Camarada brings ‘A Sense of Wonder’ to its 2021-2022 season

10/17/21, 8:36 AM

San Diego Union-Tribune - Metro - eNewspaper

Camarada brings ‘Wonder’ San Diego chamber music group’s new season features a varied lineup of concerts, including tango and a tribute to Carole King

Camarada (from left): David Buckley, Dana Burnett, Andrés Martín and Beth Ross Buckley. The organization will launch its 2021-22 season next Sunday. (Monique Feil)

BY BETH WOOD Camarada paints chamber music with a wide brush, often coloring outside the lines. The nonprofit’s longtime co-artistic directors, flutist Beth Ross Buckley and pianist Dana Burnett, bring different sonic sensibilities that combine to create a varied lineup of concerts. https://enewspaper.sandiegouniontribune.com/desktop/sdut/default.aspx?edid=5b8591a9-0355-454f-8930-d7ce3741b524

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“Dana and I don’t see eye to eye immediately,” Ross Buckley said, speaking from her Alvarado Estates home. “We’re good at listening to each other and negotiating with each other. We have different views that we take the best of, and pull it together for the concerts.”

Burnett, however, points out one place where they do see eye to eye.

“What Beth and I have in common is we’re always thinking of the next thing,” Burnett said from her home in Carlsbad. “We don’t want to be bored by rehearsals, concerts or each other. We share a high energy level for what’s coming next.”

And what’s coming next is Camarada’s 2021-22 season, “A Sense of Wonder.”

The season launches next Sunday at the newly reopened Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park.

The first concert — “Iluminación” — is a musical nod to Día de los Muertos. The program begins with “Danse Macabre” by Saint-Saëns and concludes with Miguel del Aguila’s sizzling “Conga-Line in Hell.” The instrumentation for this Day of the Dead-inspired performance includes flute, bassoon, contrabassoon, trumpet, strings, piano and percussion.

As artists-in-residence at the Mingei, Camarada will perform there three times this season in the museum’s new 120-capacity theater space. Guests will be asked to wear masks indoors and provide proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test result.

Cellist and native San Diegan Sarina Zhang will be featured in the season’s first two concerts. Burnett, a private piano teacher and instructor at California State University San Marcos, accompanied Zhang in concerts years ago, before Zhang attended Juilliard and later moved to Germany.

“She’s in her late 20s, and now, after 15 years away, she’s spending time at home,” Burnett explained. “She’s marvelously talented on cello and piano.”

Behind the scenes, Camarada has reworked its leadership structure. Lisa Barnhouse, who has been on staff for two years, was named Camarada’s new executive director this summer. Ross Buckley — who co-founded the nonprofit in 2003 — will share the artistic director mantle with Burnett.

“Lisa has a lot of expertise and experience in development,” said Ross Buckley, who had been executive director since Camarada’s inception. “This marks a new era for Camarada.

I see a lot of growth having Lisa take that position.”

Camarada has nimbly faced the challenges presented by COVID-19 and continues to navigate times of uncertainty.

“There’s a different energy, in that we’re planning our series to be in person this year,” Ross Buckley said. “ ‘A Sense of Wonder’ pays tribute to what is possible when you’re committed to creativity and delivering it to audiences. https://enewspaper.sandiegouniontribune.com/desktop/sdut/default.aspx?edid=5b8591a9-0355-454f-8930-d7ce3741b524

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“It’s a feeling of awakening or awe, triggered by an expansion of one’s awareness of what’s possible. It’s fun for us and the audiences. It’s not just fun, it’s essential.”

Part of that expansion is a new concert series at Park & Market, the University of California San Diego’s new, state-of-the-art downtown venue. Mary Walshok, UC San Diego’s associate vice chancellor for public programs, invited Camarada to present “Music of the Americas” at Park & Market.

Walshok’s goal for this series is to showcase little-known composers from North America, including Mexico, and South America.

Andrés Martín will be co-artistic director of the Park & Market series. He’ll also serve as liaison between Camarada and venues in Tijuana that are hosting “Music of the Americas.”

Martín, a native of Argentina, is a longtime member of Tijuana’s Orquesta de Baja California. An internationally known composer/bassist, he was an integral part of Camarada’s tango concerts last year. He has been commissioned to write a piece for its February “Tango Obsessed” concert.

Tango is a passion for both Minnesota-born Ross Buckley and Imperial Beach native Burnett, who joined Camarada in 2009 in part because the ensemble played tango.

“I heard a lot of Latin American and Spanish music growing up,” said Burnett, whose maternal side of the family is Spanish. “And I played it in the many ensembles I was in.

But not tango; I always joke that I had to meet Minnesotans to play tango.

“I’m excited about ‘Music of the Americas’ and our other series. I’ve done tons of research on composers. I never stop looking for pieces that haven’t been played here. Neither Beth nor I look for pieces specifically for our instruments.”

While Burnett specializes in discovering Latin, Spanish and unusual classical pieces, Ross Buckley is more of an expert at finding tango and Celtic works.

Ross Buckley also collaborates each year with top San Diego jazz guitarist Peter Sprague.

The two will close Camarada’s season with “The Earth Moves,” a reimagining of Carole King’s classic pop songs at a time when the world itself is being reimagined in the wake of the pandemic.

“We’ve really tried to reinvent how we do things,” Burnett said. “And we still are reinventing.”

Wood is a freelance writer.

Camarada 2021-2022 concert season: ‘A Sense of Wonder’ When: Oct. 24, 2021, through May 27, 2022 https://enewspaper.sandiegouniontribune.com/desktop/sdut/default.aspx?edid=5b8591a9-0355-454f-8930-d7ce3741b524

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Where: Venues include the Mingei International Museum, the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, Bread & Salt and UC San Diego’s Park & Market Tickets: $35-$123 Phone: (619) 231-3702 Online:camarada.org except for concerts at The Conrad, which are available at ljms.org.

Oct. 24: “Iluminación,” Mingei (5:30 p.m.; $45-$65) Nov. 19: “C’est La Vie,” The Conrad (7:30 p.m.; $53-$98) Feb. 19: “Heart,” UC San Diego @ Park & Market (7:30 p.m.; $40-$50) Feb. 24: “Tango Obsessed,” The Conrad (7:30 p.m.; $53-$98) Feb. 26: “Tango & Tacos,” Bread & Salt (7 p.m.; $35-$45) March 13: “Embracing the Wind,” Mingei (5:30 p.m.; $45-$65) April 10: “Mosaics,” Mingei (5:30 p.m.; $45-$65) May 7: “Flamenco Fantastico,” Bread & Salt (7 p.m.; $35-$45) May 14: “Hope,” UC San Diego @ Park & Market (7:30 p.m.; $40-$50) May 27: “The Earth Moves,” The Conrad (7:30 p.m.; $53-$98)

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