By St. Cecilia Music Center
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Series 2018/2019 season begins on Nov. 15, with 5 internationally renowned musicians from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York performing diverse gems from the 19th century as the St. Cecilia Music Center’s chamber music series begins its season with the beloved Schubert composition The Trout Quintet.
Duos and trios will fill the first half of their performance, including Beethoven’s variations on Mozart’s melody, Schubert’s creation for the arpeggione, and Bottesini’s virtuoso showpiece for violin and double bass. The artists join forces after intermission to perform Schubert’s Trout Quintet, which has garnered a reputation as one of the most popular works in the chamber repertory.
A pre-concert artist talk with the visiting musicians begins at 7 p.m. and is open to all ticket holders.
“We are so pleased to renew another three-year agreement with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center,” St. Cecilia executive director Cathy Holbrook said. “They are some of the most exciting artists to experience at SCMC with their exquisite performances and amazing artistry. To listen to and see these artists in action is truly captivating,”
Musicians will include pianist Orion Weiss, violinist Paul Huang, violist Paul Neubauer, cellist Keith Robinson, and double bassist Xavier Foley. New artist Foley is the recipient of a prestigious 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant. He has also won the 2016 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and First Prizes at Astral’s 2014 National Auditions, Sphinx’s 2014 Competition, and the 2011 International Society of Bassists Competition.
Tickets for the November 15 CMS of Lincoln Center concert are $45 and $40. Season tickets for all 3 of the CMS of Lincoln Center concerts are also available for 15-20 percent discount off single ticket prices.
There will be two more chamber music concerts as part of the St. Cecilia series:
A program entitled Russian Mastery, featuring works by Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Arensky, on March 14, 2019. Co-artistic Director and pianist Wu Han will return to Grand Rapids with violinists Arnaud Sussman and Alexander Sitkovetsky, and cellist Nicholas Canellakis. Russia’s vastly expressive music over time has told the story of its country and people, painting a picture through music of its turbulent historical landscape. The Prokofiev Two Violin Sonata, written in 1932, stands apart as an audaciously creative work from the period between the wars, while the remaining works will be glorious musical outpourings of the age of the tsars and the Russian Empire.
A program on April 25, 2019 entitled From Mendelssohn, which will feature Mendelssohn works and magnificent artists who admired and emulated his work through some of their own including Schumann, Brahms and Tchaikovsky. Mendelssohn’s combined mastery of melody, form, counterpoint, and the chamber idiom was admired and imitated by composers for generations. In a program bookended by two works of Mendelssohn from 1845, one brief, the other epic, the audience will hear Mendelssohn’s close friend Robert Schumann’s response to Mendelssohn’s piano trios; how, near the end of his life, Brahms recalled Mendelssohn’s lyricism through the viola’s dark voice; and, finally, how Mendelssohn’s great admirer Tchaikovsky combined the German’s signature scherzo idiom with Russian melancholy and splendor in three selections from The Seasons for solo piano. CMS musicians performing for the final concert of the season will include pianist Inon Barnatan violinist Cho-Liang Lin, violist Paul Neubauer, cellist Jakob Koranyi, and clarinetist Romie de Guise-Langlois.
All concert tickets can be purchased by calling St. Cecilia Music Center at 616-459-2224 or visiting the box office at 24 Ransom Ave. NE. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.scmc-online.org. A post-concert “Meet-the-artist” party, with complimentary wine will be offered to all ticket-holders giving the audience the opportunity to meet the artists and to obtain signed CDs of their releases.
