BAROQUE FESTIVAL FINDS THAT SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL

Empire-building is no temptation to Burton Karson, founder and artistic director of the small (current budget: about $14,000) Corona del Mar Baroque Music Festival, which begins a sixth summer series next Sunday night.

“We are small and are going to stay that way,” says Karson, the conductor, harpsichordist and musicologist specializing in the Baroque period who has taught at Cal State Fullerton for the past 21 years. “That is our strength and our charm.”

Not that growth is a real option for the four-concert festival; at this time, it occupies the two largest performing spaces in Corona del Mar, the Newport Beach community situated at the south end of that city. St. Michael & All Angels Church (seating capacity: 260), on the hill overlooking the town, is the location of the opening and closing concerts in the series. The Sherman Library and Gardens (capacity: 200), on Coast Highway in the town, is the site of the other events.

“We could go to other places, like Santa Ana (High School Auditorium, where some other Orange County organizations give concerts),” Karson said. “And we could get audiences there--but they wouldn’t be the same people who have supported us in Corona del Mar. This is very much a community project.”

But not necessarily a provincial one. For the sixth festival, for instance, Karson has again engaged soloists from outside Orange County, as well as in.

Appearing in solo spots next Sunday, and June 4, 6 and 8, are organist Ladd Thomas, harpsichordist Malcolm Hamilton, sopranos Su Harmon and Karen Nieberg, tenor Gregory Wait, baritone Christopher Lindblom, violinist Clayton Haslop, flutist Susan Stockhammer, oboist Donald Leake, guitarist David Grimes, recorder player Andrew Charlton and cellist Richard Treat, among others. The festival orchestra numbers fewer than 20, and the Festival Singers are 25.

Even more eclectic than usual is the festival repertory, this year offering, as Karson says, “one important non-Baroque piece on every concert.”

On the same program when he plays Bach’s Fifth “Brandenburg” Concerto, for example, Hamilton will also perform Vittorio Rieti’s Partita (1945) for harpsichord, flute, oboe and strings. Post-Baroque works by Ellis Kohs, Alan Chapman and Mendelssohn also appear on these programs.

But, mostly, Karson points out, this Baroque festival will live up to its title. On opening night, next Sunday at 8 p.m., the very first work will be Bach’s D-minor Toccata and Fugue, as played by Ladd Thomas. More Bach will be heard at the June 4 concert. On June 6, festival forces will re-create the “Coffee” Cantata, heard on the first festival, in 1981. And more cantatas form the core of the closing program, June 8.

“We are an exclusive, select kind of festival, specializing in a small corner of the repertory,” Karson admits. “But our first concern is, what will our audience enjoy? All of us make music for the sake of love, but we want to share it, and we want, primarily, to help others love it, too.”

GRANTING: For the sixth consecutive year, Philip Morris Inc. has announced its grant program to “established, emerging and experimental” dance companies. Since 1981, Philip Morris has averaged more than $1 million in support annually to dance and dance-presenting organizations.

This support in 1986 again takes the form of tour sponsorship, among other things. Philip Morris is backing for the fifth year the national tour of the Joffrey Ballet, as well as supporting, with a grant for $175,000, the Joffrey’s home seasons in New York and Los Angeles. The L.A. fall season is scheduled Sept. 9-28.

Among the other 25 dance companies receiving grants this year are those of Laura Dean, Paul Taylor, Nina Wiener, Garth Fagan and Dance Theatre of Harlem.

BRIEFLY: Pennie Curry, formerly general manager and production supervisor of the Joffrey Ballet, has been promoted to general director of the company. . . . Richard Rodzinski, formerly an artistic administrator with the Metropolitan Opera and, before that, San Francisco Opera, has been named executive director of the Van Cliburn Foundation, sponsor organization of the quadrennial Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Most recently, Rodzinski has been associated with the National Endowment for the Arts. . . . The Martha Graham Dance Company begins its 60th anniversary year with a three-week season at City Center in New York, Tuesday night. Two world premieres, six revivals and 12 major Graham ballets--several of which have not been seen in New York City in more than 55 years--make up the repertory, through June 15. . . . Violinist Mischa Lefkowitz will give the West Coast premiere of Ezra Laderman’s Violin Concerto, with the American Chamber Symphony, Tuesday night at 8 in Gindi Auditorium at the University of Judaism. . . . Cellist Peter Rejto, a member of the music faculty at Cal State Northridge, will be featured in concerts at the Third American Cello Congress, June 3-7, on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington.