Former Julliard Suitemates Join Forces in Dreammusik 

There’s another world premiere presenting just its second performance in town this weekend, this one fully commissioned by a patron of the local ensemble that will perform it at Hahn Hall on May 17. But the last time Camerata Pacifica played Dreammusik, written by Lera Auerbach for principal cellist Ani Aznavoorian, was back in 2014 at the same location. 

Aznavoorian said she leaps at any chance to perform works by Auerbach, her former suitemate when both were studying at Julliard.

“I’ve worked with her a ton over the years and enjoyed every moment,” she said. “We’ve recorded all of her cello piano works together. I think the world of her, and we just get along so well musically and as people.”

Revisiting Dreammusik after more than a decade is a chance for Aznavoorian to tackle – from her current perspective – this complicated 35-minute modern cello concerto, which hovers between wakefulness and deep slumber with quicksilver transitions of atmosphere and color.

“I thought it was brilliant, and it was quite an experience uncovering it back then,” she said. “It was easy to find the beauty – there are parts that are just so extraordinarily exquisite and sort of sparkly and impressionistic. But I also saw it as darker than I do now. Today I see more of the charm and the humor.”

Aznavoorian suggested that 11 years later the piece has more of a Tim Burton rather than Stanley Kubrick feel. 

“There’s a part where Lera told me to imagine it’s like a sexy corpse, which always makes me laugh,” she said. “On another part out of nowhere there’s this wild waltz that gets faster and faster and crazier and crazier until it almost spins out of control – before it goes back to this beautiful impressionistic underwater world. There’s a lot of surprises in it. I can’t wait to really play those up a little bit more. Enough time has passed that I definitely have a fresh approach.” 

Dreammusik follows William Bolcom’s Orphée-Sérénade and Chopin’s “Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Brillante in E Flat Major” to close out the 2024-25 Camerata Pacifica season at Hahn Hall. But Aznavoorian will be back on the Music Academy campus three weeks later for the opening of MAW’s Summer Festival as a new member of the faculty. The cellist will be in residence for Week 1 and return at the end of the summer for the final two weeks, when she’ll perform Amy Beach’s “Piano Quintet in F-sharp Minor, Op. 67,” alongside violist Cynthia Phelps, Santa Barbara-based pianist Natasha Kislenko, and two TBD fellows in the “Femme Focus” x2 concert dedicated to Phelps. 

“It’s an incredible musical institution that I’ve always wanted to be a part of, even before I moved here,” she said about MAW. “It’s thrilling.” 

Classical Corner: Chorale concert 

The Santa Barbara Master Chorale spring concert “Gems of Time: Choral Masterworks through the Ages” is presented as a journey through the evolution of choral music – the carefully curated program highlighting iconic pieces from major choral eras, from Medieval to Contemporary. In showcasing the series of timeless choral gems by Handel, Mozart, Brahms, Duruflé, Randall Thompson and others, the program illustrates the rich progression of musical style and expression across the centuries. The performances, conducted by Master Chorale’s artistic director and conductor Dr. David Lozano Torres, take place at 7 pm on Saturday, May 17, and 2 pm on Sunday, May 18, at First United Methodist Church on the corner of Garden and Anapamu streets. 

Visit www.sbmasterchorale.org