YMF Debut Orchestra, and the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. Currently on the faculty at UCLA, Carlson also taught at Santa Monica College from 1993 to 2008. Since 1982 he has served on the Board of Directors of Design for Sharing, UCLA’s Performing Arts community outreach program.

Tickets for the March 21 concert and post concert reception at a private home are available for $55/person. Tickets for performances at The Neighborhood Church in Pasadena and the UCLA Faculty Center are $32/person. Full time student tickets are available at the door only, at Neighborhood Church and UCLA, for $5. To purchase tickets or learn more about season subscriptions, visit www.pacser.org or call 213.534.3434.

The Neighborhood Church is located at 301 N. Orange Grove Blvd. in Pasadena. The Gamble House museum, next door to the church, offers a discounted tour at $8/person to Pacific Serenades patrons on concert dates only. Tours begin promptly at 2 pm and at 2:40 pm and last approximately one hour. Reservations are required and must be made at least 48 hours in advance of the concert date by calling 626.793.3334, ext. 16.

The UCLA Faculty Center is located at 405 N. Hilgard Ave. on the UCLA campus in Westwood. Parking is available for $9 in Lot 2. In addition, prior to each concert, dinner at the UCLA Faculty Center is available for Pacific Serenades patrons. Reservations can be made by calling 310.825.0877.

Directions and additional information about private home concerts are mailed to ticket holders upon receipt of their order.

The mission of Pacific Serenades is to generate new chamber music by commissioning works and presenting them alongside standard repertoire in intimate concert settings, emphasizing Southern California musicians. For more information about Pacific Serenades, its upcoming season, musicians and composers, visit www.pacser.org or call 213.534.3434.

ABOUT THE MUSICIANS

Gary Gray, clarinet
Over the course of his career, Gary Gray, a founding member of Pacific Serenades and Principal Clarinetist for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, has collaborated with such legendary composers as Aaron Copland, Malcolm Arnold, Benjamin Britten, Pierre Boulez and Igor Stravinsky as well as with John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Henry Mancini, Thomas Newman, Bruce Broughton, and Don Davis from the film industry. Gray has also performed with the St. Louis Symphony, the Aspen Festival Orchestra, and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and appeared as a soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, and LACO, among others.

“Gray handled the clarinet solos with stunning ease and as mellow and gorgeous a sound as may be possible on his instrument,” wrote the Los Angeles Times after a recent performance.

In addition, Gray’s album of solo concerti, recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Soloist with Orchestra – the second time in Grammy history that a clarinet album received such a nomination. For his most recent recording for Centaur Records with the Hollywood Quartet, Gray collaborated with pianist Robert Thies, and Richard Todd on French Horn.

“Gary Gray… sounds to me about as close to Reginald Kell (another iconoclast) as I have ever heard,” wrote Steve Ritter of the American Record Guide. “Something this bunch is doing….and I am almost at a loss to tell you exactly what it is….gets right to the heart of this music.”

Roger Wilkie, violin
Violinist Roger Wilkie’s violin playing has been described as “having surpassing virtuosity, a thrilling legato tone, and a sense of full emotional engagement” by the LA Times. Currently the concertmaster of the Long Beach Symphony, Wilkie has also served in that capacity with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Music Center Opera Orchestra, and the Real Filharmonia de Galicia in Spain and was the Principal Violinist of the Camerata Pacifica of Santa Barbara.

Wilkie has also appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras including the Long Beach Symphony, the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, LACO, and the Carmel Bach Festival Orchestra. An extremely active chamber musician, Wilkie has participated in the Santa Fe, La Jolla, and Mainly Mozart festivals and has given solo recitals for the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, LACMA/KUSC-FM, NPR’s Performance Today, and Swiss National Radio.

David Speltz, cello
Cellist David Speltz, earned a master’s degree in mathematics from UCLA but soon realized that his heart – and career – lay in music. A member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra during Sir Neville Marriner’s tenure and principal cellist of the California Chamber Symphony for eight seasons, Speltz has participated in chamber music series throughout Los Angeles, including Pacific Serenades, Chamber Music in Historic Sites, the Bing series, and the IMA, South Bay, and LACMA chamber music series. In addition, during the summer months, the cellist participates in music festivals in Santa Fe, the Grand Canyon, and Oregon. As a member of the Musical Offering ensemble, the cellist has performed at the Library of Congress and Lincoln Center in Washington D.C., the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, and recorded on the Nonesuch label. In 1989, Speltz was invited by Helmuth Rilling to serve as principal cellist of the Bachakademie in Stuttgart, Germany.

Joanne Pearce Martin, piano
Currently enjoying her 8th season as the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Principal Keyboardist, Joanne Pearce Martin has performed worldwide as a soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist under such conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Adams, and Miguel Harth-Bedoya. She is also a frequent soloist with the LA Philharmonic during the summer Hollywood Bowl seasons and has appeared as guest soloist with orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, L.A. Chamber Orchestra, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Florida West Coast Symphony, and England’s Huddersfield Philharmonic. In great demand as a collaborative artist, Pearce Martin has performed with such artists as Joshua Bell, Lynn Harrell, Iona Brown, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Julius Baker, Aaron Rosand, & Joseph Silverstein, among others.

