Chamber Music Series 2022-23 Season
Each year, the Brattleboro Music Center’s Chamber Music Series features artists and ensembles with international reputations, as well as gifted emerging young artists, performing chamber music of the highest quality.
Chamber Series: Musicians from Marlboro
October 31 @ 7 p.m.
The Brattleboro Music Center’s Chamber Series features Musicians from Marlboro Monday, October 31.The concert is set for 7 p.m. Tickets are $30 general admission, and are available on the Brattleboro Music Center website – bmcvt.org – or by calling 802-257-4523.This is the first of the group’s three tour programs this season, and features nine outstanding musicians performing works from three centuries. They include Lauren Pearl, soprano; Abigail Fayette, Alina Kobialka, Anna Lee, and Scott St. John, violins; Kei Tojo and Sharon Wei, viola; and Tony Rymer and Judith Serkin, cello.The program includes Respighi’s Il Tramonto; Brahms’ Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 67; Orth’s “You Shattered My Deafness;” and Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20.Chamber Series: Musicians from Marlboro II
February 11 @ 7 p.m.
The Chamber Series continues Saturday, February 11, with a visit from the Musicians from Marlboro Group II.The 7 p.m. concert at the BMC will include a work titled Moon Songs by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Shulamit Ran, who was in residence at Marlboro in 2018 and worked extensively on her music with these artists in Vermont.Also on the program is Haydn’s String Trio in G Major, Op. 53, No. 1 and Mozart’s Divertimento in E-flat Major, K. 563.Performers are Kristina Bachrach, soprano; Giorgio Consolati, flute; Joseph Lin, violin; En-Chi Cheng, viola; Brannon Cho and Matt Zalkind, cello; and Lydia Brown, piano.
Chamber Series: Roderick Williams & Yi-Heng Yang
February 16 @ 7 p.m.
The Brattleboro Music Center’s Chamber Music Series features “Celebrating Valentine’s with Love Songs Old & New” with British baritone Roderick Williams, accompanied by pianist Yi-Heng Yang, Thursday, February 16.The 7 p.m. concert at the BMC will include memorable works by Robert Schumann, Roger Quilter, Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, Josephine Lang, Caroline Shaw, and more.Roderick Williams is one of the United Kingdom’s most sought-after baritones and is constantly in demand on the concert platform and in recital, encompassing a repertoire from the baroque to world premieres. In 2016, he won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Singer of the year award.Opera engagements have included major roles at leading opera houses worldwide, including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, English National Opera, Dutch National Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera North, Scottish Opera, Florida Grand Opera, the Bregenz Festival and Oper Köln. He has been involved in many world premieres including, Lord Byron in the world premiere of Sally Beamish’s Monster, Alexander Knaifel’s Alice in Wonderland and Michel van der Aa’s After Life, and the title role in Robert Saxton’s The Wandering Jew with the BBC Symphony.Pianist Yi-Heng Yang’s work includes collaborations on period instruments with visionary artists such as the Grammy award-winning tenor Karim Sulayman, in their acclaimed and timely album, “Where Only Stars Can Hear Us (Avie Records). She is also known for groundbreaking and provocative explorations into Romantic and Classical performance practice. She is on the faculty at The Juilliard School Preparatory and College Divisions, where she teaches piano, fortepiano, chamber music, keyboard skills and improvisation.Chamber Series: Musicians from Marlboro III
April 8 @ 7 p.m.
Chamber Series: ESPRESSIVO!
June 2 @ 7: p.m.
Four great artists with a passion for chamber music have formed an exciting new quartet that is bound to become an audience favorite. Each of them is known for their wonderfully expressive playing, so it seemed Espressvio was the perfect name for this new quartet of piano and strings.
For decades, violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson, together with their piano trio partner the late Joseph Kalichstein, were considered “chamber music royalty” (Washington Post), a term that applies equally to their ESPRESSIVO! partners – the stellar violist Milena Pajaro-von de Stadt (formerly of the Dover Quartet) and award-winning pianist Anna Polonsky, one of chamber music’s most sought-after partners.
The handful of captivating concerts that they have already played together were full of the virtuosity, musicality and joy that makes for a truly memorable chamber music experience.
We know that ESPRESSIVO! will captivate audiences with exceptional works that we don’t hear often. Considered among the special treasures of the chamber music literature are the quartets for piano and strings of Brahms, Clarke, Faure, among others. These works, along with possible pairings of fascinating duos, or the addition of double bass for Schubert’s glorious “Trout” will form the basis of this vibrant ensemble’s programs. There aren’t likely to be more compelling interpreters than the members of ESPRESSIVO!
For this concert, ESPRESSIVO! has chosen Morpheus for Viola and Piano by Rebecca Clarke, Piano Quartet op. 15 in c minor by Fauré, and Piano Quartet in A Major by Brahms. They always bring the audience to their feet, as will each concert lovingly played by ESPRESSIVO!
