Camarada set for first public 2021 indoor concert Friday as Humphreys and Westgate Hotel gear up for summer
By George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune
It remains to be seen if indoor and outdoor concerts in San Diego and throughout California will be able to resume without any restrictions on June 15, contingent on the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations at the time and the amount of available vaccines. Nevertheless, several San Diego concert presenters announced Monday that they are gearing up for renewed activity.
First up is Camarada, whose previously announced audience-free April 24 livestreamed “In the Key of Life — The Music of Stevie Wonder” tribute concert has been moved to this Friday and will be open to a limited number of ticketholders to attend in person.
Friday’s 7 p.m. Camarada performance will be held at La Jolla Music Society’s state-of-the-art Baker-Baum Concert Hall. It is set to become the first ticketed indoor concert with a live audience to take place in San Diego County since the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered all live events here last March. The concert, which will be filmed for streaming on the original April 24 date, is being underwritten by arts patrons Sheryl and Bob Scarano. The lineup of musicians includes singer Rebecca Jade, guitarist Peter Sprague and some of the area’s leading jazz, Latin and classical musicians.
“We’ve been working very closely with the La Jolla Music Society to ensure we’re following all the guidelines,” said Camarada co-founder and flutist Beth Ross Buckley. “The society has been super helpful, and we’ve had hours of meetings with them. We’re kind of like a guinea pig for them!” As per county health guidelines, attendance for Friday’s concert will be limited to just 15 percent of the Baker-Baum’s usual 513-seat capacity for a total of 76 people. That number includes the seven musicians, along with a handful of audio engineers, camera operators and other production staff members. The 60 concert attendees will have to each sign a waiver before being admitted. They will be seated 6 feet apart in assigned seats on the venue’s main floor, where members of up to three households can be seated together at their request. The concertgoers will enter and depart the intermission-free concert incrementally. They will remain masked until they have left the venue. And each attendee will be asked several COVID-related health questions before being admitted, as was also the case at the La Jolla Music Society’s two courtyard chamber-music concerts last Saturday by pianist Inon Barnatan, cellist Alisa Weilerstein and violinist Philippe Quint
“We could do Friday’s ‘In the Key of Life’ concert with 35 percent capacity, if all the people attending showed (proof of) vaccination cards,” said Buckley, who co-founded the nonprofit Camarada 27 years ago. “But since we are so close to Friday’s concert, it’s easier to opt for 15 percent capacity.”