In addition, Pearce Martin and her husband, pianist Gavin Martin, have continued to concertize together as a 2-piano team. She has also performed multiple-piano works with Emmanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Helene Grimaud, and Jeffrey Kahane. A renowned artist hailed by the Los Angeles Times for playing with “unusual fervor and fluency,” Pearce Martin has performed on all major U.S. television networks and recorded commercially for Centaur, Summit, and Albany records, as well as the Yamaha Disklavier Piano recording software.

The subject of a half-hour feature on The Learning Channel, Pearce Martin’s latest recording project, “Joanne Pearce Martin, Barefoot”, was released in Spring 2008 on Yarlung Records. “This one is a true gem,” wrote Orrin Howard of CD Baby. “From the classically powerful to the transcendently modern, Joanne can do it all.”

ABOUT PACIFIC SERENADES
Founded in 1982, Pacific Serenades is one of the longest performing ensembles on the west coast, featuring many of the most acclaimed musicians in Southern California -including principals from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, The Pasadena Symphony and the Long Beach Symphony. Yet, while most chamber ensembles offer either all-new music or all-traditional repertoire, Pacific Serenades makes a point of including both at each concert.

“It’s very important for people to hear-and play-a new piece in the context of masterpieces of the past,” says founder Mark Carlson. “I really want new music to be heard as part of an ongoing tradition, rather than as a new art form with no roots.”

By June 2009, Pacific Serenades will have commissioned and premiered 94 new works by 51 different composers, with many of these works receiving as many as 50-60 additional performances worldwide following their premieres. Carlson, himself, is the recipient of more than 40 commissions and has composed works for the National Shrine in Washington, DC and the New West Symphony, among others, as well as many individual musicians.

Concerts currently take place at three venues, each selected to replicate the smaller, more intimate environment in which chamber music historically was performed: the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena; the UCLA Faculty Center; and a private home in Los Angeles. In addition, Pacific Serenades gave its first New York concert, at Carnegie Recital Hall, in September of 1994, and its first San Francisco concert in January of 1998.

Recently, Pacific Serenades won its second Adventurous Programming Award from ASCAP and Chamber Music America, in addition to a CMA/WQXR Record Award, in 2001, for its first CD, Mark Carlson’s The Hall of Mirrors. The ensemble’s latest CD, Border Crossings – featuring new works by Enrique Gonzalez-Medina, Robert Livingston Aldridge, Mark Carlson, and Miguel del Aguila – illustrates how the composers – two, Latin American-born and two, overtly influenced by Latin American music – have artistically crossed the border between the United States and Latin America.

“The Latin-born composers brought those influences with them when they moved here, and the others of us actively went to Latin America, seeking them,” explains Carlson.

A third CD, entitled “War Scrap: that we may have peace”, will include music by John Steinmetz, Larry Lipkis, and Mark Carlson. CDs may be purchased through Pacific Serenades’ website, www.pacser.org or by calling 213.534.3434.

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CALENDAR:
PACIFIC SERENADES – “Music Among Friends”
Brahms – Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114
Ravel – Sonata for Violin and Piano
Mark Carlson – New work for clarinet, violin, cello and piano
Saturday, March 21; 8 p.m.; private home in Tarzana
Sunday, March 22; 4 p.m.; Neighborhood Church
301 N. Orange Grove Blvd. in Pasadena
Tuesday, March 24; 8 p.m.; UCLA Faculty Center
405 N. Hilgard Ave. on the UCLA campus
Soloists:
Gary Gray, clarinet
Roger Wilkie, violin
David Speltz, cello
Joanne Pearce Martin, piano
Tickets: $32 (Neighborhood Church and UCLA Faculty Center)
$55 (private home/reception)
For more information, call 213.534.3434 or visit www.pacser.org

PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

UPCOMING PROGRAMS FOR 2009 SEASON:

Circle of blue
Saturday, May 2, 4:00 pm, The home of Susan Key & Michael Pratt in Brentwood
Sunday, May 3, 4:00 pm, The Neighborhood Church in Pasadena
Tuesday, May 5, 8:00 pm, The UCLA Faculty Center

Ravel: String Quartet in F major
Mozart: Duo in G major, K. 423, for violin & viola
Billy Childs: New Work for string quartet
Our 93rd premiere!
World Premiere-commissioned by Pacific Serenades
Composer and jazz pianist Billy Childs has for years been blurring the lines between jazz and Western classical music.

Roberto Cani, violin
Connie Kupka, violin
David Walther, viola
David Speltz, cello

Weaving of many strands
Saturday, June 6, 4:00 pm, The home of John & Barbara McLoughlin in Brentwood
Sunday, June 7, 4:00 pm, The Neighborhood Church in Pasadena
Tuesday, June 9, 8:00 pm, The UCLA Faculty Center

Dvorak: Piano Quintet in A major, Op. 81
Haydn: Piano Trio in A major, H. XV:9
Paul Chihara: New Work for piano quintet
Our 94th premiere!
World Premiere-commissioned by Pacific Serenades
A versatile and eclectic composer, Paul Chihara is equally at home composing for the San Francisco Ballet, the Broadway stage, film and television, and the concert hall.

Miwako Watanabe, violin
Connie Kupka, violin
Roland Kato, viola
David Speltz, cello
Edith Orloff, piano