Celebrating our 16th Season
5 Main Series programs in West LA and Pasadena; a return to the OC and a venture to Santa Barbara; 4 conversational Happy Hours; a Sounds Delicious Christmas Concert + Tea; and virtual seats at nearly all of our concerts.
At every one of our events, you can expect:
World-class musical performance
Ample opportunities to interact personally with the musicians performing
Complimentary wine to grease your conversational wheels
The music to be expertly set in context for you, priming you to absorb its meaning and beauty to the fullest
A friendly, unpretentious good time among fellow music nerds – newbies and the cognoscenti alike
🎟️ Our affordability pledge
🍸 Happy Hour Concerts: “The best deal in town for classical music lovers”
Just $5 general admission
Free for Salastina Members and students with valid ID
🎶 Main Series Concerts
$45 standard ticket
20% off for Salastina Members (Friend level and above)
$10 student tickets
💻 Livestreams
Free + on-demand for Salastina Members
$10 for non-members
includes 3-day viewing window
👨👩👧 Family-Friendly
All events welcome families
Most appropriate for ages 12 and up
Member’s only subscription and single ticket sales available now through June 30th.
Main Series: how Salastina does tradition, hosted by Brian Lauritzen
Join us for our celebration of our Resident Artists and beloved classics at 5 Main Series concerts. These include a flute and piano recital of Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff; a Dissonance-themed quartet program taking Mozart's quartet of the same name as point of departure; a French program featuring the harp; Schumann’s Piano Quintet; and Beethoven and Schubert performed on period instruments.
Tickets to Main Series are $45
Students $10
Livestream $10 (free for Salastina Members) Salastina Members receive 20% off tickets
Happy Hours: our take on the salon tradition
Happy Hour concerts feature intimate discussion of a musical subject, and earlier concerts to boot. Our 4 Happy Hours this season will feature the perennial audience favorite, Brian Lauritzen’s Sounds Mysterious musical guessing game, guest artists, and a return to our new Family Happy Hour. Our regular Happy Hours are appropriate for children 12 years of age and older.
Tickets to Happy Hour are $5
Students are free
Livestream $10 (free for Salastina Members) Tickets for Salastina Members are free
Sounds Delicious: gourmet feast + live music + whimsical themes in an intimate setting
In December, we’ll be revisiting the glorious Doheny Mansion for an update on our annual holiday tradition: A Gilded Christmas Tea.
August
Happy Hour No. 131: Gloria Cheng
Sunday, August 24, 2025 @ 3 PM - West LA + Livestream
A Frame Theater at The Wende Museum
Pianist Gloria Cheng is a muse to composers from John Williams to Esa-Pekka Salonen. In this afternoon of music and conversation, Gloria shares stories, insights, and spellbinding performances in equal measure. With half the program devoted to dialogue and the other to a mini recital, it’s a rare chance to engage with a living legend — up close and unscripted. On the program: a movement from John Williams' Conversations and selections from Gloria's album Root Progressions. This Happy Hour is free to attend.
September & October
Chamber Music Reading Party
Sunday, September 7, 2025 @ 2 PM - Glendale
Concert at a private residence in Glendale
Back by popular demand! Join Salastina’s resident artists for an intimate afternoon of chamber music, camaraderie, and connection in the home of Salastina’s Co-Artistic Director Maia Jasper White. Designed especially for adult amateur musicians, this salon offers the rare chance to read through favorite chamber works side-by-side with professionals in a supportive, joy-filled setting. We can’t think of a better living expression of Salastina’s mission: to break down barriers between performers and audience, and to celebrate music as something we share — not just perform. This free event is exclusively open to active Salastina Members only.
Main Series No. 1: Ben and HyeJin Recital
Friday, September 26, 2025 @ 7:30 PM - West LA
Moroccan Room at The Village Studios
Saturday, September 27, 2025 @ 3 PM - OC
Charlie and Ling Zhang Orchestra Hall at Concordia University Irvine
Friday, October 10, 2025 @ 7:30 PM - Santa Barbara
Lehmann Hall at Music Academy of the West
Saturday, October 11, 2025 @ 3 PM Pasadena + Livestream
Location to be announced
Two masters of their instruments take on a trio of Russian-born visionaries—one who stayed (Prokofiev), one who left (Rachmaninoff), and one who redefined music abroad (Stravinsky). Salastina’s Resident Flutist Ben Smolen and Resident Pianist HyeJin Kim play Prokofiev's Flute Sonata in D, Op. 94 and premiere Ben’s original arrangement of Stravinksy’s Suite Italienne. The program also includes several of Rachmaninoff’s preludes for solo piano.
November
Main Series No. 2: Beauty in Tension
Friday, November 7, 2025 @ 7:30 PM - Palos Verdes
Private residence in Palos Verdes
Saturday, November 8, 2025 @ 3 PM - West LA
Moroccan Room at The Village Studios
Sunday, November 9, 2025 @ 3 PM - OC
Location to be announced
Friday, November 14, 2025 @ 7:30 PM - Pasadena + Livestream
Barrett Hall at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music
Sometimes, music soars. Sometimes, it aches. And sometimes, it refuses to resolve — until it finally does. This program explores the fragile, cathartic space between dissonance and harmony. From Mozart’s “Dissonance” Quartet and Janáček’s Intimate Letters to Prokofiev’s lyrical modernism, Caroline Shaw’s crystalline sound world, and Gesualdo’s haunting Renaissance chromaticism, this is music that finds beauty in unrest, and invites us to do the same.
