Eagle Rock Festival Combines Music With Wine, Walking Tours Sunday

This weekend, how about taking a load off the media-intensive manhunt for fugitive ex-LAPD officer Christopher Dorner? How about participating in the Eagle Rock Festival and getting a dose of music instead?

Ensemble music, that is, not the heady hip hop, bebop, bluegrass and alternative rock associated with the Eagle Rock Music Festival.

On Sunday, Feb. 10, the well-known Da Camera Society of Mount St. Mary’s College will organize a mini music festival in two of Eagle Rock’s foremost historical buildings—the , and the Women’s Twentieth Century Club of Eagle Rock.

As everyone knows—or should—Da Camera routinely brings Southern California landmarks to life with chamber music. Known for making connections between music, literature and the visual arts, the organization takes its name from the Italian phrase "musica da camera." Literally translated, the words mean "music of the room," that is, "chamber music."

Sunday’s performances will feature the famous Slovenian guitarist Mak Grgic, who will “jam” with Jay Campbell, a brilliant young cellist who has been hailed by the New York Times as “wildly virtuosic” and capable of conveying “every nuance” in his performances. An undergraduate at the Juilliard School, Campbell has played with the likes of renowned French conductor Pierre Boulez and John Adams (not to mention members of Radiohead).

Grgic and Campbell will offer two performances at the Center for the Arts—the first at 1 p.m. and the second at 6 p.m. Tickets are $30 and $35. Click here to purchase them online.

At 3:30 p.m., Grgic will accompany a leading-edge chamber music ensemble called JACK. Known to be “mind-blowingly good,” in the words of the Los Angeles Times, the quartet will present its world premier of “As the Crow Flies,” a new piece by composer David Crowell for guitar and string quartet, which will feature Grgic. Tickets are $39 and $43. Click here to purchase them online.

Between the performances at the two historic sites, the Da Camera Society will host receptions, wine tastings, historic photo exhibits and walking tours in Eagle Rock. See the tour package PDF file for details.