A special Restoration Concert is lined up for Sunday, April 7, at 4 p.m. featuring the AlmaNova Duo and the Arriaga Quartet.
The program includes music by Petar Georgiev Kalica, Almer Imamovic, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Franz Schubert.
The concert is presented by the Restoration Concerts Committee of the Friends of the South Pasadena Public Library and will be held in the historic Library Community Room at 1115 El Centro St. in South Pasadena. Tickets will be available at the door for $25.
The award-winning ensemble, AlmaNova Duo, is an innovative flute and guitar duo presenting an eclectic program of chamber music. Flutist Jessica Pierce and guitarist Almer Imamovic are both masters of their instruments, elevating the flute and guitar ensemble to the highest level of virtuosity and artistry.
Violinist Connie Kupka, a native Angelino, is a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. After graduating from UCLA, she won a scholarship to study chamber music with the Guarneri Quartet at the Yale Summer Festival in Norfolk, Connecticut. The experience created a lifelong passion for chamber music (and orchestras), and inspired her and her future husband, cellist David Speltz, to form their own ensemble, the Arriaga Quartet. The group went on to win the grand prize in the prestigious Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition and was able to tour with a broad range of offerings from the magnificent quartet repertoire.
Cellist David Speltz has been active for years on many Los Angeles chamber music series in Los Angeles and participated in summer festivals throughout the United States. Speltz was a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under Sir Neville Marriner and served as the principal cellist of the California Chamber Orchestra under Henri Temianka.
In 1989, he served as principal cellist for the German conductor Helmuth Rilling at the Bach Collegium Stuttgart. He has also, in the course of more than 44 years, played in the studio orchestras for more than 1,000 films.
The Restoration Concerts Committee, a committee of the nonprofit organization, The Friends of the South Pasadena Public Library, has a goal to bring world-class music at an affordable price to concertgoers in South Pasadena and surrounding communities. As the name suggests, net proceeds from the concerts provide restorations, enhancements and other benefits to the South Pasadena Library and Community Room.
For more information about Restoration Concerts, contact restorationconcerts@gmail.com.
First published in the March 29 print issue of the South Pasadena Review.
