Chamber Society Going to Church a Lot Lately

According to latest rumor, the La Jolla Chamber Music Society is considering adding a chaplain to its staff. Although the organization has long been identified with the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art’s Sherwood Auditorium, where most of its concerts are presented, the society is increasingly turning to churches in which to present its musical events.

When the La Jollans presented the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra earlier this month, 1,069 music patrons packed the pews of San Diego’s First United Methodist Church for that holiday

concert. Now Executive Director Neale Perl hopes to pack another church, Good Shepherd Catholic in Mira Mesa, for the society-sponsored Sistine Chapel Choir concert Feb. 2.

“It’s a great new church building that seats 1,150. The seating design is fan-shaped, which gives every pew an unobstructed view of the altar,” explained Perl, quickly adding an apology for describing a house of worship from a theater manager’s perspective.

Perl announced that the local visit by the 40-voice Sistine Chapel Choir, which is the Pope’s resident liturgical choir, only last week. The papal choir’s upcoming tour will bring it to Southern California for the first time, although the ensemble made a highly successful American debut in 1986. In San Diego, the choir will divide its program between the Renaissance gems of Palestrina and Morales and a selection of sacred works by its resident conductor, Domenico Bartolucci.

While negotiating the use of the Mira Mesa church, Perl asked Good Shepherd’s monsignor if there would be other parish activities on the night of the proposed choir concert. The cleric told him, in his best “Going My Way” brogue, that the only competition for church parking that evening would be the weekly bingo game.

“I then asked him if he thought it might be possible to get the stalwarts of the bingo game to come to the choir concert,” Perl said. “He sighed and replied, ‘Now you’ll be wanting a real miracle!’ ”

Had Perl been accompanied by his resident chaplain, even that might have been successfully negotiated.

Although the holiday choral and orchestral extravaganzas are blessedly over--the last bratty little drummer boy has pa-rum-pa-pa-pummed back into the closet for another year--there are still a few musical entertainments available this weekend.

On New Year’s Eve, Words & Music Bookstore will offer highlights from the operetta “Die Fledermaus.” Under the direction of pianist Anne D. Young, four singers from West Coast Lyric Opera--Patricia Minton-Smith, Pamela Maran, Bill Nolan and Dan Leal--will invoke the New Year’s Eve high jinks of Johann Strauss’ popular musical confection.

A modest $12 gets the budget-minded reveler both the concert and a light buffet served at intermission. According to Words & Music proprietor Victor Margolis, the buffet has proved to be a popular innovation to the bookstore’s weekend music series.

The only thing that has not changed in the Words & Music format is Margolis’ ever-present commentary and verbose program introductions. Although Margolis’ humor takes a bit of getting used to--he has not outstripped the classic Johnny Carson monologue--his nonchalant hosting of these programs makes them unique on the local scene.

If your budget is running on empty, you might consider making a New Year’s Day pilgrimage to Balboa Park, where civic organist Robert Plimpton will play the first recital of the year on the mighty Spreckels Organ. As with every 2 p.m. Sunday recital in the park, there is no charge to listen to the world’s largest outdoor organ. Plimpton always makes this annual program special, since it also marks the instrument’s birthday. Local businessman and philanthropist John D. Spreckels presented the unusual instrument to the city on New Year’s Eve, 1914, and its inaugural recital was played Jan. 1, 1915.

Kudos to the San Diego Men’s Chorus and director Gary Holt for bringing some exciting new repertory to town in their holiday concerts last weekend. In their local premieres, James Adler’s “A Winter Triptych” and David Conte’s “Invocation and Dance” impressed this critic with their sophisticated counterpoint and idiomatic use of instrumental accompaniment. Conte, who is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and was commissioned by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus to write this piece, used an exuberant Walt Whitman text for his propulsive and rhythmically hypnotic work. In the current explosion of new music for male chorus, this is one of the most compelling examples to appear. More work of this caliber will herald a significant renewal of the American choral tradition, which has languished since Randall Thompson gave it a distinctive shape and impetus in the mid-century.

During the hiatus of the Christmas break, budding string players should consider scheduling extra practice. San Diego State University has announced a string quartet competition for high school and community college quartets to be held Jan. 21-22. The Lark String Quartet, which has been in residence at SDSU this year, will judge the competition. About $2,000 in prizes will be awarded, as well as concert appearances for the top quartets. Inquiries should be made to Dr. Theodore Brunson of the SDSU music faculty.