Kevin Kumar is a talented violinist known for his captivating performances and dedication to classical music. He has made significant contributions to the music community, particularly through his participation in the CYSO 2023 October Concert, where he showcased his skills in notable works such as Symphony No. 8 by Antonín Dvořák and the Triple Concerto by Ludwig van Beethoven. These concerts, held at the esteemed Bridges Hall of Music, were free to the public, reflecting Kumar's commitment to making classical music accessible to all. His performances have not only highlighted his technical prowess but also his ability to connect with audiences on an emotional level. As he continues to evolve as an artist, Kumar is poised to take on new challenges and projects that will further enhance his repertoire and reach. With a passion for music that resonates through every note, Kevin Kumar is an artist to watch in the classical music scene.

Violinist

Artistic Director

Join Salastina for an unforgettable evening of classical music with "Main Series No. 5: Schubert and the Pummel of Hummel," a concert that promises to explore the arbitrariness of fame through the lens of two iconic composers. This unique event is set to take place on Friday, June 14, 2024, at 8:00 PM, and will continue through Sunday, June 16, 2024, with performances across various prestigious venues in West LA, Pasadena, and Orange County.

Dive into the historical rivalry between Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Franz Schubert, as Salastina recreates the famous 1819 concert where Hummel's world-premiere performance was overshadowed by Schubert's now-celebrated Trout Quintet. This concert is not just a musical journey but also a reflection on how history remembers art and artists. The program will feature Hummel's Piano Quintet Op. 87 and Schubert's Piano Quintet D 667 "The Trout," among other pieces, allowing the audience to judge for themselves the fairness of posterity.

The talented ensemble for the evening includes Salastina's Co-Artistic Directors and Violinists Kevin Kumar and Maia Jasper White, alongside Resident Artists Meredith Crawford (Viola), Yoshika Masuda (Cello), HyeJin Kim (Piano), Benjamin Smolen (Flute), and Brian Lauritzen (Host). 

The event will also offer a wine and munchies reception, providing a perfect opportunity for mingling and discussion among classical music enthusiasts. For those unable to attend in person, Salastina Members may enjoy a free livestream of the concert in the Members-Only Lounge, ensuring no one misses out on this extraordinary musical experience.

Tickets are available for both in-person attendance and livestream viewing. Mark your calendars for a night of exquisite music that questions the legacy of two of classical music's giants, all set against the backdrop of Southern California's vibrant cultural scene.

EPSG:4326

Main Series No. 5: Schubert and the Pummel of Hummel

Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center

Chamber Music | OC

Pasadena Conservatory of Music

Each year, Salastina selects up to 10 young composers worldwide to take part in its Sounds Promising Young Composers Program. The program is zero-cost for all participants, and has resulted in “life-changing” (their words, not ours!) professional development – and even high-profile commissions. Last year, we pledged to commission one participant from each year’s cohort. This concert includes world premieres by 2021 Sounds Promising Young Composer Kian Ravaei and a 2023 participant to be determined. Each composer will pen a piece for our entire ensemble – piano, string quartet, and flute – taking inspiration from Bach’s Chaconne. Resident Pianist HyeJin Kim opens the program with Busoni’s arrangement of the same work. Wine and munchies reception to follow.

Main Series No. 4: Youth at the Altar

**Event Title:** The Universe Sounds Delicious

**Date and Time:** Sunday, April 28, 2024, from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM (18:00 - 22:00)

**Location:** The Revery, 1700 Naud Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90012, United States

**Description:**
Prepare for an interstellar journey where classical music meets the cosmic expanse in "The Universe Sounds Delicious." This unique event, hosted at the otherworldly venue of The Revery in Los Angeles, promises an evening where the music of the spheres has never tasted so good. 

Dive into a space-themed musical odyssey complemented by a gourmet 5-course meal crafted by Master Chef alum Becky Brown. The event features an intimate setting that allows for a stellar blend of astronomy, music, and gastronomy. Attendees will have the privilege of meeting three astronomers who are not only passionate about the cosmos but also share a deep love for music. They will unveil the millennia-old connection between music and astronomy, sharing insights and secrets of the universe.

Highlight of the evening includes a performance by NASA astronomer Steve Bryson, known for his work in discovering Earth-like planets. He will enchant the audience with the theremin, playing alongside Salastina’s string quartet, and share insights from his scientific endeavors. Additionally, two esteemed French employees from LIGO will discuss their Nobel Prize-winning work in 2017, which involves listening to the actual sounds of the universe to gain insights into its origins.

