[photo credit: Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra]
The evening is called Shangri-la, and for Pasadena-area audiences, it is the most distinctive offering in LACO’s newly announced 2026/27 season. The concert — to be held only once, on April 3, 2027, at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino — opens the season’s CURRENT series with a guided sound exploration at 6 p.m. and a full concert at 7:30 p.m., both curated by LACO Composer-in-Residence Huang Ruo, who served as a Visiting Artist at The Huntington’s Liu Fang Yuan in 2017.
The broader season, announced Tuesday by Music Director Jaime Martín and Executive Director Ben Cadwallader, delivers a full roster of orchestral, chamber, baroque, and recital programming. The Huntington hosts four separate programs in 2026/27, making San Marino the single most active LACO venue outside of downtown Los Angeles for Pasadena-area listeners. Subscriptions are on sale now at laco.org.
It is also, quietly, a farewell season. After eight years at LACO’s helm, Martín will close out his tenure as Music Director with a May 2027 concert featuring violinist James Ehnes and a world premiere by Kian Ravaei — a young Los Angeles composer born in 1999 whose first full orchestral commission for LACO comes through the organization’s Sound Investment program, which has been crowdfunding new works since 2001. Martín has been appointed Music Director Laureate, beginning with the 2027-28 season.
“LACO’s 2026/27 season is an invitation to experience the full expressive range of what a chamber orchestra can be today,” Martín said in a statement accompanying the announcement, according to the press release. “Across the season, we’ve shaped programs that engage and uplift, and create moments of wonder and discovery at every performance.”
The season opens August 11 at the Hollywood Bowl — a “triumphant return,” the press release calls it — with conductor Nicolas Ellis and pianist Angela Hewitt in an all-Mozart program including the Piano Concerto No. 22 and Symphony No. 41, “Jupiter.” From there, the Orchestra Series runs through six programs at Zipper Hall (at the Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles) and The Wallis in Beverly Hills, with guest soloists including pianists Conrad Tao and Richard Goode, pipa virtuoso Wu Man, and kamanchēh master Kayhan Kalhor.
For Huntington regulars, the season offers considerable local density. December alone brings three concerts to San Marino: a December 3 recital by harpsichordist and conductor Francesco Corti, a December 5 Baroque program exploring Vivaldi’s Venice alongside works by Albinoni and Galuppi, and a December 19 performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio featuring soloists from the Los Angeles Master Chorale. All are at Rothenberg Hall.
The inaugural Recital Series — a new addition to LACO’s programming — offers three intimate concerts featuring pianist Angela Hewitt on October 13 at Zipper Hall, Corti on December 3 at The Huntington, and pianist and composer Fazıl Say on May 12, 2027, at Zipper Hall.
“This season marks an exciting expansion for LACO with the introduction of a new recital series and a broad range of programming that showcases LACO’s extraordinary musicians alongside exceptional guest artists,” Cadwallader said in the announcement, per the press release.
Huang Ruo, whose LACO residency runs through spring 2028, will curate Shangri-la’s program, which includes works by Sofia Gubaidulina, the composer himself, Giacomo Puccini, Kaija Saariaho, Torū Takemitsu, and Vivian Fung. Guests may attend the full experience — the garden walk and concert — or join for the concert only. “What drew me to want to become part of the LACO Family,” Huang Ruo said when his residency was announced, “is its excellency, innovation, and openness to new ideas and inspirations from other cultures.”
For tickets and subscriptions: laco.org or 213-221-3920. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens is at 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. The venue is reachable via the Metro A Line to Allen Avenue Station, then the Pasadena ARTS bus.
On the night of April 3, 2027, when the music mingles with birdsong and the sound of the Chinese Garden’s water, the garden paths will do something they’ve never quite done before. They’ll lead somewhere both familiar and entirely new.
