Photo courtesy of Music Guild
By LILY TINOCO | Assistant Editor
St. Matthew’s Music Guild has announced its 40th anniversary season of concerts, presenting “world-class music close to home.”
“Music Guild concerts feature the critically acclaimed Chamber Orchestra at St. Matthew’s, under the direction of Dwayne S. Milburn, and an array of world-class soloists and ensembles,” according to a statement about the season.
The 2024-25 season begins on Friday, September 27, with saxophonist Jan Berry Baker performing Jacque Ibert’s “Concertino da Camera” and William Grant Still’s “Romance for Alto Saxophone and Strings.”
Baker is a professor of saxophone and head of woodwinds at UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. He regularly performs with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago- and Atlanta-based symphonies, and different new music ensembles.
The program is also set to include a celebratory new work by conductor and composer Milburn, and concludes with Felix Mendelssohn’s “Italian Symphony.”
Other concerts this season include an all-Beethoven concert with Robert Thies on November 1; a Holiday Concert on December 6; a Valentine’s Day program of “love songs” with pianist David Kaplan on February 14, violinist YuEun Gemma Kim, soprano Liv Redpath and friends; and the world premiere of a new work commissioned by the Music Guild by composer and performer Dawn Norfleet on March 14.
The Music Guild’s Choral Initiative will present the 12-member, London-based Stile Antico in a program of Renaissance choral masterworks on April 4. LA Philharmonic Principal Flute Denis Bouriakov is also set to join the orchestra for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Flute Concerto No. 1” and other works.
The anniversary season will include a Sunday afternoon “bonus” concert on May 4, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the dedication of the C.B. Fisk Pardee Organ at St. Matthew’s Church, with “one of the foremost organists of this generation,” Nathan Laube.
The season will conclude on May 30 with the Ukrainian-born pianist Inna Faliks performing the West Coast premiere of Richard Danielpour’s “Piano Concerto No. 4,” Gioacchino Rossini’s “Tancredi Overture” and Igor Stravinsky’s “Danse Concertantes.”
“Join us for our 40th anniversary season with The Chamber Orchestra at St. Matthew’s and world-class soloists and ensembles,” read the statement.
Tickets are available for $45, or part of a season pass for all eight concerts for $285. Ample parking will be available, and Music Guild offers free intermission refreshments.
All concerts will take place at St. Matthew’s Church, located at 1031 Bienveneda Avenue in Pacific Palisades.
For more information, tickets or season passes, visit musicguildonline.org or call 310-573-7422.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
