Long Beach Opera presents Macbeth by Ernest Bloch
Featuring the Long Beach Camerata Singers!

June 15, 22, & 23 @8pm
Port of Los Angeles, San Pedro

Composed between 1904 and 1906, Ernest Bloch’s opera reveals the influence  of Wagner’s music dramas and Claude Debussy’s symbolist opera “Pelleas et Melisande.”  Bloch’s probing and dramatic score powerfully illuminates the central couple, and deeply examines the temptation of promised power and its influence over our actions. but it did not receive its first performance until November 30, 1910 by the Opéra-Comique Paris. After the premiere production, the opera was staged in 1938 in Naples, but was then banned on orders of the Fascist government. Subsequently, the opera was produced in Rome in 1953, and in Trieste. The opera was staged only once in the US, in English, at the Juilliard School of Music in New York in 1973.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the  Long Beach Opera website.

2013-2014 Scheduled Performances

A Bittersweet Step: We’re Moving!
For many years, Covenant Presbyterian Church has been home to the Long Beach Camerata Singers; and it is with bittersweet feelings that we announce that we have outgrown our beloved venue space – literally! What began as a small choral group has now blossomed under the baton of Robert Istad into a fully-voiced choir with over 80 singers. A bigger-than-ever and continuously growing Long Beach Camerata Singers will make its way to the auditorium of Long Beach City College for the upcoming 2013-2014 Concert Season.

Sunday, November 10, 2013 at 5:30pm
Long Beach City College Auditorium

Long Beach Camerata Singers & Symphony Orchestra
Robert Istad, conductor
Na-Young Moon, piano
Program and Soloists TBA

Join us for this exciting two-night performance, while we commemorate the Long Beach Camerata Singers and their contributions to 40 years of the Long Beach Bach Festival with a program of works selected by the singers themselves!

Tickets: $10 student, $30 general, $40 preferred seating

(Long Beach, CA, May 1, 2013): The Long Beach Camerata Singers will close their 2012-2013 concert season on June 8, 2013 with the annual and increasingly popular Broadway-themed benefit performance Camerata Goes Broadway!

The entertaining show, directed by Robert Istad, features delightful chorus numbers and solos from best-loved musicals of the past and present, with this year’s acts dedicated to musical theatre’s great and classic composers: Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Cole Porter.

“A program that started as a crowd-pleaser and has grown into an annual tradition.” – Long Beach Press Telegram

A reception and silent auction precedes the concert and offers patrons a wide variety of items to bid on, including tickets to premiere entertainment destinations and other unique prizes. All proceeds benefit the upcoming Long Beach Camerata Singers season.

Tickets are $45 presale and $50 at the door.
Saturday, June 8, 2013 – Silent Auction 6:30pm | Concert 7:30pm
CSULB, Gerald R. Daniel Recital Hall, 6200 E. Atherton Street, Long Beach, CA 90815.

ABOUT LONG BEACH CAMERATA SINGERS

Long Beach Camerata Singers is a 501(c)3 non-profit, 80-voice choir that has provided Long Beach residents with high-quality choral music for more than 46 years. Currently under the artistic direction of Robert Istad, Director of Choral Studies at CSU Fullerton and Assistant Director of the Pacific Chorale, the choir presents 8 concerts a year, including a fully-orchestrated performance of Handel’s Messiah and an annual Bach Festival. Repertoire encompasses a wide range of works from the Renaissance to the present. Though its roots are in classical music, more contemporary choral works, jazz, Broadway and popular tunes have been added in recent years to broaden audience appeal.

For more information about Long Beach Camerata Singers, please visit us at www.longbeachcameratasingers.org or call (562) 522-1045. To stay connected with us, join our social networks at www.facebook.com/cameratasingers or www.twitter.com/lbcamerata.

By Jim Ruggirello
Music Writer

Concerts come in all shapes and sizes.

And one of the coolest, and also smallest, concerts I’ve been to recently was the culminating event of the 39th Long Beach Bach Festival, presented by the Long Beach Camerata Singers the other night at Sababa over in the Marketplace.

