In 2008, Orli Shaham was engaged by the Pacific Symphony in Costa Mesa, California, to be the curator of their chamber music series, Café Ludwig. At a museum, the curator is the person who selects the art, builds and organizes it into comprehensive collections, and determines the best configuration for a particular show. So, how does this translate to curating a chamber music series? Orli fills us in.

Gail Wein: What makes a great chamber music program?

Orli Shaham: When I'm coming up with a chamber music program, I try to think of a way to really feature all the individual musicians, so that nobody ever feels like they come in to do a bit part.

At the same time, the program needs to be well-balanced in terms of the type of music. For me, putting together any kind of program is a little bit like putting together the menu for dinner. You want the soup, and you want the main course. Maybe a salad, and a dessert. But they all have to go with each other. You can't have one that overwhelms the other. You can't have the filet mignon and the really heavy chocolate soufflé, if you're also going to have a very heavy soup to start. You want each individual work to really be able to stand up for itself and have a chance to communicate what it needs to say, despite the fact that there are other works on the program.

GW: Is there an underlying thread that links the pieces in a single program?

OS: I usually try to come up with some ideas. Sometimes they're just clever little ways of doing it and sometimes they're meaningful. The program that we're doing in February at Café Ludwig is all trios, for example. But I decided to make them very different kinds of trios. So we have the Mozart Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano, the Kegelstatt Trio, so there's a woodwind sound in there. We have the Bartok Contrasts, which is for a similar combination, but it's such a radically different type of piece. And then on the second half we play a much more traditional kind of piano trio, the Mendelssohn C-minor Piano Trio.

On another program, we started out with two people and then went to three people, and then went to four people, so there was a kind of feeling of additional sound each time.

And on our final program in the spring of 2010, we're doing a program where the first half is all kinds of impressionistic music, and the second half is very Germanic. I find that those two qualities contrast very well, and they make for a nice full program. So, on the first half we're performing the Debussy Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp. It's such a beautiful piece. And then I'm playing the Scriabin Sonata-Fantasy, which, although Scriabin was not technically an Impressionist, it works very well after Debussy, because the Debussy highlights the kinds of sounds that are in the Scriabin. And then on the second half we're playing the Schumann Piano Quintet, which brings a very different kind of sound quality, and adds verve and fervor to the music. I think that will balance the first half in a very fun and satisfying way.

GW: What else do you think about when you're putting together a program? Do you think about what the audience would like to hear?

OS: I always think about what the audience would like to hear when I'm putting together a program. I like to introduce audiences to something new, but not to so many new things that they feel they didn't get the satisfaction they were looking for out of the evening. And I like to give them something that they've heard a lot, so they get some feeling of fullness after that, but I don't want to do too much of that. You get your beef and potato stew, but afterward, you might want to try a pomegranate sorbet. So there's just a little spice, as well as all of the things that you knew you were coming to the concert for.

GW: Orli, thank you very much.

OS: My pleasure, thank you.