Musica Pacifica

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 Washington Post noted:  “the effect was transporting––a small miracle of precision and musical electricity.”

They have performed on some of the most prestigious concert series in the U.S., including the Boston and Berkeley Early Music Festivals, Music Before 1800 and the Frick Collection (NY), the Getty Museum (Los Angeles), the Cleveland Art Museum, Dumbarton Oaks (Washington, DC), Pittsburgh Renaissance and Baroque, Seattle Early Music Guild, Early Music Society of the Islands (Victoria, BC) and Houston Early Music Society, 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.” Their appearance on the mainstage at the Boston Early Music Festival in 2015 was reviewed as “little short of sensational… astonishing… breath-taking throughout” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer). 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.

Musica Pacifica’s previous 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). Their last CD, Dancing in the Isles was lauded in the prestigious British journal, Gramophone as “one of the zestiest recordings of recent vintage,” and featured on WFIU’s nationally syndicated program, Harmonia; Fire Beneath My Fingers was featured as CD of the Week on Minnesota Public Radio and 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 can be heard on radio stations 1.fm, Last.fm, Celtic Radio, and Recorder-radio.com, as well as on Pandora, iTunes and Magnatune; and seen on Youtube.