The third of 16 planned concerts and four events, Perilous Balance sees three young composers respond to Arnold Schoenberg’s groundbreaking Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11 with three brand new compositions. Also premiering is Peter Knell’s orchestral synthesis of ARKHIPOV, his gripping two-act opera depicting a Soviet submarine run amok. Among its musical arsenal, Arkhipov Synthesis uses a key technique invented by Schoenberg. Additionally, Tomas Peire Serrate's Awake reconsiders Schoenberg’s famous “Pierrot ensemble” with a fresh approach.

EPSG:4326

Perilous Balance

First Presbyterian Church

Schoenberg revered Wagner whose piano Elegy introduces the expressionist moods of Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11, Schoenberg’s first important piano work. The passion of Berg’s Piano Sonata Op. 1, a single movement ripe with Wagnerian chromaticism follows. Lyris Quartet performs Webern’s zingy Five Pieces of String Quartet. Then Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble, with David Bloom conducting, gives the world premiere of Peter Knell’s Arkhipov Synthesis, based on his gripping tale of apocalypse averted. This program is part of the California Festival: A Celebration of New Music — 100+ music institutions showcase forward-looking voices with new works written within the past five years.

First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica

Jacaranda opens its final season Planet Schoenberg on September 23 with Hanging Gardens. Schoenberg’s lush Book of the Hanging Gardens is a Late Romantic setting of bittersweet love poems by Stefan George. Its 1910 premiere received a lukewarm reception, but the tides turned in 1920 Paris when critics heard Schoenberg’s genius. Together pianist Steven Vanhauwaert and mezzo soprano Katarzyna Sadej take this forbidden journey into hanging gardens.  Under the direction of Jacaranda's music director Mark Alan Hilt, soprano Julia Metzler and the Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble will perform the chamber version of Gustav Mahler’s beloved Fourth Symphony—composed in 1900 and arranged by Schoenberg disciple Erwin Stein in 1920. The always pragmatic Arnold Schoenberg believed such arrangements offered clarity and an affordable way to hear unknown symphonic music, especially by his friend Mahler.

Hanging Gardens

New Albion

Similar/Contrary II

Similar/Contrary I

60th Anniversary of the nuclear crisis aboard a B-59 Soviet submarine. Presented in partnership with the Wende Museum of the Cold War.

Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble

Nov 11, 2023

Perilous Balance

Nov 11, 2023

Perilous Balance

Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble