Pacific Serenades (Musical group)

The mission of Pacific Serenades is to generate new chamber music by commissioning works and presenting them alongside standard repertoire in intimate concert settings, emphasizing the talents of Southern California musicians. The self-presenting ensemble has become one of the premier chamber music organizations in Southern California, and one of the longest-performing on the West Coast since its first concert in 1982. Its purpose is to allow music lovers--listeners, performers, and composers alike--to experience chamber music as a living art--and to experience it in the intimate setting for which it is intended. Each of the four programs presents the premiere of a new work commissioned by Pacific Serenades along with standard repertoire, and each is performed in a private home, at the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena, and at the UCLA Faculty Center. By the end of its 20th season, Pacific Serenades had presented the premieres of 76 new works. Representing 37 different composers, most of them from the Los Angeles area, many of these works have gone on to further performances by other ensembles throughout this country and in Europe and Canada, and many of them have already been published and recorded. The organization is beginning to publish its commissioned works in order to make them more available to other ensembles. Pacific Serenades gave its first New York concert, at Carnegie Recital Hall, in September of 1994, and its first San Francisco concert in January of 1998. Pacific Serenades' CD, The Hall of mirrors, was a winner of the 2001 Chamber Music America/WQXR Records Awards. It was the first in a projected series of CDs by Pacific Serenades performers and composers.