Camerata Pacifica Baroque: The French Dispatch

“Camerata Pacifica Baroque: The French Dispatch” explores French Baroque repertoire both rarely heard and familiar in the second and final offering in the acclaimed chamber collective’s inaugural period instrument Baroque series curated by and featuring eminent flutist Emi Ferguson, known for her fresh approach to programming and boundary-stretching performances. This engaging program of 17th and 18th century French vocal and instrumental works performed by some of the country’s leading Baroque experts is presented on Sunday, April 21, 3 pm, at Thousand Oak’s Janet and Ray Scherr Forum; Tuesday, April 23, 7:30 pm, at The Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall in San Marino; Thursday, April 25, 8 pm, at Zipper Hall in Downtown Los Angeles; Friday, April 26, 2024, 7:30 pm, in Hahn Hall at Santa Barbara’s Music Academy.

Clérambault’s breathtaking cantata Pirame et Tisbé features acclaimed Grammy-winning Lebanese American tenor Karim Sulayman, whose voice is “pure heaven” (The Arts Desk). He also performs four works by Anne Madeleine Guédon de Presles, a French composer, singer, and actress, who in the early 18th century became the first known French woman to publish a collection of arias.

Joining Ferguson and Sulayman are violinist Rachell Ellen Wong, noted for performances that are “scorching hot, accurate, and thrilling” (Broadway World) and the first Baroque violinist to receive a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant; harpsichordist Michael Sponseller, acclaimed for his “remarkable spectrum of sounds” (Cleveland Classical); Grammy-winning guitarist Stephen Stubbs, a leading figure in the American early music scene for three decades; and, on viola da gamba, Doug Balliett, a professor of baroque bass at The Juilliard School hailed for his “elegantly played” performances (The New York Times).

The program opens with Third Suite in A Major from Pièces de Clavecin en Concert, Rameau’s adaptations of his keyboard works for chamber ensemble, and concludes with Telemann’s Paris Quartet No. 12 in E Minor, TWV 43:e4, a milestone of the chamber genre.

Camerata Pacifica is renowned for its musical versatility and bold programming that demonstrate the limitless scope of the chamber music repertoire.

“Camerata Pacifica Baroque: The French Dispatch” tickets ($75 at The Huntington, Hahn Hall and Zipper Hall; $80 at Janet and Ray Scherr Forum) are available at www.cameratapacifica.org or 805-884-8410.