Welcome to our 20th Season!

Somewhere along the way, walls were built around classical music, around jazz, around folk, around rock. “DO NOT CROSS” signs were posted in all directions. Sentries in every walled-off area spoke “truths” that only fortified the walls: our music is serious, ours is modern, ours is of the people, ours is profound, ours is genuine, ours is fun.

Composers of the past would be puzzled by the severity of these borders. Bach deliberately reached across national boundaries; Schubert loved to assimilate popular music; Brahms could not get enough of Gypsy and beer hall music. Their borders were strong, yet fluid. Even we can’t make sense of our fractured musical world, since most of us love music that carries us across various stylistic borders. And at some level, we recognize that the disconnection between one kind of music and another has hindered what music is all about: love, humanity, beauty, healing.

For all of its 20 years, Pacific Serenades has encouraged musicians and music lovers to play out of bounds: to go against the 20th century proscription that new music must be like castor oil—good for you, but unpleasant. Since its beginning, Pacific Serenades has been about rebuilding the broken trust that has made music lovers fearful of new music. This season we build onto that an invitation to composers whose backgrounds include jazz, world music, film music, and rock. As always, our hands reach across borders to reconnect with what really matters: that music is music; that music is supposed to be beautiful and moving; that music transcends all borders—and in so doing makes us all more human and more divine. It takes many hands to create a concert, and there have been thousands that have carried us here to our 20th season. At every point, progress happened because someone was willing to reach across some border or another. These hands have belonged to performing musicians, composers, volunteers, donors, staff, and audience members, and the hands pictured here represent only a fraction of the many that have offered support over the years.

Hands pictured: Ayke Agus, pianist; Mark Carlson, Founder & Artistic Director, composer, flutist; Leslie Drayton, composer; Natalie Limonick, long-time subscriber, donor, Board member.

Winner of the prestigious 2003 Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming and the 2001 CMA/WQXR Records Award, Pacific Serenades invites you to join in its 20th anniversary season. With its hallmark commitments to performances of exceptional quality, to great music that touches your soul, and to personal warmth, you will be part of a musical experience like no other. Our artists, including principals of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the LA Philharmonic, and the Long Beach Symphony, are among the finest anywhere. And you will be hard pressed to find a friendlier bunch of musicians and fellow music lovers.