The event also features a "Theremin Petting Zoo," where guests can try their hand at creating otherworldly sounds and alien voices, adding an interactive and immersive element to the evening. The experience design by Mercedes Curran ensures an unforgettable night that blends music, science, and culinary arts in a way that's unparalleled in the universe.

**Artists:**
- Kevin Kumar and Maia Jasper White, Co-Artistic Directors and Violinists
- Yoshika Masuda, Resident Cellist
- Linnea Powell, Guest Violist
- Steve Bryson, Guest Theremin Player and Speaker
- Arnaud Pele and Marie Kasprczak, Guest Speakers
- Becky Brown, Chef
- Mercedes Curran, Experience Designer

**Program:**
- Terry Riley: Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector
- Carolina Eyck: Ascent Descent and Strange Birds
- Chris Westlake: Selections from Star Trek: Below Decks
- Hans Zimmer: Selections from Interstellar
- John Williams: Selections from Star Wars

**Menu Highlights:**
- Welcome drink: Bantha Punch
- First course options: Tai snapper crudo OR Shiso salad (vegetarian option)
- Second course: Extraterrestrial beet terrine
- Third course options: Braised beef short rib OR Braised King oyster mushroom (vegetarian option)
- Fourth course: Nebula luminescent chocolate cake

**Ticket Information:** In-person tickets are priced at $295.

**Additional Information:** All sales are final. Programs, artists, prices, and dates are subject to change. Donations to Salastina, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, are deductible to the full extent of the law.

Prepare to embark on a cosmic journey that tantalizes the senses and expands the mind at "The Universe Sounds Delicious."

The Universe Sounds Delicious

The Revery LA

Sounds Mysterious is a game in which Brian assigns us a piece of music that none of us recognize. He even redacts the composer’s name. We rehearse it, perform it, and attempt to guess the composer along with you. The delight of surprise and interactive “whodunnit” guessing game make for an engaging spin on the live concert experience. Mimosa and pastry reception to follow.

Happy Hour No. 121: Sounds Mysterious with Brian Lauritzen

What happens when a symphonist writes for 5 instruments? In this case, a masterpiece for the ages. Brian Lauritzen dissects what makes Brahms’ Piano Quintet such a perfect piece of music before a full performance of the work. Mimosa and pastry reception to follow.

Main Series No. 3: Sounds Genius Brahms' Piano Quintet

Slow your heartbeat and set it aflutter with a selection of soul-soothing and soul-stirring Romantic fare. Featuring world-premiere arrangements by Salastina’s Resident Violist, Meredith Crawford.

A Salastina.calm Valentine's Day

Beautycon

A contemplative Happy Hour exploring the porous boundary between mortality and the beyond. Musical selections include the slow movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet Opus 132 and the world-premiere instrumental-only chamber arrangement of Eric Whitacre’s profoundly moving choral work, The Sacred Veil. The setting – a marble sanctuary suffused with the rainbow light of hundreds of stained glass windows – sets the scene. Mimosa and pastry reception to follow. 

Happy Hour No. 120: The Sacred Veil with Eric Whitacre

Mountain View Mausoleum

As the holiday season approaches, immerse yourself in a late-19th-century musical, culinary, and generally Christmas-y explosion.

Enjoy a 5-course gourmet holiday brunch prepared by Master Chef alum Becky Brown. Travel back in time in the stunning period venue; built in 1899, the Doheny Mansion’s Pompeian Room is replete with actual gilded details, colored marble floors, and a golden, ombre glass dome that is simply resplendent at mid-day. And naturally, it’ll be appropriately decked out for Christmas.

Sounds Delicious: A Gilded Christmas Brunch

Mount Saint Mary's University

Salastina’s contribution to the statewide California Festival of contemporary classical music is in partnership with Leela Dance Collective, a Hindustani Kathak dance company. Encounters With Beauty is a world-premiere piece of choreography set to music by our dear friends and LA-based composers Derrick Skye and Reena Esmail. Wine reception, replete with Indian munchies, to follow.

Salastina x The California Festival: Encounters with Beauty feat. Leela Dance Collective

All concerts are FREE of admission charge and are held at the Bridges Hall of Music.

CYSO 2023 October Concert

Pomona College

Salastina’s Resident Flutist Benjamin Smolen guides us through the flute concerti of Mieczysław Weinberg, a composer with whom he became enamored while studying in Moscow. Mimosa and pastry reception to follow.

