Welcome to the Santa Monica Chamber Philharmonia Web site!

For the past nine years the Santa Monica Chamber Philharmonia has been making annual tours to Europe. Originally made up of musicians from the Santa Monica Symphony, the orchestra has since evolved into a bi-coastal ensemble with players from all over the country as members. We spend the first several days of our tour in an exciting city where we can rehearse and sightsee before embarking on our concerts. Previous tours have started in Prague, Amsterdam, Rome, the Costa Brava of Spain, and Budapest. Our concerts have been greeted by enthusiastic audiences in eleven countries. We often present new American music on our tours, and have been on an exploration project of performing early and middle-period Haydn symphonies.

This year we have a exciting tour planned that will begin in Venice, and then continue through northern Italy: Verona, Padua, Lake Garda, Cremona, and Bergamo. We are currently determining repertoire, but it promises to include Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, one of Vivaldi's Bassoon Concertos, Barber's Adagio for Strings, and one of our trademark Haydn symphonies from his middle period.

If you are interested in joining the group, either as a player or as a guest, please contact me at agross@caltech.edu. Players should send a resume of their background.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Regards,

Allen Robert Gross
Music Director and Conductor