Camerata Pacifica Receives Major Gifts: $1.25 Million Bequest & Bart k Auction

Camerata Pacifica ends the year on a prosperous note as the recipient of two major gifts. The renowned chamber music ensemble has received a $1.25 million bequest from the estate of Dr. Bernard Gondos. This is the largest realized bequest, and largest contribution, ever received by Camerata Pacifica.

Gondos was a Pathologist, an avid amateur violin player and composer, and lifelong enthusiastic chamber musician who performed in workshops all over the world. In 1989, he met Camerata Pacifica's founder Adrian Spence at a chamber music concert in Santa Barbara, who asked, did he think something like his Camerata Pacifica idea could work in Santa Barbara? "Absolutely," was his encouragement. And so Gondos had a hand in the very beginning of Camerata Pacifica, which was founded the following year. Now he has a hand in securing its future. The initial installment of this gift established "The Bernard Gondos Chair in Violin" in perpetuity.

As part of Sotheby's musical manuscripts sale that took place on November 28 in London, a complete autograph score of composer Béla Bartók's Second Rhapsody for Violin and Piano was auctioned and sold for £250,000. Written for violinist Zoltán Székely, the manuscript was accompanied by a series of over 40 autographed letters by the composer to the violinist which were sold as a single series for £60,000. A relative of Székely's, who lives in Oxnard, has been a patron of Camerata Pacifica for over 20 years, and gifted the manuscript and the letters to Camerata Pacifica, with instruction to sell both, with proceeds proceeds benefiting the ensemble.

"Camerata Pacifica is sincerely grateful for these incredibly generous gifts that will help ensure our continued growth into the future." said Spence.

Camerata Pacifica continues its 28th season with a January program that includes Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 26 in E-flat Major Op. 81a "Les adieux"; Messiaen's "Appel interstellaire"; Ligeti's Trio for Violin Horn & Piano; Britten's Suite for Violin & Piano Op. 6; and Bartók's "Out of Doors" Sz. 81.

The musicians performing are Gilles Vonsattel, piano; Kristin Lee, the Bernard Gondos Chair in Violin; and Martin Owen, Principal Horn. Artist biographies are available at http://cameratapacifica.org/about/the-ensemble/.

Performances take place Thursday, January 11 at 8 p.m. at Colburn School's Zipper Hall in Los Angeles; Friday, January 12 at 7:30 p.m. at Hahn Hall in Santa Barbara; Sunday, January 14 at 3 p.m. at the Martin V. and Martha K. Smith Pavilion at the Museum of Ventura County in Ventura; and Tuesday, January 16 at 7:30 p.m. at the Rothenburg Hall at The Huntington Library in San Marino.

Subscriptions ($125 - $403) and single tickets ($50 - $56) can be ordered online at http://cameratapacifica.org/season-tickets/order-tickets or by calling 805-884-8410.

Founded in 1990, Camerata Pacifica is dedicated to engaging audiences intellectually and emotionally by presenting the finest performances of familiar and lesser-known masterworks in venues that emphasize intimacy and a personal connection with the music and musicians.