San Francisco Chamber Orchestra in Fallbrook Jan. 7

Fallbrook Music Society (FMS) invites the community to ring in the new year in style. The San Francisco Chamber Orchestra (SFCO) will make its Fallbrook debut on Sunday, January 7, at 3:00 p.m. with a performance that includes Handel, Shostakovich and Schubert. “The conductor’s imaginative programming will provide us with two virtuoso soloists, on trumpet and piano,” says Dr. Brenda Montiel, FMS president. “We are pleased to bring this superior orchestra to Fallbrook for the first time.”

This performance, under the direction of Ben Simon, features Schubert’s Fifth Symphony, an early masterpiece of consummate charm and irresistible melody, paired with Dmitri Shostakovich’s bright and witty First Piano Concerto featuring San Francisco’s own Robert Schwartz. The program also includes George Frederic Handel’s delightful Trumpet Concerto in G minor with debut artist Jeff Strong.

In January 2002, Simon became the new music director of SFCO. A violinist by training and a chamber musician at heart, Maestro Simon has assembled a team to turn the SFCO into a vibrant, exciting “player” on the stage of the Bay Area’s classical music scene. Simon has performed for audiences around the world as a violist with the award-winning New World String Quarter and principal violist with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra as well as the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonic Orchestras. He has taught at Harvard and Stanford Universities and is currently on the music faculty of UC Berkeley.

Schwartz has been hailed by Hugh Wolff of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra as “one of the finest pianists of his generation.” Winner of numerous awards, Schwartz has performed extensively in the US and abroad.

The San Francisco Chamber Orchestra concert will take place at 3:00 p.m. at the Bob Burton Center for the Performing Arts, 2400 South Stage Coach Lane in Fallbrook. A conductor’s preview at 2:30 p.m. is open to all ticket holders. Tickets are available by calling (760) 451-8644 or visiting http://www.fallbrookmusicsociety.org. The Web site also offers additional information about the Music Society’s full range of symphonic and chamber concerts in the 2006-2007 concert season.