Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) caps its popular Chamber Series with Masterworks for String Orchestra, featuring a selection of rich and varied compositions for string orchestra spanning more than 800 years, on Tuesday, May 2, 7:30 pm, at The Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall in San Marino, and Saturday, May 6, 2023, 7:30 pm, at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. Concertmaster and Director of Chamber Music Margaret Batjer leads the program, which includes 12th century German Saint Hildegard Von Bingen’s “O Virtus Sapientiae”; Britten’s Simple Symphony, an enchanting work rife with sophisticated orchestration; and the compact and lively Symphony No. 10 in B minor composed by a teenaged Mendelssohn. LACO also presents Hindemith’s compelling Five Pieces for Strings, and Grieg’s popular Holberg Suite, which blends baroque-style dance rhythms with melodic Nordic harmonies.
LACO’s Chamber Series showcases smaller groups of the Orchestra’s musicians on different facets of the diverse chamber repertoire from the 12th century and early Baroque schools through the 20th century.
Batjer has served as LACO Concertmaster since 1998. She is also renowned as a violin soloist, chamber musician and teacher, and has established herself as a versatile and respected artist worldwide. Batjer has appeared as a soloist with America’s leading orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Batjer has also performed with leading European ensembles such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the RT. National Symphony Orchestra (of Ireland), and Berlin Symphony Orchestra. An esteemed chamber musician, Batjer has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival, La Jolla Summerfest, and Sarasota Music as well as the Naples and Salzburg Festivals in Europe. In 2020, she formed the Los Angeles Piano Trio with colleagues Fabio Bidini and Andrew Shulman. Batjer has had an extensive recording career over the last several decades. Her most recent recording with Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra includes the live premiere of the Pierre Jalbert Violin Concerto, and works by Bach, Pärt and Vasks released on the BIS label. She recorded the Bach Concerto for Two Violins with Salvatore Accardo and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe for the Philips label and is also featured on a 2003 Deutsche Grammophon recording pairing Batjer and Hilary Hahn as soloists with Jeffrey Kahane conducting Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. She has also made numerous chamber music recordings on the EMI, Nuova Era, and BMG labels. Batjer is Adjunct Professor of Violin at the USC Thornton School of Music and on the violin faculty at the Colburn School.
Rothenberg Hall is located at The Huntington, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108.
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. For The Wallis engagement, Classical California KUSC’s Brian Lauritzen will host a pre-concert talk with the artists at 6:30 pm.
For tickets ($58, Rothenberg Hall; $79, $59, $39, $29, The Wallis) and information, please visit www.laco.org or call 213 221 3920.