Carols By Candlelight – Pacific Chorale Offers Stunning Music and Setting

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Held at Our Lady Queen of Angels in Newport Beach, the Pacific Chorale’s performance of Carols By Candlelight was the perfect embodiment of all that is beautiful about this holiday season.

Under the skilled guidance of artistic director and conductor Robert Istad and assistant conductor Kibsaim Escarcega, the twenty-four members of the Chorale presented a lovely, moving, and ambitious program that did not disappoint. Musical accompaniment by Jung-A Lee on the church’s magnificent organ and David Clemensen on piano were both perfect.

The 75-minute concert began with the Chorale positioned in the church center and side aisles, with the prelude “In dulci jubilo” and a medley of “Away in the Manger,” before moving to the performance space in the front of the altar.  From start to finish, the voices soared and spun their acoustic magic.

Live Performance

With the enormous organ pipes and soaring church ceiling as a backdrop, the chorale proceeded through a wonderfully varied set that included several musical choices that allowed audience sing-along on certain verses, including “The First Nowell” and “Silent Night.”

Live Performance

Among the many highlights were a delightful version of the traditional Scottish folk melody “Auld Lang Syne (1788),” featuring mezzo-soprano Emily Border, and a fabulously moving, serene piece Taylor Scott Davis’ “Solstice (2020)” followed by the haunting “Come Healing,” featuring sopranos Rebecca Hasquet and Joslyn Sarshad, mezzo-soprano Denean R. Dyson, and David Clemensen on piano.

The concluding “Dona Nobis Pacem,” featuring mezzo-soprano Stephanie Shepson and baritone Matthew Kellaway was truly memorable, soaring, emotional, and profound. The audience was appropriately reverent when listening to such a graceful rendition of a lustrous work.

While singling out these beautiful works, that is not to give short shrift to the rest of the fine program that included the joy of watching the entire program by candlelight; several works accompanied by Chorale members on guitar; and a bevy of musical works that also included Herbert Howells’ “A Spotless Rose,” a moving arrangement of “Angels We Have Heard On High” by Benjamin Harlan, Nico Muhly’s “Magnificat from First Service,” and Peter Phillips’ “Christmas motet O Beatum et Sacrosanctum Diem.” The entire program was a true delight to hear and see. The Chorale is both beautifully voiced and exudes palpable joy when performing the music.

Coming up this coming Monday the 18th, you have another quite different chance to see the Chorale perform this time a family-friendly program, Tis the Season! at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Joining the choir for this performance will be the Southern California Children’s Chorus, members of Pacific Symphony, and The Man in Red himself, Santa Claus.

Carols By Candlight was an enormously uplifting and joyous evening of great music and visual beauty. Be sure to add this annual event to your must-do list in the future, and take in the Pacifc Chorale’s rich vocal oeuvre whenever and wherever you’re able.

  • Genie Davis; photos in gallery, Genie Davis; images throughout the story provided Courtesy of Pacific Chorale 

 

Trolls Happily Guide Visitors To South Coast Botanic Garden

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Give a hearty welcome to Kamma Can the Trash Troll, Ibbi Pip the Birdhouse Troll and their four friends. Ibbi will even invite you into her playhouse for a walk-through replete with seating, multiple bird houses, and engaging signage, which is where the fun and adventure begins.

Now residing joyfully at South Coast Botanic Garden on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, these immense, impressive, and super fun sculptures have taken up a temporary residence through mid-January at the garden. Created by Thomas Dambro with the message of “Save the Humans,” these trolls are spreading a lovely theme of sustainability, the preservation of nature, and gentle guidance.

The mammoth folklore-inspired sculptures are made from reclaimed materials, and the six delightful figures stand at a variety of locations throughout the garden’s 87-acres. Their mission: help humans save themselves and their world.

The story behind the exhibited Trolls sculptures relates that “hundreds of trolls came together at “Trolliefolkyfest” to discuss their favorite topic – us . While they know we mean well, we keep failing them by making questionable choices, like cutting down forests, emptying rivers, and putting humans – and them – in danger. While most of the trolls think we are past saving, these SIX think they can help us.”

Certainly their beautifully crafted faces speak of wisdom and love, their big hands must match their big art-hearts.

Dambo is undoubtedly the world’s leading recycle artist. Before he created these figures and other larger-than-life sculptures, his career ranged from music to street art and scenic design. With a master’s degree from the Kolding Design School, the internationally-renowned artist created the Trolls from recycled wood. There are 87 such figures on exhibit globally from Denmark to South Korea, and of course, here in the U.S. Dambro’s vision is to create inspiring art that demonstrates trash can be used to create beauty – and spread a message of environmental rescue.

