Chamber Music America the national network for small ensemble music professionals, has announced the recipients of its member-nominated annual awards. Prominent among the winners are local groups in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Patricia Kristof Moy and Music at Kohl Mansion, in Burlingame, were selected as Community Impact/ Presenter of the Year. The Berkeley-based Telegraph Quartet won Album of the Year with Edge of the Storm. And Los Angeles’ own Camerata Pacifica won Ensemble of the Year.
Music at Kohl Mansion, in addition to its long-running concert series of high-profile artists, is set to continue its successful partnerships with organizations such as Young Chamber Musicians, the San Mateo Public Library, Palo Alto City Library, the Mechanics’ Institute Library in San Francisco, the Peninsula Jewish Community Center in Foster City, the Stratford senior residence center/ HIP Housing affordable living community in San Mateo; and presentations in schools throughout San Mateo County. New partnerships include: San Mateo County Juvenile Hall, Stanford University Music Department, SFJAZZ, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Oakland Public Conservatory of Music. No fewer than 140 events are planned for Season 44.
“To be recognized by Chamber Music America and a distinguished panel of our peers is an extraordinary honor,” Moy said. “This national recognition belongs to our entire community: our dedicated Board of Directors, staff, volunteers, patrons, partners, and the remarkable artists whose performances inspire and transform audiences each season. This award affirms our belief that chamber music is a powerful catalyst for connection, learning, and belonging.”
Camerata Pacifica has been presenting musically adventurous programs in Los Angeles, San Marino, Thousand Oaks and Santa Barbara for 36 seasons. Its considerable commissioning portfolio includes more than 20 works by composers such as David Bruce, John Harbison, Jake Heggie, Huang Ruo, Lera Auerbach, Libby Larsen, and John Luther Adams.
In 2021, Camerata Pacifica, in collaboration with UCLA Health, developed The Nightingale Channel, a landmark resource for hospitals providing programming drawn from the ensemble’s extensive video library of its performances delivered to personal devices benefiting patients and caregivers campus-wide, including patient bedsides, infusion centers, and waiting areas. The successful program has been adopted by many California hospitals and is being introduced to others across the country.
Camerata Pacifica Founder and Artistic Director Adrian Spence said, “On behalf of everyone associated with Camerata Pacifica, I’m touched and deeply grateful [to receive this award]. It is [our] community — our talented musicians, dedicated staff, exceptional board members, adventurous audiences, and generous supporters — that is truly being recognized today. Camerata Pacifica remains deeply committed to this living, breathing, highly dynamic art form, and we look forward to sharing its limitless beauty and joy for decades to come. Thank you, Chamber Music America.”
Other awards include Commission of the Year: Andy Milnes’ Chimeric Reveries for the Isidore String Quartet and Andy Milnes; Interdisciplinary Collaboration of the Year: Bel Canto Duo, for Taking Flight; and the Arts Advocate of the Year: Chicago-based jazz journalist Howard Mandel. They join previously announced winners: Takács Quartet (Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award), Imani Winds (Michael Jaffee Visionary Award), and Poiesis Quartet (ClevelandQuartet Award).
The CMA Awards were established in 2024 and carry with them a $1000 cash award.
