“Now in its fourth season, the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, which was featured recently in the L.A. Philharmonic’s ‘Noon to Midnight’ marathon, is one of several new orchestral ensembles that have emerged in Los Angeles,” writes Jim Farber in last Wednesday’s (1/30) San Francisco Classical Voice. “They maintain a ‘pay what you can’ policy at both their concert venues … in downtown L.A. and in Santa Monica. Made up primarily of highly skilled younger musicians, the ensemble’s concerts regularly combine works from the standard repertory with cutting-edge contemporary work…. Sunday’s matinee concert in Santa Monica was a perfect example of Kaleidoscope at work. The program bookended performances of Mozart’s Trio in B-flat Major and Bartok’s String Quartet No. 5 with four West Coast premieres: Obliquely Wrecked (for violin, piano, and cello) and Alpha (for cello, percussion, string quartet, and tape) by Pascal Le Boeuf; Head to Toe (for glockenspiel and desk bells) by Molly Joyce: and Scallops and Bollocks for Tea (for violin and tape) by Melissa Dunphy. The audience was unusual, combining seasoned aficionados with the musically naïve … one of the most enthusiastic, attentive, and appreciative audiences I’ve seen in a while.”
Posted February 7, 2018