Along with the trolls themselves, Dambro’s exhibition at South Coast Botanic Garden includes colorful wooden birdhouses, which also play a key role in his work. In fact, the artist has birdhouses placed throughout Denmark. The birdhouse troll, Ibbi Pip is said to speak to humans via birdhouses using them to bring animals close to us and encourage human compassion, according to exhibition media.

This is a truly wonderful, charming, innovative exhibition that deserves to be seen as art, and for its message. Add to that the allure of strolling through the gardens themselves in the wintery sunlight, and this is a perfect afternoon adventure for all ages – so bring any kids along, too.

The exhibition runs through January 14, and is included with garden admission. South Coast Botanic Garden, the world’s first to be built atop a former landfill, was dedicated as a garden in 1960.

It’s located at 25300 Crenshaw Blvd in South Torrance, on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Tickets which are $15 for adults, $11 for seniors, and $5 for kids 5-12, can be purchased here. 

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis

 

Kerrie Smith Provides Fabulous Fecund Beauty with Flora Ficciones and More At Gallery 825

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The immersive experience of Kerrie Smith’s work in Portals and Pathways, at LAAA’s 825 Gallery through December 1st, is one that is both delicately beautiful and intimate.

The exhibition takes viewers on a journey inspired by Smith’s own daily walks along More Mesa in Santa Barbara. It’s a literal and emotional garden of delights that stretches from floor to ceiling with gauzily floating banners forming a kind of forest, printed with images of Smith’s paintings and sheer fabric with the lovely words of the artist’s own poetry.

The poetry was imprinted using hand-stamped wooden blocks that Smith carved. Both hanging, and positioned like small pools of nature on the floor, circular photographic images of the More Mesa’s wildlife and plants offer a joyous glimpse into Smith’s inspiration. Adding to the immersive quality of the viewing experience is an audio component recorded by the artist, providing the sounds of chittering animals and birds, wind, and ocean waves.

The artist says she’s inspired by “California light and the interaction of color,” and that she has a “passion for patterns in nature.” In her exhibited poetry she describes the nature around her – birds, butterflies, flowers, as containing a “quiet joy” that brings them “contentment and peace within their worlds.” These words could also describe the sensation of viewing her paintings.

Entering the gallery, it’s immediately striking how beautifully Smith captures the natural light she loves. The banners, interspersed with small, circular hanging discs that depict her photographs of nature, as well as the artist’s portal-like circular photographs on the floor of mandala-like stones, sand, and grasses, all contribute to a sense of the ethereal. Texturally, of course, the banners are “floating” from the ceiling; sunlight spills in the gallery windows. But like a fine cut-glass prism or natural gemstone, the light is refracted in and reflected through, Smith’s art.

“More Mesa,” she writes on one banner, “There is so much happening it could be called a field of dreams. It always surpasses our imagination.”

As beautiful as this experience is, it’s only the start. Smith’s artworks, a mix of circular and more conventional shapes, offers viewers a vivid palette and a details delicate brush, as she literally pulls the eye and heart into plants and flowers. The work is both sensual and magical, a lush combination that evokes the Eden that Smith has found near her home of 28 years through the prism of her brush.

In short, her paintings bring the mesa she loves so much to vibrant life, as she records and experiences them on her walks in nature.

Smith’s 24-inch circular wood panel, “Bellum Natura,” deftly blends acrylic and mixed media with gold leaf, the latter heightening the sense of the preciousness of the flora. Here, a vivid purple flower is the centerpiece of a swirl of greens and golds, with lines and shadows that evoke the sea-close location.

From the same series, her Flora Ficciones, comes the acrylic painting “Deena Dallancia Desconsita,” a dazzling pink and yellow sea plant surrounded by dark yet radiant blue water and nearly translucent pale green fronds of sea lettuce.

A combination of acrylic with mixed media, “Clytie Girasol Galaxis” is a glorious rust orange flower with a purple and gold center, surrounded by yellow/green blossoms, and what resembles floating orbs of yellow light, or a magnified seed pod, carried by air. A similar flower, but this image a startlingly deep pink, is aswirl on circular wood panel in “Carpos Medea.”

The titles of each piece are derived from the ancient Greek – for example, Clytie means glorious. They also recall Greek myths. Clytie was a water nymph who fell in love with Apollo, keeping her eyes always upon him as he moved through the sky. She was transformed and became a sunflower, always turning toward the glowing sun.

Each of these works are special, both for their color and depth, and for their luminous beauty. These paintings are Smith’s true poems and tributes to the nature she loves, a reverent tribute, to the earth we so often fail to appreciate – but which Smith cares about and for quite deeply.

