The Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra ( “CHICO” to its friends) was formed to provide a venue for local professional and serious amateur musicians to perform orchestral works for local audiences.  Currently it is entering its eighth season with a schedule of five concerts in the city of Ventura.  The Ventura concerts are being held in the sanctuary of the First United Methodist Church at 1338 East Santa Clara St..  This architecturally and acoustically beautiful site lends itself well to the intimate nature of chamber music.

Our 2010-2011 season program is shown on the "Season At a Glance" page and reflects our programming format:  Two concerts featuring the orchestra with local soloists, one choral/orchestral concert, one Messiah sing-along, and one youth concert.  The concert dedicated to youth will feature talented youth in our community as soloists playing with the orchestra and will, this year, present Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf with narration.  A new feature for the youth concert is a dedicated rehearsal to which students of the VUSD will be invited.  This rehearsal will present a scripted introduction to the orchestra and its instruments and demonstrate the instruments and themes in Peter and the Wolf  (Peter, the wolf, the bird, the duck, the cat, grandpa, the hunters).  The youth soloists will also be available to present a portion of their program.  More detailed information for this event is shown below.