Flutist

This concert offers a moving portrait of the profound bond between Fanny Hensel and her brother Felix Mendelssohn—a relationship of deep musical collaboration and mutual mentorship. Fanny was Felix’s “Minerva,” whose wisdom and discerning advice shaped his compositions. The siblings grew up studying with the same teachers and were deeply influenced by J.S. Bach. Fanny’s salon became a cultural hub, but her music was rarely published due to the social constraints on women of her time. Felix, by contrast, enjoyed public acclaim and even published some of Fanny’s songs under his own name. He later revealed to Queen Victoria that her beloved “Italien” was actually Fanny’s composition. Their connection endured until the end: Fanny died of a stroke at 41, and Felix, grief-stricken, died just six months later.

Fanny And Felix Mendelssohn: A Musical Family

Hanna Center

Stacey Pelinka, Berkeley Symphony’s second flutist, presents Connections, which builds upon the community of composers, living and not. Through this program, you’ll meet familiar faces and meet some new ones, all of whom will make you feel like you’re reuniting with long-lost friends. Stacey’s contemporary chamber music expertise shines in Connections, as she has been a key artistic member of ensembles such as the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and as a founding member of Eco Ensemble.

EPSG:4326

Connections

Piedmont Center for the Arts

Space travel meets Art in a program which is interpreted in live painting by artist Adrian Arias*.

A Dark Matter

Berkeley Hillside Club

Noe Valley Ministry

Genre-breaking works from the 20th and 21st centuries immerse the listener in interactions between poetry, music, and the human voice. The composers explore the extremes of drama and poetry within the intimate setting of chamber music.

Fall Cabaret: Pierrot Lunaire

Quintets and Sextets

First Congregational Church of Berkeley

First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto

St. Mark’s Lutheran Church

Stacey Pelinka, Flute

Ann E. Pitzer Center

A free family-friendly lunchtime concert- bring you kids and picnic!

The New Farm Community Concert

The New Farm

Chamber III

Praised by the New York Times as a “dream team of local musicians who embody a high point in the Bay Area’s vibrant contemporary music scene,” UC Berkeley’s stellar ensemble-in-residence specializes in precise and passionate performances of works by living composers. The group is directed by new-music champion and music department faculty member David Milnes and comprises talented performers from across the region.  This season’s Cal Performances concert showcases the music of Toshio Hosokawa, among Japan’s pre-eminent living composers, who will be a guest of the music department in Fall 2022 as the distinguished Bloch Lecturer. The program—which features flute virtuoso Stacey Pelinka of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble—reflects the composer’s interest in traditional Japanese arts such as calligraphy and gagaku as sources of musical inspiration.  “It’s difficult to imagine any group giving a better performance than that of the Eco Ensemble” (San Francisco Classical Voice).

Eco Ensemble: Toshio Hosokawa Portrait Concert

University of California, Berkeley

Volti and Left Coast meet in a new work by Chris Castro for storyteller and musicians, which explores the connection between sound and the spoken word in tales from the west coast. The human relationship to our environment forms a through-line from romantic to experimental musical sensibilities.

Flutist

Stacey Pelinka

Events

Upcoming events

20 - 21 Mar, 2026

Sound Stories · Left Coast Chamber Ensemble

Past events

Jul 12, 2025

Fanny And Felix Mendelssohn: A Musical Family · Valley of the Moon Music Festival

May 18, 2025

Connections · Berkeley Symphony

Future and recently performed repertoire

Flute in Seducción by Águila

Berkeley Symphony

Flute in String Quintet No. 1 by Mendelssohn

Valley of the Moon Music Festival

About

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