Camerata Pacifica features a blend of timeless and contemporary works, including the world premiere of The Innocence of Life for mixed octet by award-winning Iranian American composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh, hailed for her singular musical voice, on November 8-13, 2026, at four Southland venues. The 20-minute work for clarinet, oboe, horn, violin, viola, cello, percussion and piano is the first of two highly anticipated Camerata Pacifica-commissioned world premieres presented during the 2026-27 season.
The performances are Sunday, November 8, 3:00 pm, at Thousand Oaks’ Janet and Ray Scherr Forum; Tuesday, November 10, 7:30 pm, at The Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall in San Marino; Thursday, November 12, 8:00 pm, Zipper Hall, at Zipper Hall in Downtown Los Angeles; and Friday, November 13, 2026, 7:00 pm, at Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West.
“Niloufar Nourbakhsh possesses a unique and powerful musical voice,” says Camerata Pacifica Founder/Artistic Director Adrian Spence. “Even without the overlay of current world affairs, the music of a young Iranian woman presented publicly in the world’s concert halls is itself a statement.”
Nourbakhsh’s music, described as “stark” (WNPR) and “darkly lyrical” (The New York Times), has been performed at numerous festivals and venues, including Carnegie Hall, Mostly Mozart at Lincoln Center, and the Direct Current Festival at the Kennedy Center. A founding member and co-director of the Iranian Female Composers Association, Nourbakhsh is a strong advocate of music education and equal opportunities. She received an OPERA America 2026 Commissioning Grant from its Opera Grants for Women Composers program as well as OPERA America’s 2019 Discovery Grant. She also won the 2022 Beth Morrison Projects Next Generation competition, among other awards.
The program also features Principal Oboe Nicholas Daniel performing multi-Grammy-winning composer Michael Daugherty’s Firecracker, a virtuosic chamber concerto that celebrates the rhythmic and explosive potential of the oboe.
Other contemporary works include Grammy-nominated composer Missy Mazzoli’s Vespers for Violin, for amplified violin and electronics, as well as I prefer living in color by the late Sarah Gibson, inspired by a colorful David Hockney painting.
Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat Major, K. 452, scored for piano, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn, provides musical context for these five contemporary works.
The program features Alena Hove, violin; Robert Brophy, viola; Ani Aznavoorian, cello; Catherine Gregory, flute; Jose Franch-Ballester, clarinet; Eleni Katz, bassoon; Ben Goldscheider, horn; Irina Zahharenkova, piano; and Ji Hye Jung, percussion, along with Nicolas Daniel, oboe.
Camerata Pacifica, a Southern California-based chamber music collective celebrated for its exceptional artistry and compelling programming of legacy classics and daring new work, was named 2026 Ensemble of the Year by the national service organization Chamber Music America. Praised as “innovative and intrepid” (The Daily Telegraph), “visceral and powerful” (The Economist), the ensemble has a considerable commissioning portfolio that includes more than 20 works by such established and rising composers as John Harbison, Jake Heggie, Huang Ruo, Lera Auerbach, Bright Sheng, Ian Wilson, David Bruce, Libby Larsen, and John Luther Adams. Camerata Pacifica was founded in 1990 by Adrian Spence, who was named to Musical America’s prestigious list of Top 30 Professionals in Classical Music in January 2026.
For tickets ($85 at The Huntington, Music Academy of the West, and Zipper Hall; $75, at Janet and Ray Scherr Forum) and information, visit www.cameratapacifica.org.
