Musica Pacifica has, since its founding in 1990, become widely recognized as one of America’s premier baroque ensembles, lauded for both the dazzling virtuosity and the warm expressiveness of its performances. They have been described by the press as "some of the finest baroque musicians in America" (American Record Guide) and "among the best in the world" (Alte Musik Aktuell). At home in the San Francisco Bay area, the artists perform with Philharmonia Baroque and American Bach Soloists, and appear with many other prominent early music ensembles nationally and abroad.
The standout of the festival…
Recent performances include some of the most prestigious concert series in the U.S., Music Before 1800 and the Frick Collection (NY), the Getty Museum (Los Angeles), the Cleveland Art Museum, the Pittsburgh Renaissance and Baroque Society, the Seattle Early Music Guild, the Houston Early Music Society, and the Los Angeles County Museum, among many others. The ensemble has been featured at the Berkeley Early Music Festival three times, and their first appearance there was cited in Early Music (UK) as "perhaps the standout of the entire festival." They have performed at festivals in Germany and Austria and have been heard on German National radio as well as on National Public Radio’s "Performance Today" and "Harmonia" and on Minnesota Public Radio.
Transporting…
"The California-based Musica Pacifica showed why its musicians have been winning an international reputation as early music specialists . . .The effect was transporting — a small miracle of precision and musical electricity."
—Washington Post
Musica Pacifica's eight CD releases on the Virgin Classics, Dorian and Solimar labels have won national and international awards, including the highest ratings in several CD magazines and being chosen as "CD of the Month" by the early music journal Alte Musik Aktuell (Regensburg). The prestigious Gramophone Magazine (UK), called Dancing in the Isles “one of the zestiest recordings of recent vintage.” Fire Beneath My Fingers, was touted as “one of the most exciting Baroque recordings I’ve heard” on Audiophile Audition. Their Telemann CD won Chamber Music America and WQXR's 2003 Record Award honoring the best chamber music recordings of the year, and their Mancini recording was cited as a "Noteworthy Disc" in the 2000 International Antonio Vivaldi Awards for Italian Early Music in Venice.
Online, Musica Pacifica may be heard on radio station 1.fm, Last.fm, Celtic Radio, and Recorder-radio.com; and seen at youtube.com/MusicaPacificaSF.
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