Past Seasons

Comprised of professional musicians drawn from throughout Southern California, the orchestra’s program will include Pachelbel’s ever-popular Canon in D; Albinoni’s Oboe Concerto and Haydns Symphony #22, The Philosopher. www.goldenvalleymusicsociety.org

These enthusiastic professional musicians from some of the most prestigious music conservatories in China perform a fascinating repertoire, fusing an ancient cultural tradition with a youthful, multi-colored American culture. www.melodyofchina.org

With a repertoire ranging from Handel and Mozart to Gershwin and Friml, Sara Davis Buechner is celebrated as a charismatic pianist of noteworthy accomplishment, virtuosic mastery, artistic sensitivity and extraordinary versatility. www.sarabuechner.com

The Poulenc Trio, (oboe, bassoon and piano) combines 21st century vibrancy with the very best of European traditions, resulting in performances that leap beyond the ordinary, transporting audiences into a world of beautiful sonorities, playful rhythms and dramatic excitement. www.poulenctrio.com

Under the artistic direction of Juan Pedro Gaffney, this San Francisco-based ensemble will perform masterworks that have survived from the Californios period, including sacred pieces and fiesta music of the ranchos and haciendas. www.corohispano.org

Praised by the Washington Post for their "seductive beauty" and "virtuosic gusto," the BGQ has established itself as one of world's leading guitar ensembles. The group’s unique combination, of regular six-string and extended-range, eight-string guitars, allows for the exploration of an original and unusual repertoire. In their almost ten years of activity, the BGQ has performed more than 250 concerts in the Americas, Europe and Asia, often receiving ecstatic audience responses, garnering rave reviews, and meeting sold-out halls. www.brazilianguitarquartet.com

A trio playing violin, viola da gamba, lute, guitar and other period instruments, Chatham Baroque was honored in 1999 as NPR’s "Best New Classical Artist." Their lively interpretations, stylistic innovation, and dazzling technique transport audiences from the elegant French court of Louis XIV to the taverns of England, from the Scottish highlands to the exquisite palaces of Peru. www.chathambaroque.org

Drawing from their extensive knowledge of the repertoire, as well as their own rich cultural backgrounds, William Chapman Nyaho and Susanna Garcia create fascinating programs. They specialize in the often, and unjustly, neglected music of composers of African or Hispanic heritage, women composers, and modern American composers.
www.nyaho.com/duo.cfm

Returning by audience request, Wood's Tea Company is an acoustic group that performs fiery Celtic tunes, bluegrass, sea shanties, and American folk songs with ease and skill. During a performance they use as many as a dozen different instruments, including banjos and bouzoukis, guitars and bodhrans, and traditional tin whistles.
www.woodstea.net

Founded in 2001, the La Catrina Quartet has been praised as “among the most promising young string quartets today.” Their triple mission: to work closely with living composers promoting new music; to promote Mexican and Latin- American art music; and to perform the string quartet masterworks. Its members have performed as orchestral soloists and in recital in Mexico, the United States, Japan, and England.
www.lacatrinaquartet.com

World-class choir comprised of 35 Choral Scholars from Cambridge University, England. Conducted by the esteemed Stephen Layton, they will present a mixed program of classic and modern choral favorites. The Choir has built a reputation for its fine singing of music of the Anglican Cathedral tradition, from the Renaissance to the modern day. In addition to its major weekly commitment of singing Evensong, the Choir records, broadcasts and tours regularly nationally and internationally. www.trinitycollegechoir.com

Well-known from a long run on NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor, the Butch Thompson Trio has earned critical and popular recognition around the world for its exuberant brand of classic jazz and ragtime. The centerpiece is Thompson’s celebrated piano, but bassist, Marty Eggers and drummer, Chris Tyle are masters of the subtle interplay that is the hallmark of early jazz. Specializing in the ragtime music of Scott Joplin, Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton and other early jazz heroes, the Butch Thompson Trio shares the pure joy of music-making.
www.butchthompson.com

This professional wind quartet with piano is comprised of San Diego free-lance players who love to play chamber music and also think it is important to teach music. Since 1998 the San Diego Chamber Music Society has performed over 100 chamber music concerts in San Diego County at venues including: Central San Diego Library, Oceanside Museum of Art, La Jolla Athenaeum Music Library, Carlsbad Museum of Making Music Concert Series, First Presbyterian Church of San Diego Concert Series, Scripps Gluck Chamber Music Series and the California Center for the Arts Escondido. For their HCCA concert, they will perform two masterpieces for this combination by Mozart and Beethoven, as well as short wind pieces by Mozart, Haydn and Stamitz. This is the real classical music!

The internationally renowned pianist will perform an all-American first half: Gottschalk, Copland, Gershwin, Barber, Brubeck, et al., returning to the Old World in the concert’s second half, with pieces by Chopin and Liszt. The New York City resident performs concerts and recitals all over Europe and the United States, to glowing reviews and ecstatic audiences.
www.danfranklinsmith.com

Ensemble in residence at the School of Music and Dance at San Diego State University, the quintet’s unique arrangements have brought them world-wide recognition. There is little in the musical lexicon that they cannot tackle and perform well. Their concert will offer a kaleidoscopic set of styles and composers, from the rich Baroque sonorities of Handel and Bach to the music of other cultures to the jazz of Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk.
www.westwindbrass.org

Founded by Peter Nelson, warmly recalled for his appearances with the Thüringer Salon Quintet, this eclectic group includes violin, guitar, bass and piano. Their repertoire encompasses four continents and three centuries, from Bach and Django Reinhardt, to Manuel de Falla and Chick Corea. Their aural possibilities are enhanced by the fact that all the musicians play multiple instruments.

Hailed by The New York Times as "an artist of the highest caliber," Italian born pianist Cristiana Pegoraro has performed in some of the greatest concert halls in Europe, the United States, South America, Asia, the Middle East and Australia. Acclaimed for her interpretations of such composers as Beethoven and Chopin, she is a composer herself, and includes her own works in her concerts.

Featuring the Korean sisters, Soo-Jin Hong and Soo-Kyung Hong and the Danish pianist Jens Elvekjaer, this piano-violin-cello trio received the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award in 2005, one of the most coveted honors in the world of chamber music. Their career has soared since then, and they earn critics' raves whenever they perform, around the world.

Leading wind players from New York City will perform major works for flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon by such composers as Mozart, Beethoven, Dvorak and Poulenc. The members are among the most esteemed wind players in the United States, all with extensive performance histories, having collectively performed with a wide variety of top tier orchestras and ensembles.

A special rare performance of Franz Schubert’s transcendent masterpiece, Octet in F Major, introduced by Artistic Director, Dana Mambourg Zimbric.

Elena Urioste, violinist and Michael Brown, piano.

Two artists on the cusp of major music careers, in a program of sonatas by Mozart, Ravel, Schumann and Prokofiev.

The beloved South American harpist in his third appearance for HCCA, by popular request.

Since her appearances here in 2007, the Canadian star has relocated to SoCal, and is returning to our series by popular request.

In a first for HCCA, a program for two pianos by the acclaimed husband-and-wife team.