Salastina provides three areas of program activity:

1) Live performances that invite audiences into our creative space. Salastina’s programming seeks to add depth and breadth to traditional classical music. All concerts are live-streamed. Notably, our in-person audience attendance has surged 198% when comparing our last complete pre-pandemic season to the current one. On average, Salastina presents 18 to 22 performances per season. Five Main Series programs are repeated in Pasadena, West Los Angeles, and Orange County, with additional events rounding out the season.

Our proprietary concert formats include:

– Sounds Unknown: an exploration of the many reasons — from racism to misogyny to bad luck — why some composers never gain due recognition
– Sounds Mysterious: a musical guessing game in which the composer’s identity is redacted; the audience and musicians guess who wrote the piece together
– Sounds Delicious: our contemporary take on the Salon tradition — pairing gourmet courses and music around themes from history, science, literature, or pop culture
– Happy Hours: casual performances by, and spirited conversation with, a well-known guest artist. This “peek behind the creative curtain” prioritizes personal interaction between musicians and fellow music lovers at an accessible $5 price point

2) Sounds Promising is Salastina’s tuition-free Young Artist and Young Composer apprenticeship program serving up to five young composers free of charge. All instruction occurs virtually. Most participants are local to Southern California.

3) Vital Sounds: one-on-one virtual bedside concerts for ICU patients. Since May 2020, Salastina has provided private, virtual bedside concerts to the bedsides of critically ill patients in the ICUs of UCLA and Huntington Health. Our musicians have provided over 75,000 minutes to more than 4,000 patients and their caregivers. We provide two hours of one-on-one, virtual bedside concerts five days a week at no cost to patients or hospital partners.