Camerata Pacifica Presents Captivating Chamber Works by Rachmaninoff, Others at The Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall

Camerata Pacifica’s season continues with a selection of captivating chamber works presented at four Southern California locations on Tuesday, November 18, 7:30 pm, at The Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall in San Marino; Thursday, November 20, 8:00 pm, at Zipper Hall in Downtown Los Angeles; Friday, November 21, 7:00 pm, at Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West; and Sunday, November 23, 2025, 3:00 pm, at Thousand Oaks’ Janet and Ray Scherr Forum.

The program opens with Rachmaninoff’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor, Op. 19, considered one of the most famous cello sonatas in the literature. Following on the heels and very much in the style of Rachmaninoff’s wildly successful 2nd Piano Concerto, the piece is broad in scope, filled with glorious melodies, and passionately romantic in character. Camerata Pacifica Principal artists Armenian cellist Ani Aznavoorian and Estonian pianist Irina Zahharenkova bring the masterwork to life.

Illuminating a strikingly different aspect of the piano repertoire, Zahharenkova performs Aequora for grand piano and electronics by María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, which was commissioned for the Iceland Arts Festival in 2015. 

Violinist Alena Hove joins both Aznavoorian and Zahharenkova for the program’s final work, Arno Babadjanian’s Piano Trio in F-sharp Minor. Babadjanian, a national hero in Armenia, composed the trio in 1952. It enjoyed immediate and enthusiastic success in Russia and Armenia but has only recently drawn well-deserved attention in the United States. 

Hove, applauded for her “rich, smooth tone” and “nuance and grace” (CityArts), is noted for her musical clarity and charismatic stage presence. Zahharenkova is hailed for delivering performances with “impressive…musical colour” (Bachtrack). Aznavoorian offers “scorchingly committed performances…(that) wring every last drop of emotion out of the music” (The Strad); 

For tickets ($75 at The Huntington, Music Academy of the West, and Zipper Hall; $94.40, including fees, at Janet and Ray Scherr Forum) and information, visit www.cameratapacifica.org.