Chamber made of music

SUZIE HARRISON

Now in its third year, the Laguna Beach Chamber Music Festival again

offers audiences five days of multi-layered music appreciation.

The citywide event from April 13 through 17 will offer myriad

chamber music experiences.

The multifaceted program is the result of a collaboration of three

music organizations that wanted to do something special.

Cindy Prewitt, Laguna Beach Live! co-founder and president, said

the idea was formulated by three organizations -- the Philharmonic

Society of Orange County, Laguna Beach Chamber Music Society and

Laguna Beach Live!

“We were thinking about it: Laguna Beach Live! was already doing

the free chamber music at Laguna College,” Prewitt said. “It’s such a

great responsibility. We wanted to do something bigger and draw

different artists.”

Prewitt said the Philharmonic Society and Laguna Beach Chamber

Society did a chamber event at the Artists’ Theatre in the ‘80s.

“They wanted to come back to Laguna, so we collaborated,” Prewitt

said. “We’ve had such great reception from the first one, and that’s

continued.”

A cultural-arts grant from the Business Improvement District

provided seed money to create the chamber festival.

“We were thinking how could we be different besides our unique

location,” Prewitt said. “[Our] unique concept is to have an

established musician work with emerging artists to give us the

opportunity to watch the mentoring process.”

This year honored classical pianist, Christopher O’Riley, will

mentor young, emerging artists -- Bella Hristova, violin, Abraham

Feder, cello and Yao-Guang Zhai, clarinet, whom he personally chose.

“O’Riley will cross over from classical piano and will play in

different genres; it’s a twist this year,” Prewitt said.

O’Riley will perform an interpretation of “Radio Head” and

“Shostakovich” on Saturday.

“It really fits in with the kind of casual style of Laguna,”

Prewitt said. “We’re not stuffy, and neither is chamber music.”

Prewitt said there are a lot of misconceptions about chamber

music.

“You get to hear each individual instrument, and it’s usually done

in a small setting or chamber,” Prewitt said. “That’s where the word

comes from. It’s a different experience.”

Some of the free programs during the festival include a student

ensemble from Sage Hill School at 6 p.m. Thursday at Laguna Art

Museum. At 6:30 p.m., O’Riley and his student musicians will play,

followed by a question-and-answer session. Friday from 1 to 3 p.m. is

a new event at the Artists’ Theatre. O’Riley will teach a master

class to top piano students.

The chamber festival will culminate with concerts at 8 p.m. April

15 and 16 and 3 p.m. April 17.

K-Mozart radio host Rich Capparela will give a preconcert lecture

at 2 p.m. April 17.

“The music will be varied at the three concerts,” Prewitt said.

“People will get a sense of the different types of music. The

composer’s programs are different enough that you can go to all three

concerts and have a different experience.”

Tickets are $30, $25 and $15 for full-time students and $10 for

seniors if purchased at the Senior Center.

For tickets, call the playhouse at (949) 497-2787 or go to

https://www.lagunabeachlive.org; seniors may call (949) 464-9535.