Camerata Pacifica Reveals 2023-24 Season and Appointment of New Executive Director

 Camerata Pacifica, a chamber music collective renowned for its musical versatility and bold programming that illuminates the limitless scope of the chamber music repertoire, announced its 2023-24 season, its 34th, as well as the appointment of Ana Papakhian, a dedicated arts administrator with 27 years of experience in the classical music field, as Camerata Pacifica’s new Executive Director. The news was announced by Founder and Artistic Director Adrian Spence. Papakhian began her tenure with the celebrated chamber ensemble on June 1, 2023.  

“I am delighted to welcome Ana Papakhian to Camerata Pacifica,” says Spence. “I have admired Ana and her work for more than a decade. She brings deep experience and expertise to the Camerata team, and I’m excited for what we’ll accomplish together!”

"It's with great pride that I join this esteemed artistic organization," states Papakhian. "I am deeply inspired by Camerata Pacifica’s leadership and artists and their uncompromising commitment to presenting great music and creating community. In this new chapter, we'll collaborate to take the entire organization to the next level of growth and recognition."

Most recently, Papakhian served as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of Santa Barbara's Music Academy. She was previously Director of Communications for The Cleveland Orchestra and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. She began singing professionally with the New Orleans Opera before launching her administrative career in New York City, where she joined the staff of the Piatigorsky Foundation, and subsequently served as personal assistant to the legendary opera singer Marilyn Horne. Papakhian, an Armenian-American born in Detroit and raised in Bloomington, Indiana, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in vocal performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. An active volunteer, the Santa Barbara resident is Vice President of the Engagement Council for the Interlochen Center for the Arts, her high school and summer camp alma mater, a board member of AWC-SB (Association for Women in Communications, Santa Barbara) and a member of the Santa Barbara County Behavioral Wellness Commission.

Season Announced

Spence announced Camerata Pacifica’s 2023-24 season. The collective, comprised of virtuoso musicians from around the globe, will present a total of eight concerts and a robust mix of programming that features heritage works along with less familiar music and commissioned pieces.

Highlights include the world premiere of Grammy-nominated composer Clarice Assad’s Camerata Pacifica-commissioned work for accordion, clarinet, cello and percussion written for and featuring Julien Labro, an “accordion star” (Chicago Tribune) who seamlessly bridges jazz and classical music. Additionally, Camerata Pacifica presents the U.S. premiere of British composer Martin Butler’s scintillating Remember This Fire for oboe and percussion, inspired by Ezra Pound’s poem The Alchemist.

The chamber collective also launches Camerata Pacifica Baroque, which Spence describes as “our period instrument annex, with the ineffable 18th century music phenomenon Emi Ferguson as Music Director.” Ferguson, “a glorious flutist” (Los Angeles Times) who was awarded the 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, curates a range of compelling Baroque works filtered through her creative contemporary lens and performed by some of the country’s leading early music specialists. The inaugural Camerata Pacifica Baroque offerings include “From Bach to Bolivia,” and “The French Dispatch.”

Spence has also programmed a diverse selection of chamber masterpieces by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Elgar, Ginastera, Haydn, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Pärt, Schoenberg, Telemann and others, as well as a slate of remarkable works by an international array of contemporary composers, including Christopher Cerrone, Paul Dean, Vinko Globokar, Christos Hatzis, Kryštof Mařatka, Paola Prestini, and John Psathas.

In addition to Labro, the accordionist, other artists making their Camerata Pacifica debuts are Berlin Philharmonic Principal Flute Sébastian Jacot, hailed as a “flute rock star” by his peers, violin virtuoso YuEun Kim, and violinist Abigél Králik, “a shooting star in the truest sense of the word” (Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk Kultur). Several leading figures in the early music scene appear on Camerata Pacifica Baroque, including violinist Rachell Ellen Wong, the first Baroque violinist to receive a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant; harpsichordist Michael Sponseller, a prolific recording artist; Grammy-winning lutenist Stephen Stubbs; Doug Balliett, a professor of Baroque bass at The Juilliard School; and Grammy-winning tenor Karim Sulayman. 

Among the beloved Camerata Pacifica artists appearing during the season are violinists Paul Huang, The Bob Christiansen Chair in Violin, and Jason Uyeyama, violist Timothy Ridout, Principal Cello Ani Aznavoorian, Principal Oboe Nicholas Daniel, Principal Clarinet Jose Franch-Ballester, Principal Percussion Ji Hye Jung, and Principal Piano Irina Zahharenkova.  

Each program is presented at four leading California venues: Downtown L.A.’s Zipper Hall; San Marino’s The Huntington; Santa Barbara’s Music Academy; and Thousand Oaks’ Janet and Ray Scherr Forum. According to Spence, Camerata Pacifica also continues to elevate its concerts with a range of visual elements, such as video content, projections, and theatrical lighting “to enrich the audience’s experience and enhance and heighten the music being performed without detracting from it.”

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