Calabasas : Chamber Orchestra to Debut on Dec. 3

Lovers of Beethoven and Bach won’t have to drive Downtown anymore to hear live classical music: Calabasas now has its own chamber orchestra.

The newly formed Calabasas Chamber Orchestra will present its first concert Dec. 3 at the Calabasas High School auditorium.

The ensemble is the creation of Tony Kissane, music director at Calabasas High School, who will conduct. The orchestra has received a $10,000 grant from the city, which Kissane said will allow it to put on four performances a year.

The performers are professional musicians from throughout Southern California who have other jobs, said Kissane, a percussionist who played with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for three years.

He said the music will include little-known works by composers such as Mozart, Telemann, Sibelius, Turina, Rossini, Handel, Dvorak, Cilea and Catalani.

“A lot of times, in the more community-oriented chamber orchestras, you hear the same pieces over and over,” he said. “You’ll hear Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons,’ you’ll hear Bach’s ‘Brandenburg Concerto’ or Mozart’s ‘Eine kleine Nachtmusik.’

“I wanted to do something different for the audience, but also to make it more interesting for the musicians.”

Soprano Gwendolyn Faasen of Grand Rapids, Mich., who has performed in the United States and abroad, will be guest soloist.

Tickets are available at Calabasas City Hall, 26135 Mureau Road; the Calabasas Tennis and Swim Center, 23400 Park Sorrento, and Calabasas High School, 22855 Mulholland Highway. Cost is $9 general and $15 for reserved seating. Thirty $5 tickets have been set aside for students. For information, call the Calabasas Community Services Department at (818) 878-4225.