Happy Hour No. 118: The Flute Concerti Of Mieczysław Weinberg

The core of chamber music is the string quartet—a medium and format in which the history of music—going back to the era of Mozart—is expressed. Mendelsohn and Schubert bring lyricism and soul, while the Late Romantic Schoenberg barely foretells the immense legacy of this and the last century. Will a mystery quartet drink from these fresh waters? You have to be there to find out.

Music Box 2023

One California Plaza

If you love dead, white, male German composers as much as we do – and are not (yet!) familiar with the greatness of Johann Nepomuk Hummel – this concert exploring the arbitrariness of fame is for you. In 1819, Hummel organized a concert for the world-premiere performance of one of his works; for the occasion, Schubert wrote the Trout Quintet for the same combination of instruments. Guess which piece is all anyone remembers? Salastina recreates this concert – so that you can be the judge of whether or not posterity was fair to jettison a composer with a name as awesome as “Nepomuk.” Wine and munchies reception to follow.

Do not miss this one-night-only performance at the Huntington Library and Gardens. To get in the mood before dinner, you are welcome to wander the Huntington’s grounds until 5:00 PM free with your concert ticket purchase.

Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde

The Huntington

Say Salastinaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah as we envelop you in a stunning musical playlist specifically designed to bring on a healing ugly cry. Reception to follow.

Salastina.calm

The Broad Stage - The Edye

An evening-length work for voice, flute, string quartet and electronics developed by Grammy-nominated composer/performer Nathalie Joachim, Fanm d’Ayiti is a celebration of some of Haiti’s most iconic yet under-recognized female artists, as well as an exploration of Joachim’s Haitian heritage.

Fanm d’Ayiti  (Women of Haiti) Nathalie Joachim and Salastina

Irvine Barclay Theatre

When your Resident Artists are this good, you owe it to everyone to shine a giant spotlight on them once in a while. Meredith’s luscious tone and keen sense of beauty shine in Vaughan Williams’ Suite for Viola. And Schumann’s Cello Concerto, arranged for chamber ensemble, has been on Yoshi’s wishlist for years. Who needs orchestral accompaniment when your chamber music friends have your back?

Resident Artist Showcase: Meredith and Yoshi

Sometimes, we can’t resist cutting our teeth on music that is incomparably gratifying and cleansing to play. This program is the sorbetto to Shostakovich’s borscht.

Salastina Goes for Baroque

We’d planned on starting a multi-year cycle of the complete chamber works of Dmitri Shostakovich back in March of 2020. This intense music is all the more cathartic now in light of not only the ongoing war in Ukraine, but also the broader political and existential fatigue in which we all find ourselves. Explore three of Shostakovich’s seminal works with us, written at the beginning, middle, and end of his life.

Shostakovich Cycle

Pasadena Playhouse

Salastina’s own Kevin Kumar (Co-Artistic Director and Violinist) and Meredith Crawford (Resident Violist) recorded many of the Vitamin String Quartet pop song arrangements that feature prominently in Bridgerton's original soundtrack. Hear them play the same tunes live as you enjoy Chef Becky Brown’s delicious 4-course meal.

Sounds Delicious: Bridgerton

Salastina

The “OC” of OC fan tutte is - you guessed it - Orange County. Once among the most conservative areas of the U.S, the OC is now undergoing rapid demographic and cultural change. This makes it the perfect setting for our drama. Diving right into the widening gulf between right and left, OC fan tutte brings humor and irreverence to the culture wars.
Mozart’s two young couples are now fundamentalist Christians. They're hell-bent on proving their moral superiority to social justice warriors… who have a righteous agenda of their own.

Season Finale OC fan tutte

The Broad Stage

Season Finale : OC fan tutte

Colburn School

Mozart's music for Così fan tutte has stood the test of time for hundreds of years. Its plot, however, hasn't aged quite so gracefully.
Librettist Vid Guerrerio's OC fan tutte leaves every note of Così fan tutte intact -- and hits refresh on the plot. Set in the Culture Wars battleground that is Orange County today, OC fan tutte replaces Così's 18th-century misogyny with current issues of gender equality and marriage rights.

Kevin Kumar

Violinist, Artistic Director

Events

Past events

14 - 16 Jun, 2024

Main Series No. 5: Schubert and the Pummel of Hummel · Salastina

10 - 11 May, 2024

Main Series No. 4: Youth at the Altar · Salastina

Future and recently performed repertoire

violin in Symphony No. 8 by Dvořák

Claremont Symphony Orchestra

violin in Triple Concerto by Beethoven

Claremont Symphony Orchestra

About

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