MAREA is a Bay Area-based, genre-bending quintet where strings and voice collide in bold, dynamic ways. Rooted in classical tradition but driven by curiosity, they craft immersive, out-of-the-box performances and are committed to commissioning and performing work from underrepresented composers.
$40 General; $35 Seniors; $10 Students with IDs
2025-26 SEASON
Sponsored by the Rebele Family and Larry and Shelly Pearson
CONCERT I: LULLABIES & NIGHTMARES
Featuring The Marea Ensemble
Saturday, October 25, 2025 | 7:00pm
Peace United Church of Christ, 900 High St., Santa Cruz, CA
The Marea Ensemble:
Lori Schulman, voice
Shannon D’Antonio, violin
Samantha Bounkeua, violin
Rebecca Dulatre-Corbin, viola
Kristin Garbeff, cello
Works for String Quartet
COMPOSERS:
Kevin Volans
Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet
Rhiannon Giddens (arranged by Jacob Garchik)
Alex Temple
Osvlado Golijov
PROGRAM
Golijov | How Slow The Wind, based on poetry by Emily Dickinson (2002)
Kevin Volans | String Quartet No. 1: White Man Sleeps (1986)
First Dance
Second Dance
Selections from Katie Noonan & Brodsky Quartet Album, With Love and Fury (2016) based on poetry by Judith Wright
David Hirschfelder | To A Child
Andrew Ford | After the Visitors
Richard Tognetti | Metho Drinker
Intermission
Elvis Costello & the Brodsky Quartet | Why? (1993)
Rhiannon Giddens, Arr. Jacob Garchik | At the Purchaser’s Option with Variations (2016)
Alex Temple | Behind the Wallpaper (2014-15)
Midnight Bus
Unnatural
Tiny Holes
This American Life
Science Park
Fishmouth
Purple Stain
Night After Night
Meanwhile (electronic interlude)
Jolene
Spires
For all lyrics, scan here
Trailblazers:
50 Santa Cruzans Who Shaped Our County
Trailblazer Philip Collins
At the heart of the only-in-Santa-Cruz music scene is musical maverick Philip Collins, a brilliant artistic director with an uncompromising sense of musical play.
New Music Works was started in 1979 by Tim Bell, Philip Collins, Ron Elfving, Richard Freeman-Toole and Gene Lewis as a way to perform their own new music in public venues. Collins has served as artistic director since 1982. A protégé and student of West Coast musical giant Lou Harrison, Collins studied conducting with Nicole Paiement at UCSC where he took his master’s degree in music.
The ’80s were golden years for Collins and his innovative cohorts hosting an annual summer Avant Garden Party, with catering by Jozseph Schultz, and loaded with performative frolic up at his Westside compound. The tradition—al fresco experimental music, playful ambience, and inventive wine and foods—was yet another showcase for Collins’ unflinching programming and rumpled genius. In 1988 the award-winning maestro and company launched the infamous Night of the Living Composers, originally showcasing Collins’ adventurous soundtrack whilst screening classic horror films. Now armed with its 11-piece New Music Works Ensemble, the adventurous group hosts a concert series that over the years has hosted such guest artists as Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Jon Scoville, Tandy Beal and countless others. An inventive composer and fearless conductor, Collins invites original works by Bay Area musical stars such as Michael McGushin, Sheila Willey, Sarah Cahill, Steed Cowart, Chris Pratorius, William Winant and Stan Poplin, whose performances invariably surprise and amaze.
Creating ingenious, edgy and oft difficult programs featuring courageous choral ensembles, soloists, and his gifted in-house ensemble to power through musical scores still fresh from the printer, Collins continues to keep time to a different drummer. A gifted and tireless music educator, he has taught at every educational institution in the region. Somehow he’s found time to compose dreamy and intricate music for voice, guitar and orchestra. Santa Cruz’s cultural hearth would be impossible without him. (Christina Waters)
