Sarah Gibson World Premiere Plus Beethoven Chamber Works In LACO's In Focus Series

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra's (LACO) three-program In Focus series explores during the 2019-20 season Beethoven's great chamber works and also includes works by Strauss, Mendelssohn and Schumann, as well as a LACO-commissioned world premiere by composer/pianist Sarah Gibson, "a serious talent to watch" (Atlanta Journal Constitution), which features the composer on piano and was inspired by Clara Schumann on the 200th anniversary of her birthday. Curated by Concertmaster Margaret Batjer and highlighting an array of LACO artists plus, this season, special guests pianist Andrew von Oeyen and the Miró Quartet, In Focus provides insights into the quintessence of some of the great chamber music repertoire through the lens of LACO artists in an intimate setting with each program presented in back-to-back performances on Thursdays at First Presbyterian of Santa Monica and Fridays at San Marino's The Huntington, at 7:30 pm. Batjer leads Strauss' Metamorphosen for String Septet and Beethoven's Septet for Winds and Strings on February 20 and 21, 2020; von Oeyen, a pianist lauded for his "indisputable gifts and an extravagantly thorough and effortless technique" (Los Angeles Times), is featured on Beethoven's Piano Trio and Schumann's Piano Quintet on a program that also includes the Gibson world premiere on April 2 and 3, 2020; and the Miró Quartet, "a marvel of single-minded phrasing and airtight ensemble" (Washington Post), performs Beethoven's String Quartet No. 12 and Mendelssohn's String Octet on April 30 and May 1, 2020.

In Focus, curated by LACO Concertmaster Margaret Batjer, opens with Strauss's memorial elegy Metamorphosen for String Septet, composed during the final months of World War II, and Beethoven's popular Septet for Winds and Strings, considered among his most successful works, on Thursday, February 20, 7:30 pm, at First Presbyterian of Santa Monica, and Friday, February 21, 2020, 7:30 pm, at San Marino's The Huntington. The program features 10 of LACO's virtuosic artists: Carrie Kennedy and Joel Pargman, violin; Erik Rynearson and Sharon Wei, viola; Andrew Shulman, Trevor Handy and Giovanna Moraga Clayton, cello; Peter Lloyd, bass; Kenneth Munday, bassoon; and Dylan Hart, horn.

LACO's In Focus series, curated by Concertmaster Margaret Batjer, continues with three divergent piano works, including a LACO-commissioned world premiere for piano and string quartet by noted composer and pianist Sarah Gibson featuring Gibson on piano and inspired by Clara Schumann as part of the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of this pivotal figure in Romantic music, on Thursday, April 2, 7:30 pm, at First Presbyterian of Santa Monica, and Friday, April 3, 2020, 7:30 pm, at San Marino's The Huntington. Additionally, pianist Andrew von Oeyen, lauded for his "indisputable gifts and an extravagantly thorough and effortless technique" (Los Angeles Times), performs Beethoven's masterful Piano Trio and Robert Schumann's exuberant Piano Quintet. Since von Oeyen's professional debut at age 16, he has extended his interpretive voice to a broad spectrum of repertoire, garnering critical acclaim for his elegant and insightful interpretations and balanced artistry. Gibson, "a serious talent to watch" (Atlanta Journal Constitution) and faculty member at University of California, Santa Barbara, served as LACO's 2018-19 Sound Investment Composer for which she created warp & weft, a well-received work that "tempers the curious vocabulary of modern music with a thoughtful, intentional sense of timing and form" (New Classic LA).

LACO's final In Focus program this season, curated by Concertmaster Margaret Batjer, features the celebrated Miró Quartet, "a marvel of single-minded phrasing and airtight ensemble" (Washington Post), performing Beethoven's String Quartet No. 12, the first of his late quartets, and Mendelssohn's String Octet, noted for its brilliance and youthful energy and completed when the composer was just 16 years old, on Thursday, April 30, 7:30 pm, at First Presbyterian of Santa Monica, and Friday, May 1, 2020, 7:30 pm, at San Marino's The Huntington. The Miró Quartet, formed in 1995 and based in Austin, Texas, is quartet-in-residence at Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon and the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival in Washington. Among other accolades, in 2005, the string quartet became the first ensemble ever to be awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. The Miró Quartet took its name and its inspiration from the Spanish artist Joan Miró, whose Surrealist works - with subject matter drawn from the realm of memory, dreams and imaginative fantasy - are some of the most groundbreaking, influential and admired of the 20th century. Members of the quartet are Daniel Ching, violin; William Fedkenheuer, violin; John Largess, viola; and Joshua Gindele, cello.

The extraordinary chamber music of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra's In Focus series is made possible in part by Jerry and Terri Kohl. In Focus: Beethoven + Mendelssohn, featuring the Miró Quartet, is sponsored by Allan and Muriel Kotin.

Tickets, starting at $49, are available online at laco.org, or by calling LACO at 213 622 7001 x1. Single tickets can also be purchased at the venue box office on the night of the concert, if tickets remain. Discounted tickets are available by phone for groups of 12 or more. College students with valid student ID may purchase tickets for $8, subject to availability.

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