The Monterey Peninsula’s symphonic chorus I Cantori di Carmel makes its historic Sunset Center debut May 6-7. Its acclaimed German conductor Daniel Henricks will lead the singers and a full orchestra in “Songs of Destiny,” a concert he describes as ranging from the deep romanticism of Brahms to the shimmering colors of Debussy and Ravel and the soaring optimism of Vaughan Williams. “Our program brings together works that explore the forces that shape our lives, such as fate, memory, renewal and the unknown,” he says.

Henriks has a reputation as a consummate and multi-faceted artist, both as a conductor and as a leading dramatic baritone with appearances in prestigious opera houses and concert halls across Europe and beyond. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music and the conservatory in Hannover, Germany. This depth of experience allows Henriks to be an exceptional vocal coach for the singers as well as their director.

I Cantori’s story begins long ago at the birth of the Carmel Bach Festival. For almost 100 years, Carmel has shown our region and the world that grassroots musicmaking can evolve into something worldclass, that a homegrown organization with the right inspiration and support can achieve a high professional level and even soar to international prominence. It’s a tradition that harkens back to the days of Carmel impresarios Dene Denny and Hazel Watrous, whose vision and leadership built a ragtag group of local musicians (the youngest of whom was 12 years old) into the ensemble that is now the world-renowned Festival Orchestra.

Cultural historian and author David Gordon wrote the seminal book on the influence of these two women, chronicling the emergence of the Bach Festival, the Carmel Music Society, and other venerable arts organizations that now serve as a proud part of the region’s identity. He sees in I Cantori the same intrepid spirit, hard work and aspiration for excellence that Denny and Watrous brought to the arts in those early days.

“The Central Coast’s premiere choral ensemble making its debut at our region’s leading musical venue is an exciting event and more than just a concert,” says Gordon. “It’s a community celebration of the group’s artistic excellence and of Carmel’s long-standing tradition of treasuring all the arts.” He says that Henriks, in the manner of great conductors, shows people how to accomplish things they didn’t know they could do.

The ensemble was not included among Sunset Center’s formal historic presenting partners 25 years ago when renovation transformed the complex into a spectacular state-of-the-art facility. But the chorus’s roots and lineage trace back to the beginning days of Carmel Bach, when local singers first auditioned for the Festival’s chorus in 1935. In 1981, some of its members formed I Cantori so they could sing year-round, which they have now done for more than 40 years in the Carmel Mission and other venues up and down the coast.

This month, with Henriks at the helm, the group achieves its new milestone in the gorgeous hall that the Festival’s preeminent German conductor Bruno Weil called upon the community to build. “Acoustics, acoustic, acoustics,” Weil famously urged, were needed to support the superb musicmaking happening in Carmel. Now it’s I Cantori‘s destiny is to sing a powerful program with a 40-member orchestra in this elegant hall.

I Cantori’s program

Henriks says, “It is part of our human destiny to seek understanding of nature, of the sciences, of the arts, and through that quest, to ask the timeless question: why are we here? Each piece on our program offers a unique perspective and reflects the way we navigate life’s turning points; moving through loss, renewal, struggle and hope. ‘Songs of Destiny’ is an evening of music that challenges, uplifts, and reminds us of the beauty of the human experience.”

The program includes Maurice Ravel’s “Les Bayadères” and “L’Aurore (The Dawn),” described as two strikingly different works that capture a sense of movement and transformation. Les Bayadères is mysterious, with shifting harmonies that feel almost dreamlike. ‘L’Aurore (The Dawn)’ evokes the quiet beauty of morning light emerging from darkness.”

The chorus revives Claude Debussy’s rarely performed version of “Printemps (Spring)” last known to have been presented in San Francisco in the early 2000s. Johannes Brahms’s “Nänie (Elegy),”set to a poem by Friedrich Schiller, is a meditation on loss and remembrance and finding solace in the enduring power of music. The sweeping orchestration and rich choral writing of “Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny)” is one of Brahms’s most compelling works. The evening concludes with Vaughan Williams’ “Toward the Unknown Region,” his setting of the great American poet Walt Whitman’s visionary poem, an anthem to courage and discovery.

I Cantori’s Sunset Center concerts take place Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 pm. Doors open at 7 p.m. The chorus also presents this program in King City on Saturday and Santa Cruz on Sunday. For tickets and more information see icantori.org or call (831) 644-8012.

Catalyst Quartet

Chamber Music Monterey Bay presents the Catalyst Quartet Saturday at Carmel’s Sunset Center. The evening includes a 30-minute presentation by musicologist Ian Scarfe at 6:30 p.m. The Quartet was founded in 2010 by the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Organization, a Detroit nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of young people through the power of diversity in the arts. Says the New York Times, “Like all great chamber groups, the Catalyst Quartet is beautiful to watch, like a family in lively conversation at the dinner table: anticipating, interrupting, changing subjects.”

Their program includes Gumboots by David Bruce for clarinet/bass clarinet and string quartet and Clarinet Quintet in F-sharp Minor, op. 10 by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

For tickets and more information see www.chambermusicmontereybay.org or call (831) 625-2212.

Barueco at Sunset Center

Carmel Music Society presents legendary guitarist Manuel Barueco at the Sunset Center on Sunday at 3 p.m. He will perform works by J. S. Bach, Manuel M. Ponce, Ástor Piazzolla, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Joaquín Turina. For tickets and more information see carmelmusic.org or call (831) 625-9938.

Carmel Bach Festival presents “Cottages, Gardens and Cantatas: A Musical Home & Garden Stroll,” offering a self-guided tour of five distinctive homes and gardens in Carmel, each featuring intimate live musical performances inspired by the spirit of the Festival. The event takes place Saturday. For tickets and more information see bachfestival.org or call (831) 624-1521.

Monterey symphony

Last weekend, Monterey Symphony conductor Jayce Ogren led the orchestra in its penultimate concert, dubbed Mozart Sandwich. In the event, Ogren served up more of a Haydn-Mozart layered parfait, beginning with his chef’s choice, not listed in the program, of a movement from Haydn’s Surprise Symphony. The Haydn surprise led into Mozart’s famous Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and then to Adelle-Akiko Kearns’s gorgeous playing in Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D Major. Ogren appears to be a leader in the rediscovery of the works of early 20th-century Austrian composer Franz Schreker, whose extraordinary Chamber Symphony formed the centerpiece of this concert and featured 24 solo instruments, including strings, winds, brass, harp, piano and harmonium. The brilliant and virtuosic textures and colors of this work illuminated the superb artistry of the individual players and Ogren’s gift for bringing exceptional new music to Symphony audiences. Mozart’s popular “Marriage of Figaro” overture concluded the concert.

There was an awkwardly long stage change between the last two works, which Ogren covered by reminding us that the final concert of the Symphony’s 79th season, on May 17 and 18 with music of Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Ottorino Respighi and finally Ogren’s own composition “Intertidal,” inspired by the murmuration of shorebirds on the Pacific shores of Washington State. For tickets and information see www.montereysymphony.org or call (831) 646-8511.