For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, I’m returning to the marvelous Salon de Musiques chamber-concert series—now in La Jolla!—to introduce the program and moderate the post-concert Q&A. Organizer François Chouchan has crafted an enticing program, one that (true to the Salon mission) combines canonic favorites with recovered treasures. On the more familiar side, we have Handel’s Sonata for Two Violins in G Minor and Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D Minor (in an arrangement with string quartet instead of orchestra). The newcomer is the String Quintet in E Minor by George Onslow, a man who loved chamber music and had the financial independence to support his passion.

The concert will feature a stellar group of musicians: violinists Ambrose Aubrun and Hwi-Eun Kim, violist Jonah Sirota, cellist Allan Hon, bassist Aaron Blick, and pianist Vijay Venkatesh.