LACO concertmaster Margaret Batjer is the subject of the new episode of the orchestra’s Close Quarters digital series. (photo courtesy of LA Chamber Orchestra)

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Close Quarters interdisciplinary digital series melding musical and visual arts continues with Concertmaster Margaret Batjer leading a performance of Beethoven’s “Serioso” String Quartet in F minor, arranged for string ensemble by Mahler.

Close Quarters cinematographer Michael Elias Thomas films the orchestra with direction by LACO Creative Director of Digital Content James Darrah and audio production by Robert Wolff.

The new episode is available to the public at no cost and can be streamed on demand following its premiere on Friday, April 9, at 6:30 p.m. at laco.org/close-quarters, and LACO’s YouTube and Facebook live channels. A digital pre-concert conversation begins at 5:30 p.m.

“This episode is bursting at the seams with the brilliance of Beethoven,” LACO Executive Director Ben Cadwallader said. “Margaret Batjer’s extensive experience as a chamber musician shines through as she leads her LACO colleagues in a taut, fiery interpretation of Mahler’s elegant transcription of Beethoven’s masterpiece.”

Batjer, concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra since 1998, has soloed with such major orchestras as the Philadelphia Orchestra and the St. Louis, Seattle and Dallas symphony orchestras, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Prague Chamber Orchestra and Berlin Symphony Orchestra. She appears regularly at the Marlboro Music Festival, La Jolla Summerfest, Salzburg Festival and Italy’s Naples and Cremona festivals.

Close Quarters’ “digitally native” programs, created specifically for streaming and hailed as “musically and artistically compelling” by Los Angeles Times, have drawn more than one million views to date since debuting in November. Between 30 and 40 minutes in length, they are safely filmed at The Colburn School’s Olive Rehearsal Hall.

Subsequent Close Quarters episodes premiere on Fridays, April 23, May 7 and 21, and June 4, 2021, at 6:30 p.m.

For information, visit laco.org.