User:Musicguildmessenger/sandbox

The St. Matthew’s Music Guild is a well respected classical music organization that has offered annual subscription concerts since 1985 at the beautiful St. Matthew’s Church in Pacific Palisades CA. The mission of the Music Guild is to provide an outstanding musical experience to the West Los Angeles Community, to support superior young local musicians and composers with performance and commission opportunities, and to bring classical music to underserved schools and senior facilities.

The current church building, completed in 1983, was designed by architect Charles Moore and Associates following a fire that destroyed the original building. Influenced by the church's longstanding interest in fine music, the building was designed with lively acoustics suitable as a performance space for a wide variety of musical events. Following a small series of concerts during the first two years the building was open, the Music Guild was formed in 1985 with the express purpose of presenting an annual series of public concerts.

Music Director Thomas Neenan initially created The Chamber Orchestra at St. Matthew’s as a cooperative venture made up of prominent professional local musicians, many of whom were church members. With support from classical music fans in Pacific Palisades and neighboring communities, the Chamber Orchestra began presenting concerts, with the musicians dividing proceeds from the door proceeds. Within a few years the Music Guild had an established a successful series of eight annual concerts featuring the Chamber Orchestra and visiting guest artists and ensembles.

The Chamber Orchestra at St. Matthew’s is now a critically acclaimed 35-member fully professional ensemble featuring many of the best orchestral and studio musicians in Los Angeles. Internationally acclaimed solo guest artists as well as instrumental and vocal ensembles also perform each season.

The Chamber Orchestra’s repertoire is ambitious and eclectic. Standard repertoire from the Classical era is a mainstay, including all the Beethoven symphonies, the late symphonies of Mozart and many of Haydn’s later symphonies. In addition, the orchestra has presented a large number of works by 20th century composers including Adams, Broughton, Britten, Copland, Del Tredici, Françaix, Gershwin, Kraft, Martinu Ravel, Takemitsu, Schnittke, Schoenberg, Sheng and Vaughan Williams.

The Music Guild is proud to have commissioned and premiered more than two dozen original works, often giving lesser-known composers an opportunity to showcase their work and gain broader recognition. Beginning with Phos hilaron by David Newman in 1985, the Music Guild and Chamber Orchestra have commissioned and premiered works by Roger Bourland, Alan Chan, Paul Chihara, Joseph Curiale, Marc Falcone, Ola Gjeilo, Sasha Matson, Dwayne S. Milburn, Gerald Near, John O’Reilly, Maria Newman, Mary Lou Newmark, Tarik O’Regan, Thomas Pasatieri, Craig Phillips, Miklos Rozsa, Christopher Tin, Ross Wright and others.

Musical outreach is an important component of the Music Guild’s mission, with the objective of bringing the joy of classical music to audiences who might not otherwise have that opportunity. due to economic or physical limitations. The Music Guild performs concerts at schools in the Los Angeles area, senior centers and assisted living facilities.

In the fall of 2013 the Chamber Orchestra will release its first commercial CD featuring music by Christopher Tin, Ola Gjeilo, Ross Wright, and Dwayne S. Milburn. All of the works on the CD have been commissioned by the Music Guild and premiered by the Chamber Orchestra.

The Music Guild has over 200 current subscribers who are the life-blood of the organization. The series of seven annual concerts, the outreach program and the commissions of new works are financially supported by subscriptions, individual, corporate and foundation contributions, ticket sales and private and public grants. Our annual budget has grown over 30% in the last three years despite challenging economic times. The Music Guild is a not for profit 501-C3 organization governed by the Music Director and the Board of Directors.