If you can’t see this special show in person, visit many of her images online . Smith will also have one of her Flora Ficciones “Calendula Asterales,”  as part of the Sullivan Gross Gallery’s annual holiday exhibition starting December 4th, with a reception on the 7th. Sullivan Gross is located in Santa Barbara.

  • Genie Davis; images provided by gallery, artist, and by Genie Davis

 

A Feast Fit For Any Holiday – Ocean Prime

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It started with oysters and Piper-Heidsieck in the late afternoon, and concluded with delightful desserts after sunset. Our dining experience at Ocean Prime earlier this month was a feast perfect for the holidays – or any day you feel like celebrating the joy of excellent food, letter-perfect service, and a setting that serves as a mini luxury vacation.

Located in the heart of Beverly Hills, Ocean Prime’s LA-area outpost offers a choice of an elegant indoor dining space and bar area bathed in honey-colored light, or an airy patio warmed by a row of fire pits and subtle overhead heat lamps. We chose the latter, in a quiet booth made more private by greenery behind and on the sides of our seats.

The restaurant’s October seafood month theme featured oysters. Ours were on the half shell,  and paired with the new Essentiel by Cameron Mitchell Champagne from Piper-Heidsieck.

The champagne features a glowing dark golden color, a fine bubble, and taste of pears, blackberry and honey. Piper-Heidsieck has only partnered with a handful of on-premise venues and sommeliers globally due to its unique creative processes, with Ocean Prime being one of those chosen. It is available at 17 of the 18 restaurant’s locations across the the U.S., including Beverly Hills.

While the oysters and champagne were perfect, as twilight rushed in and lit up our view of Wilshire Boulevard, we continued our experience with one of the terrific specials that the restaurant is offering. This was their multi-course early-bird dinner, available from 4-5:30. The choices are beautifully prepared, and we tried a variety of menu items, agreeing that each of our different selections were exceptional.

I began with one of the most nuanced of the copious number of Caesar salads I’ve had over the years. Yes, there was a lovely balance of crisp Romaine lettuce, flavorful brioche croutons, and best of all, a not-overbearing Parmesan garlic dressing.

My companion chose the lobster bisque, made with a rewarding amount of butter-poached lobster. A few spoons of the rich but surprisingly light broth was enough to convince me that the chef had us in good hands.

My main selection: sea scallops, plump, large, and juicy in a lively citrus vinaigrette. They were accompanied by a truly delicious Parmesan risotto studded with English peas that subtly combined a creamy texture with garden-fresh flavor.

My side was the truffle mac & cheese, which offered a variety of cheeses that afforded a compellingly earthy taste combined with the truffles – truly an amazing take on classic comfort food.

My dinner partner chose the eight-ounce filet, which she pronounced perfectly prepared to order with Cabernet jus. It rested on a gouda potato cake and chili-seared spinach.

Her side was the zesty jalapeno au gratin, a meal in itself.

Did we have take-homes? Yes. But that did not mean we forgot about dessert. The crowning finish to our prix fixe was a choice of five layer carrot cake or warm butter cake. I chose the latter, which came with a lovely berry compote and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

My dining partner picked the carrot cake, a personal favorite, well-topped and girded with an airy take on cream cheese frosting with a bonus of fragrant lemon curd on the side.

Beverages: we began with cocktails as elegant as the location. Mine was the Smoked Old Fashioned, a favorite drink of mine. Like Caesar salads, I’ve tried many over the years,  and this was a stand out. Crafted with Angel’s Envy rye whiskey, House Demerara syrup, angostura & orange bitters, and redolent with charred cherry wood smoke, it was exemplary. My companion chose a favorite of her own, the Hot & Dirty Martini. Olive oil invused Belevedere Vodka was matched with ripe Castelvetrano olives filled with Calabrian chili blue cheese. She pronounced hers letter-perfect, too. We finished with some house-brewed coffees.

There was only one thing that would have made the dining experience even better – making a return visit the next day. We will have to remedy that soon. Major kudos to executive chef Jonathan Milan and general manager Yurii Barajas.

Fine dining afficiandos take note, along with the exception early prix fixe menu, and of course a stellar regular menu, on Sunday evenings, a two-course Surf & Turf special is available, featuring a starter choice of French Onion soup, Caesar or house salad and a main course that combines the restaurant’s 8-ounce filet with a choice of three seafood entrees: Shrimp Scampi, the Oscar Styler with lump blue crab and bearnaise, or a lobster tail.

Foodies – come feast around and find out more about the terrific menus at Ocean Prime.

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis