Jacaranda Music


Jacaranda Music is a non-profit organization founded by impresario Patrick Scott and conductor/organist Mark Alan Hilt. Jacaranda produces an annual classical music concert series of modern music and works written since 2000, as well as rare older classical music with potential interest for contemporary listeners. Jacaranda has been based in Santa Monica, California since 2003. In 2016, the series was named by L.A. Weekly as the Best Contemporary Classical Series.
Throughout its 16 seasons, Jacaranda has presented the compositions of Philip Glass, John Cage, Olivier Messiaen, Gustav Mahler, Lou Harrison, Dylan Mattingly, Mark Grey, Florence Price, Lukas Foss, Julius Eastman, Frederic Rzewski, David Lang, Peter Maxwell Davies, Horatiu Radulescu, Franz Liszt and George Enescu, among many others. Musicians have included Grammy and Emmy winner Gloria Cheng, Anonymous 4, Quatuor Diotima, Scott Dunn, Kathleen Supové, Christopher Taylor, and Billy Childs.
Jacaranda's concerts have been reviewed by several publications, including the LA Times, Classical Voice North America, and BBC Music Magazine. In 2018, The San Francisco Classical Voice said of Jacaranda: "To actually curate a concert is an art. It is one of the qualities that sets apart the Los Angeles music series Jacaranda. For more than 10 years… Jacaranda's concerts have been conceived as musical journeys of discovery…." The LA Times has said of Jacaranda that it "is known for imaginative programs of challenging contemporary music."
Los Angeles Times music critic Mark Swed said of Jacaranda in 2013, "With demanding pieces by Eötvös and the famed late Hungarian composer György Ligeti, "Fierce Beauty" was the most ambitious undertaking so far and by far for Jacaranda.…With this concert, Jacaranda grew up, moving beyond local to national significance."
Longtime music critic Alan Rich regularly wrote about Jacaranda, saying that they produce, "a kind of personalized programming so that you leave each event with the sense of having visited some very smart programming."
Since 2011, the Lyris Quartet has been its resident ensemble.

Top 25 Most Programmed Composers

ComposerBirth/DeathNumber of works performed
Olivier Messiaen1908-199232
Benjamin Britten1913-197620
Charles Ives1874-195419
Igor Stravinsky1882-197115
Claude Debussy1862-191814
John Cage1912-199212
Maurice Ravel1875-193711
Johann Sebastian Bach1685-175011
Arnold Schoenberg1874-195110
Alberto Ginastera1916-198310
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart1756-179110
Thomas Adès1971-9
Lou Harrison1917-20039
Luciano Berio1925-20039
Steve Reich1936-8
Philip Glass1937-8
Franz Liszt1811-18868
Leoš Janáček1854-19288
Anton Webern1883-19458
Pierre Boulez1925-20168
Franz Schubert1797-18287
John Adams1947-7
Arvo Pärt1935-7
David Lang1957-6
Antonín Dvořák1841-19046