The breathtaking Doheny Mansion on the downtown campus of Mount St. Mary’s College has long been the glittering centerpiece of the Da Camera Society’s “Chamber Music in Historic Sites” program of events. A concert in its remarkably preserved, opulently decorated Pompeian Room transports chamber music lovers back to a more elegant age. The Doheny Mansion is only one of the many locales, however, and chamber music only one of the musical genres the Da Camera Society uses in its deft pairing of sites and sounds. Despite the program’s name, a site might be a contemporary residence or a repurposed industrial space, the music cutting-edge jazz or a cappella voices. No matter the blend, the effect is to remind Angelenos of the beauty and drama ensconced in their surroundings.
The Da Camera Society also moves outside of the “chamber.” It celebrates the diverse neighborhoods of the greater Los Angeles area with creatively conceived festivals that combine music, self-guided walking or driving tours, and discounts to area shops and restaurants. A rich educational outreach program seeks to transform young lives by introducing music to underserved students. Free concerts bring the joy of the musical experience to more than 25,000 young people in inner-city schools and community centers yearly, while professional development workshops give teachers the tools to make music an ongoing experience. Most recently, the Norris Foundation helped support the Society’s two-year Beethoven Cycle, which presented performances of the composer’s complete string quartets by six acclaimed groups in six of Los Angeles’s architectural treasures.