The Desert Hot Springs Classical Concerts were filmed at locations around the city, including Cabot's Pueblo Museum, and the first of five concerts will be available to view starting in late February.
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY DESERT HOT SPRINGS CLASSICAL CONCERTS
The seventh season of Desert Hot Springs Classical Concerts launches at the end of February with a series of five online concerts available to audiences between February and May. Concerts will be broadcast online every other Sunday at 4 p.m., and each concert will have an encore broadcast the following week.
No tickets or reservations are required, but audience members are encouraged to donate online to support the concert series.
“In recent years, Desert Hot Springs Classical Concerts has presented dozens of free community concerts throughout Desert Hot Springs, featuring performers from the Coachella Valley and Greater Los Angeles, and even places farther afield such as Massachusetts, Washington, Wisconsin…and even Scotland, Canada, and Argentina” says founder and artistic director, Danny Holt. “Our sixth season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic, but we decided it was important to forge ahead in 2021. We have been humbled and inspired by the unique challenges of connecting audiences with music during a pandemic, and we think our online concerts are a creative solution that the audience will enjoy.”
Five concert videos were recorded in the fall of 2019, mostly in outdoor locations in Desert Hot Springs. “We felt it was meaningful to have artists come here to Desert Hot Springs and record performances at iconic locations like Cabot’s Pueblo Museum. And the ability to do a professional multi-camera shoot means that the audience gets a more wide-ranging and intimate experience than they might in a more traditional concert setting,” says Holt.
The seventh season of Desert Hot Springs Classical Concerts features the following virtual performances:
The opening online concert of the 2021 season will premiere at 4 p.m. Feb. 28 featuring guitarist Mircea Gogoncea and flutist Marley Eder. An encore broadcast will be at 7 p.m. March 11.
Gogoncea and Eder are award-winning musicians who began their collaboration at the University of Southern California. Their performance chemistry and voracious appetite for eclectic musical styles has since led to a vibrant partnership and numerous concerts throughout Southern California.
Violist Kimberly Fitch and flutist Daria Binkowski perform while being filmed at The Lautner Compound.
Their experience in multiple genres of music spans the globe and embraces expanding traditional art music to include often neglected regions and composers. They wowed audiences in Desert Hot Springs at the third annual Afternoon Concert Crawl in March 2020, just days before the pandemic forced all public concerts to be canceled. They returned to the desert in November to record their performance at Mi Kasa Hot Springs, against the backdrop of the sun setting behind Mt. San Jacinto.
Subsequent concerts are as follows:
Derek Stein (cello)
derekstein.com
4 p.m. March 14
(Encore broadcast: 7 p.m. March 25)
Danny Holt (piano)
dannyholt.net
4 p.m. March 28
(Encore broadcast: 7 p.m. April 8)
Daria Binkowski (flute) & Kimberly Fitch (viola)
dariabinkowski.com
kimberlyviolist.com
4 p.m. April 11
(Encore broadcast: 7 p.m. April 22)
Margaret Irwin-Brandon (clavichord, harpsichord, fortepiano & organ)
desertbaroque.com/margaret-irwin-brandon
4 p.m. April 25
(Encore broadcast: 7 p.m. May 6)
All concerts are made available online for free, thanks to underwriting from the City of Desert Hot Springs, support from local businesses, and individual donors. In non-pandemic times, cash donations are accepted at the door to each concert, which go directly to supporting the concert series. This season, contributions can be made online: DHSclassicalconcerts.org/donate
A complete schedule can be found at DHSclassicalconcerts.org/2021.
To view the concerts: dhsclassicalconcerts.org/watch