It was an intimate affair, a solo guitar recital by a dazzlingly talented virtuoso named Martha Masters, about whom more later. What made it cool was the casual setting, the food and wine, and the convivial atmosphere. The thing was dubbed “Bach a Bacchus,” and was just what I needed after a hysterically busy day.

The prize-winning Masters is on the faculty at Loyola Marymount and also Cal State Fullerton, and she is a wonder. Possessor of a clean technique, pure intonation, and an innate musicality, she presented a wide-ranging and generous program.

Short pieces were juxtaposed with major works. A Romantic curtain-raiser by Jose Viñas and a shortish Fantasia by Telemann set up a more substantial Sonata by Mario Casteluovo-Tedesco, commissioned, as was much of the 20th century guitar literature, by Andres Segovia. The attractive, tuneful thing completed Masters’ first set.

After a break, and the aforementioned food and wine, came the big work of the evening. The third violin Sonata by J.S. Bach (transcribed, like the Telemann and most of the Baroque guitar repertoire) contains a monumental fugue lasting around 10 minutes. Masters gave it a thrilling, technically dexterous (I didn’t say masterful) performance that brought the house down. She followed up with two short pieces, one by Astor Piazzolla and one written in homage to the Argentine master.

The third set was lighter, Balkan folk songs and some stuff from South America. It all added up to an enjoyable, musically satisfying evening made even more enjoyable by the surroundings.

Masters had her music on an iPad, and I felt old. Then she explained how the sheet music was scanned in, and the pages turned with the aid of this foot pedal thingy, and I felt even older.

This was the only event of this year’s Bach Festival I was able to get to, due to conflicts with the symphony and other things. Artistic director Rob Istad presented his usual creative, innovative menu of concerts, varied in terms of programming as well as venue. In fact, the Camerata and Long Beach Opera share honors these days for sounding out unique and unusual venues for their events.

And word on the street is that the Camerata and Long Beach Opera are collaborating on LBO’s production of Ernest Bloch’s “Macbeth” later this year, which has got to be a good thing, and Istad’s group has already appeared recently with the symphony.

Next year is the 40th Long Beach Bach Festival. Expect great things.

Long Beach Camerata Singers and Band
Robert Istad, conductor
Chris Booke, bass
Matthew Smith, drums
Na-Young Moon, piano

We recommend parking in Parking Lot 12 with street access from Atherton Street. Daily Permit can be purchased on site for $5.

Long Beach Camerata Singers & Symphony Orchestra
Robert Istad, conductor
Na-Young Moon, continuo

Camerata rings in the holidays with an annual tradition of George Frederic Händel’s Messiah. Radiant trumpets, joyous choruses and thundering timpani will make audiences of all ages want to sing, “Hallelujah!”

Tickets: $10 student, $30 general, $40 preferred seating

WORLD-RECOGNIZED GUITARIST TO PAIR THE MUSIC OF BACH AND A TASTE OF WINE

(Long Beach, CA, March 20, 2013): The Long Beach Bach Festival concludes April 14, 2013 with the extremely popular annual event Bach a Bacchus: a celebration of the music of Bach with a taste of wines and beers, presented by the Long Beach Camerata Singers. This year’s performance features world-recognized classical guitarist Martha Masters who will perform innovative arrangements of some of J.S. Bach’s most famous works.

Audience members will have the opportunity to taste a variety of wines and beers and sample light hors d’oeuvres while listening to Martha’s creative performance in a casually elegant environment. In addition to her arrangements of Bach, Dr. Masters will feature selections by Telemann, Tedesco, and Piazzolla.

“Dynamically supple…vivid and assured…graceful performance…” 
The New York Times

“[Masters] has exquisite taste, warmth, and a fluent technique.” 
American Record Guide

“Classical guitarist Martha Masters is one of the brightest new stars of her generation. She has that combo of unquestionably high-level technique and a sense of the music, of soul.”
 Acoustic Guitar



“With her clean playing, well-graded dynamics and all-round musical intelligence, she is a pleasure to listen to.”
 Classical Guitar

Tickets are $35 and include the choice of wine or beer.  6:30pm Sababa Restaurant and Lounge, 6527 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach 90803.

To purchase tickets and for more information about the 39^th Annual Bach Festival and Camerata’s concert season, please visit www.longbeachcameratasingers.org. For more information about Dr. Martha Masters, visit www.marthamasters.com.

Media inquiries, contact: Jessica Ho, (562) 522-1045, cameratasingers@gmail.com.

To stay connected with Camerata, join our social networks at facebook.com/CamerataSingers or http://twitter.com/#!/lbcamerata.

He inspired a lifetime of music, so it’s only fitting there be a monthlong celebration of J.S. Bach.

The 39th Annual Long Beach Bach Festival kicks off Saturday with a two-night concert by the Long Beach Camerata Singers.

The festival was created by Frank Allen because he loved the music of Bach, a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. The festival, which was formed before the Long Beach Camerata Singers, would eventually lead to the group’s formation, says the current artistic director, Rob Istad.

“We wanted to show the influence that Bach had on all of today’s music,” Istad says. “Bach is the standard. He’s really the person who created the sound our ears are all used to hearing today.”

That’s why the first concert, “Evensong: Stay with Us … Grant Us Peace,” will combine music of Bach with the music of today including tunes from Arcade Fire. The Long Beach Camerata Singers will be joined by the South Bay Children’s Choir and art curator Heather Richards is putting together a visual display of electronic projections to go along with the concert.

The show will take place at Riviera United Methodist Church in Redondo Beach on Saturday, with the same concert taking place the next day at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Long Beach.

Other performances for the Bach Festival will take place at various venues in the area throughout March and the beginning of April. Those shows include the Junior Bach Festival, “Bach and the Blues: A Nod from Johann and a Wink from George!” “King of Love,” and “Bach a Bacchus: Martha Masters Live at Sababa.”

“I like it to be a little user-friendly so that if someone wants to experience the entire Bach Festival, they can,” Istad says. “They are all different experiences. We are trying to reach all kinds of different listeners.”

The Junior Bach Festival will feature local winners of the Junior Bach Festival competition, ages 5 to 15, playing music from Bach and others in a free show.

“Bach and Blues: A Nod from Johann and a Wink from George!” will feature Bach’s Cello Suite No. 2 in D minor performed on the viola by Helen Callus, and “Fantasy and Fugue” performed by pianist Timothy Durkovic.

The Horizon Chamber Choir and Players will be joined by Grammy Award -winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor for “King of Love.” And finally, classical guitarist Martha Masters will perform arrangements of some of Bach’s most famous works while audience members can sip on wine and enjoy some hors d’oeuvres.

Istad says the final concert will be remarkable. And every concert will contain something surprising, in a good way, he says. But most of all he hopes people will take this time to recognize what Bach did for modern music.

“The music of Bach is so important to Western music. It’s the foundation of so much of what we know of harmony, melodies and the balance of composition,” Istad says. “Bach is the root of the foundation and it’s important to not lose sight of that.”

stephanie.cary@dailybreeze.com

twitter.com/stephiecary

To look at JS Bach’s resume is to feel extremely lazy. Not only was he an organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist. Not only did he compose thousands of pieces, and conceive nearly as many children. But 263 years after his death, he’s still hard at work, inspiring people with his music.

In yet another example, Saturday the Long Beach Bach Festival, presented by the Long Beach Camerata Singers, starts a series of Bach-focused performances and educational programs.

Evensong: Stay with Us… Grant Us Peace is the first musical offering*. It features a Bach mashup that includes not only choruses from B-Minor Mass, but also songs from The Flaming Lips and The Arcade Fire. The Camerata Singers call it “…a journey from darkness to illumination with innovative programming infusing works from the early Baroque, Romantic and contemporary period into a unique collage listening experience.”

The last installment in the Festival is Sunday, April 14th, and it features classical guitarist Martha Masters playing some of Bach’s most famous pieces, and you drinking wine. It’s at Sababa Restaurant and Lounge in Long Beach, and $35 ticket gets you music and wine.