Celebrate a Valentine’s Day Spectacular with Exquisite Chamber Music
Feb. 14 | 1-2:30 p.m. | In Your Living Room
For centuries, love has inspired some of the greatest music ever written. Whether you’re a die-hard romantic or a stone-cold skeptic, Valentine’s Day is a great excuse to pull out all the stops and bask in the sounds of beautiful music.
Long Beach Block x Block—an exceptional ensemble of Pacific Symphony virtuosi—invite you to celebrate the holiday with a digital concert of musical arrangements they have written and lovingly curated. The program will feature all new, original selections of music relating to all aspects of love. You can revel in everything from Vivaldi to klezmer, waltzes to tangos. The Valentine’s Day Spectacular will take place Sun., Feb. 14 from 1–2:30 p.m. on Zoom. (Ticket buyers will receive a link to the event upon purchase.) The members of Block x Block will be on hand hosting, answering questions and offering unsolicited relationship advice.
Violist Meredith Crawford commented, “The exciting thing about Valentine’s Day is that it’s a holiday centered around love, and love is a subject that’s inspired so much incredible music throughout the ages—our group basically had endless choices when deciding how to program this show. Love is also a very versatile topic: we can talk about playful love, serious love, love lost, love found, romantic love, platonic love, fiery passionate love, chaste love, unrequited love … the list goes on!
“I’m personally very excited to show people what a Block x Block Valentine’s Day looks like,” Crawford added. “I think we’ve come up with a truly unique and fun event for everyone to enjoy in celebration of the holiday.”
Flutist Ben Smolen shared his thoughts on the program, “One of my favorite new arrangements we’ll be presenting is violinist Christine Frank’s arrangement of Astor Piazzolla’s famously fiery Libertango; I dare you not to end up twirling around the room by the end!”
Tickets for Block x Block’s Valentine’s Day Spectacular start at $25 and can be purchased at various levels. Perks for various tiers include holiday treats by MaddieCakes in Newport Beach; BxB-branded masks, shirts and mugs; custom videos; and even deluxe, hand-knit woolen hats by Ben Smolen! If you purchase at the $50 level or above, you will get access to an archival recording of the event to watch on-demand after February 14. Please note: if your ticket order includes baked goods, they can be picked up locally (Long Beach or Orange County) on February 13.
To order tickets, click here.
About Block x Block
After the pandemic forced all performing arts organizations to cease producing live concerts, many musicians were getting stir crazy and missing the connection that exists between performer and audience. Six Pacific Symphony musicians who live in Long Beach decided in early May to begin producing outdoor, socially distanced chamber music concerts in various yards and open spaces around town. The concerts were an immediate success, and the group’s biggest problem was keeping them secret enough to manage crowd sizes! They have been humbled and honored to be able to say that during 2020, when live music came to a standstill around the world, Block x Block was able to produce 84 safe, socially distanced concerts.
One of the aspects of Block x Block that makes it interesting for the musicians and fun for audiences is that they perform a huge variety of music. Because they create all of our own arrangements, the music they play reflects the personal musical tastes of each member of the group. The result is concert programs that might include classical music, Appalachian fiddle tunes, Nordic folk music, pop and klezmer all in a single show. They are constantly creating new arrangements, and every show’s program is unique.
Read more about Block x Block at their website.