Vital Sounds Fundraiser: Mozart Masquerade
Thursday, November 20, 2025 @ 6 PM - Pasadena
Maxwell House
Step into the elegance of the 18th century for an evening of music, mystique, and merriment. Join Salastina’s resident pianist HyeJin Kim as she brings Mozart to life on the fortepiano, the instrument of his time. Guests are invited to don their finest masquerade attire and enjoy a night where period style meets artistry, period. All proceeds support Salastina’s live concerts, Vital Sounds virtual bedside concerts at Huntington Health, and Sounds Promising Young Composers program.
December
Sounds Delicious: A Gilded Christmas Tea
December TBD - DTLA
Doheny Mansion at Mount Saint Mary’s University
Step into a Victorian winter wonderland at Salastina’s signature Christmas Tea. Set in the opulent Pompeian Room of the historic Doheny Mansion, this festive gathering features traditional carolers, a string quartet performing music of the era, and a lavish holiday tea service. With its Dickensian charm and unforgettable setting, replete with a twenty-foot Christmas tree (under an ombre glass dome made of 2,836 pieces of original Tiffany gold-favrile glass), this event sells out quickly each year. Two seatings available; reserve early!
Happy Hour No. 132: Special Guest TBA
December TBD - DTLA
Doheny Mansion at Mount Saint Mary’s University
January
Main Series No. 3: Les Délices Impressionistes
Friday, January 23, 2026 @ 7:30 PM - Lake Forest
Chamber Music I OC
Saturday, January 24, 2026 @ 3 PM - Palos Verdes
Private residence in Palos Verdes
Sunday, January 25, 2026 @ 3 PM - West LA
Moroccan Room at The Village Studios
Saturday, January 31, 2026 @ 3 PM - Pasadena + Livestream
Barrett Hall at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music
This program celebrates the evocative power of French music for strings, flute, and harp. At its heart is the rarely heard Jean Cras, a naval officer-composer whose music lends modern color to Romanticism. Alongside him: Saint-Saëns’ elegance, Ravel’s refined sensuality, and Debussy — who bristled at the label Impressionist — offering sound worlds more exacting, expressive, and immersive than any Monet fridge magnet.
February & March
Main Series No. 4: Beethoven and Schubert
Saturday, February 21, 2026 @ 3 PM - OC
Location to be announced
Sunday, February 22, 2026 @ 3 PM - West LA
Moroccan Room at The Village Studios
Friday, February 27, 2026 @ 7:30 PM - Santa Barbara
Lehmann Hall at Music Academy of the West
Sunday, March 1, 2026 @ 3 PM - Pasadena + Livestream
Barrett Hall at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music
Before the concert hall, there was the salon. Before the grand piano, the fortepiano. This program invites you into the sound world of Beethoven and Schubert as they themselves might have heard it: with warm gut strings, responsive transitional bows, and a fortepiano’s round touch. On the program: Beethoven’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in A Major and Sonata for Violin and Piano in F Major, “Spring” as well as Schubert’s Piano Trio in B Flat Major.
April
Main Series No. 5: Familiar | Forgotten | Fresh
Sunday, April 19, 2026 @ 3 PM - OC
Location to be announced
Saturday, Apr 25, 2026 @ 3 PM - West LA
Moroccan Room at The Village Studios
Sunday, Apr 26, 2026 @ 3 PM - Pasadena + Livestream
Barrett Hall at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music
Three piano quintets bridge time and taste through music that’s beloved, overlooked, and brand-spanking new. On the program: Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E Flat Major, Julius Rontgen’s Piano Quintet No. 2 in a minor, and a world premiere commission from one of our Sounds Promising Young Composer alumni.
May
Happy Hour No. 133: Sounds Mysterious with Brian Lauritzen
Saturday, May 23, 2026 @ 3 PM - West LA + Livestream
A Frame Theater at The Wende Museum
Brian Lauritzen leads our audience in our patented game of Guess The Composer. Though we’ve practiced every note, we still don’t know who wrote the music. In this audience-favorite musical guessing game, even the performers are in the dark about the composers’ identities. The audience joins us in sleuthing out the clues. Is that a hint of Haydn? A whiff of of Walton? A shade of Shostakovich? Or is it a total red herring? We’ll guess together, laugh together, and delight in the fact that classical music is more about curiosity and connection than the comfort of the familiar. (And yes: you’ve guessed the composers’ identities correctly more than we have.) This Happy Hour is free to attend.
June
Sounds Delicious: A Jane Austen Garden Tea Party
Saturday, June 6, 2026 - Time TBD
Virginia Robinson Gardens
Join us for a special tea celebrating Jane Austen’s semiquincentennial at the beautiful and timeless Virginia Robinson Gardens. Ticket sales coming soon.