Production Details

Borealis
Left Coast presents a varied mix of music for an eclectic instrumental ensemble: flute, viola and double-bass. Music by Saariaho, Schulhoff and Komschlies is inspired by physical phenomena (the northern lights), physical experiences (sweet torment) and quirky humor. Find out how a double-bass fails to fail in a work designed to fail.

The multi-disciplinary performance will feature live painting by visual artist Adrian Arias, whose work regularly engages with concepts of social justice, racial equality, climate change, peace, beauty, health, and hope in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Left Coast Chamber EnsembleFounded in 1992, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble (LCCE) is a consortium of 17 San Francisco Bay Area musicians who create exciting performances of all types of classical music for all types of audiences. We work as a cohesive collective of artists who share values of integrity, quality, inclusion, service, curiosity, and advocacy. LCCE centers the music of our time in conversation with musical influences of the past, combining a vast repertoire into thematic performances in our established and well-received concert series. We are also committed to continuing and evolving our broad-based education program, sponsoring our annual composition contest, championing new music through the commissioning of new works, and collaborating with current and diverse artists, thinkers, and scholars.LCCE brings all types of music including small ensemble, vocal, orchestral, multi-media, and operatic productions to our listeners, conveying an essential and profound experience. With Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, nothing is out of bounds, and anything is possible.

Artist Biographies

Matilda Hofman (Artistic Director)
Matilda Hofman has a varied and busy conducting schedule in California and Europe. In Europe she has performed at the Salzburg Festival, Berliner Festspiele, Holland Festival, Ruhrtriennale, Luzern Festival, Paris Autumn Festival, and at the Guggenheim in Bilbao. Matilda has worked with Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Recherche, SWR Sinfonie-orchester, Bochumer Symponiker and Kammerakdemie Potsdam. She has performed alongside Maestro Ingo Metzmacher in many performances of Luigi Nono’s Prometeo. In 2018 she was on the faculty for the soundSCAPE new music festival in Italy. Matilda works with both instrumental and choral groups, and prepared Chorwerk Ruhr for their tremendously successful debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in MusikFest Berlin, with George Benjamin conducting.

Phyllis Kamrin (Viola)
Phyllis Kamrin received her B.M. from the Curtis Institute and her M.M. from the New England Conservatory. She is a member of the string quartet within the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, and of the Alma Duo, an ensemble with guitar. She has played with the Sierra String Quartet, winners of the Duisberg Prize, the New Century Chamber Orchestra, and Philharmonia Baroque. Ms. Kamrin can be heard on the Kameleon, VQS, and Harmonia Mundi labels. She is Director of Adult Chamber Music at the Crowden School in Berkeley.

Michel Taddei (Double Bass)
Michel Taddei is a founding member of LCCE, and is Principal Bass of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, the Mendocino Music Festival, the Berkeley, Fremont, and Pacific Chamber Symphonies, Assistant Principal of the California Symphony, and has performed with the SF Symphony and New Century Chamber Orchestras, among others. Principal Bass for the Lyon Opera for seven seasons, he has performed with Ensemble Mik Nawooj, Earplay, Saint Lawrence String Quartet, the Moab and Valley of the Moon festivals, and with Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble in the US and in Central Asia. Michel is also a prolific recording artist, with releases on labels including Philips, EMI, and Erato, as well as substantial commercial work. He also performs and gives master classes in Cuba for the Habana Clásica Festival. Director of Artistic Administration and faculty member at Berkeley's Crowden Music Center, Michel coaches and conducts for the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, among other youth ensembles.

Stacey Pelinka (Flute)
Stacey Pelinka began performing with the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble in 1998. She is also a member of the Eco Ensemble, with whom she toured to Venice for the 2014 Biennale. She plays principal flute with San Francisco Opera's Merola Program productions and is a member of the Santa Rosa Symphony, the Berkeley Symphony, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and the Midsummer Mozart Festival. A certified Feldenkrais Method® practitioner, Stacey enjoys applying principals of the method in teaching and performing. She teaches flute at UC Berkeley and UC Davis, and Feldenkrais at the San Francisco Symphony. Stacey attended Cornell University and the San Francisco Conservatory, where she studied with Timothy Day.

Adrian Arias (Live Painting)
Adrian Arias is a visual artist, poet, performer, curator, activist, and cultural promoter, who brings together multidisciplinary artists to engage in community projects with messages of social justice, racial equality, climate change, peace, beauty, health, and hope in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Arias is one of the founders and creators of MAPP (Mission Arts Performance Project) and creator of festivals in the San Francisco Bay Area such as: VideoFest, Luna Negra, and ILLUSION shows in San Francisco.

Adrian uses his dreams as creative initiatives, which he makes come true in performances and community projects, such as his multimedia shows called DREAMS, or most currently Tarot in Pandemic & Revolution, where 23 visual artists and 43 poets from the SF Bay Area have participated.