Camarades - The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

UCLA

Camarades

UCLA Camarades - Chamber String Ensemble

UCLA Camarades (“The Music of Friends”) is the title given to the chamber music program that is guided and driven by the String Department. It offers superior coaching to all ensembles incorporating strings, from trios to octets, with a special consideration to the rich string quartet literature. These endeavors of study and instruction are crowned by quarterly concerts and form the basis of the group’s essential experience on stage.

Comprised of UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music acclaimed string faculty and its most gifted students, UCLA Camarades is a versatile chamber ensemble that ranges from duos to full string orchestra. Since its inception in 2009, Camarades ensembles have performed at numerous chamber music series and venues throughout Los Angeles including UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall, LACMA’s Sundays Live, Trinity Lutheran Church in Manhattan Beach, the Dilijan Chamber Music Series at Zipper Hall, the Music Guild, as well as featured guests at the Los Angeles Philanthropic Committee for the Arts’ annual gala at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Residencies at international festivals in the summer of 2012 and 2014 – in Yerevan, Armenia, and Tuscany, Italy – were particularly enriching and memorable experiences.

String quartets recently formed within the UCLA Camarades program have also received distinctions in competitions, including, finalist in the Chesapeake Chamber Competition (2011), winners of the Ladies Musical Club of Seattle (2013), finalists at the Coleman Competition (2014).

Since 2013, Camarades has welcomed a graduate string quartet residency supported by a generous gift from an anonymous donor who created an Armenian Music Program at UCLA. The beneficiary, the VEM Quartet, has since enjoyed frequent and special outreach opportunities, including national and international performances.

Nov 15 Sun
2:00pm
Free
chamber-music, classical, contemporary
Fall Saxophone Studio Recital
It’s a saxophone Tour de France! From early works by Elsa Barraine, Fernande Decruck and Darius Milhaud to Roger Boutry’s mid-century Divertimento to Vincent David’s exploration of contemporary techniques and …
Ensemble Room: Ostin Music Center Learn More
Nov 15 Sun
7:00pm
Free
chamber-music, classical
Fall Brass Ensemble Concert
Join the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music for an evening of chamber music highlighting members of the brass family.
Schoenberg Hall Learn More
Nov 16 Mon
3:00pm
Free
chamber-music, contemporary, lectures-symposia
Jonathan Hepfer, Percussionist: "Sisyphus as Artist"
Join us for the second of six workshops as part of the Modal Interchange: Conversations on 21st-Century Performance Practices series with Jonathan Hepfer, percussionist and artistic director of Monday Evening …
Room 1344 Learn More
Nick DePinna's Orpheus Reignited Receives its World Premiere
Orpheus Reignited will be performed Wednesday, November 11, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. at Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall, 50 Oak Street, San Francisco, CA.
Regina Carter Speaks Up and Stages a Comeback
From Strings Magazine: Jazz violinist Regina Carter on overcoming an injury and fighting the stigma of performer injuries.
Music Course Explores Connections between Music and Politics
From the Daily Bruin: What do Beethoven and Beyoncé have in common? Professor David Lefkowitz explores how musical artists shape political engagement in this exciting course.
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