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After two decades shaping the sound of Baroque music in Southern California, Martin Haselb\u00f6ck will take his final bow as music director of Musica Angelica with a special farewell benefit concert on March 25 at First Congregational Church of Long Beach. (Photo courtesy Musica Angelica).\n<\/p>\n
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Music director Martin Haselb\u00f6ck presents the Musica Angelica baroque orchestra at a previous concert. (Courtesy Musica Angelica)\n<\/p>\n
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The Musica Angelica gala in 2016 dressed the Pacific Ballroom in a European style. (Courtesy Long Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau)\n<\/p>\n
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After two decades shaping the sound of Baroque music in Southern California, Martin Haselb\u00f6ck will take his final bow as music director of Musica Angelica with a special farewell benefit concert on March 25 at First Congregational Church of Long Beach. (Photo courtesy Musica Angelica).\n<\/p>\n
Expand<\/a><\/p>\n But that event, along with any other Musica Angelica events planned for the remainder of the year, have been canceled. The organization\u2019s website, as of Tuesday, March 17, has been wiped of its usual contents, leaving behind only a note announcing the cancellations.<\/p>\n Leslie Smith, a spokesperson for the organization, said in a Tuesday statement that Musica Angelica\u2019s Board of Directors had made the decision to cancel the rest of the season because of its current financial positions.<\/p>\n \u201cLike all nonprofit organizations, the board was continually balancing the rising costs of doing business, while maintaining excellent performances at an accessible ticket price amid the reality of a limited pool of charitable contributions,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIn this case, once the financial situation became clear, the board acted quickly to protect the organization\u2019s stakeholders and obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n Alongside the cancellation of the 2025-26 season, Smith says the organization is effectively shutting down \u201cfor the foreseeable future.\u201d<\/p>\n Aside from the concert in honor of Haselb\u00f6ck, Musica Angelica\u2019s upcoming \u201cSt. Matthew Passion\u201d performances will also not carry on. The First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, meanwhile, will take over the organization\u2019s \u201cBach to the Future\u201d concert, which is planned for March 27. Tickets already sold for that show will be honored, Musica Angelica said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis decision was made with a heavy heart, and we are forever grateful for your patronage and support these many years,\u201d Musica Angelica said on its website. \u201cThank you to the musicians, supporters, and audiences who have sustained Musica Angelica\u2019s mission of bringing the joy of Baroque music to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n LBMA<\/p>\n At first glance, a vessel \u2014 a pot, a vase, a jar \u2014 is a simple object, a container meant to hold something else.<\/p>\n But across cultures and centuries, vessels have attracted artists again and again with their quiet shapes and symbolic possibilities, whether secular or sacred.<\/p>\n This layered potential is at the center of \u201cHolding Time: The Works of Elyse Pignolet and MyungJin Kim,\u201d opening Friday, March 20, at the Long Beach Museum of Art, 2300 E. Ocean Blvd.<\/p>\n The exhibition brings together two contemporary Southern California ceramicists whose work uses the familiar forms of vases, pots, tiles, and mirrors as surfaces for storytelling.<\/p>\n Though their visual styles diverge, both artists approach the vessel as more than a container. For these artists, their vessels become narrative spaces, places where cultural traditions and social commentary unfold.<\/p>\n Elyse Pignolet, a Long Beach\u2013based artist with a studio at Angels Gate Cultural Center, often uses ceramics to examine political and social tensions. Drawing on her Filipino heritage and experiences living in an urban environment, Pignolet\u2019s work frequently addresses themes of feminism, misogyny, and cultural stereotypes.<\/p>\n For MyungJin Kim, too, the vessel is a stage for a certain kind of world, a symbolic world drawn from both Eastern and Western traditions. Born in South Korea and trained at Seoul National University, Kim later relocated to LA, where her work evolved to incorporate cross-cultural influences.<\/p>\n Opening alongside \u201cHolding Time\u201d is \u201cWhy Paint a Landscape? Selections from the Permanent Collection,\u201d a companion exhibition that poses a deceptively simple question drawn from art historian Joshua C. Taylor.<\/p>\n For much of art history, landscapes served merely as backdrops to religious or historical scenes. Only relatively recently did artists begin painting landscapes as subjects in their own right.<\/p>\n But why paint a landscape at all? The works gathered here offer multiple answers to Taylor\u2019s question, revealing motivations that extend far beyond decoration. Landscape painting becomes a way to record a sense of place, explore the relationship between humans and nature, or simply linger in the very act of seeing.<\/p>\n Together, the two upcoming exhibitions at Long Beach Museum of Art offer a thoughtful pairing.<\/p>\n The opening reception begins at 5 p.m. Friday, March 20, inviting visitors to spend an evening on the bluff exploring vessels, landscapes, and the many ways artists give form to the stories we carry.<\/p>\n