The California Chamber Orchestra is the principal ensemble – or musical performance group – of the Golden Valley Music Society.  It presents a season that includes multiple performances of four to five concerts.

One of the hallmarks of the orchestra is the variety of music it presents.  The professional musicians performing these concerts are drawn from throughout Southern California – outstanding local area musicians, members of the San Diego Symphony and the Pacific Symphony of Orange County, and top free-lance musicians.  The size of the ensemble for each concert, as well as the instrumentation, will vary from program to program, based on the repertoire.

The Society has expanded its offerings by creating various performance ensembles that are making it possible to take great music to a broad array of audiences.

These groups perform with the orchestra as well as on their own and are available for bookings.  Contact Artistic Director Warren Gref for more information by calling 951-894-6090.

Warren Gref, the Society’s artistic director and conductor of the California Chamber Orchestra, has played French horn for many years with the San Diego Symphony, the San Diego Opera and San Diego Chamber Orchestras as well as with a number of other Southern California ensembles. He also conducts and teaches.

A resident of the Golden Valley, Mr. Gref has a long list of musical achievements. He won a GRAMMY in 2005 as part of a chamber music recording group. He has performed under the batons of such internationally acclaimed conductors and composers as Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Williams and Zubin Mehta. David Zinman, Murry Sidlin, Michael Stern, Christopher Seaman and Edo de Waart have been his conducting mentors.

Along with producing quality music, both as a player and a conductor, he puts priority on making fine music accessible to a wide audience and to bring live music to school-age children. He is involved in an array of educational offerings, bringing more than a dozen assemblies to valley schools and coaching local young musicians.