the 2016-17 brochure - Chamber Music Society of

PAID
2016-2017
Foy Concert Hall
2016-2017
Season
610-435-7611
www.cmsob.org
chambermusic@cmsob.org
Return service requested
Priscilla Payne Hurd
Campus for
Music and Art
Moravian College
Bethlehem, PA 18018
PO Box 4336
Bethlehem, PA 18018-0336
NON-PROFIT
U.S. POSTAGE
Lehigh Valley, PA
Permit No. 129
Season
Cathedral Church
of the Nativity
321 Wyandotte Street
Bethlehem, PA 18015
Program information and
single ticket sales at www.cmsob.org
Trio Solisti
Friday, September 16, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.
Foy Concert Hall
Aizuri Quartet
Friday, October 14, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.
Foy Concert Hall
Modigliani Quartet
Friday, November 18, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.
Cathedral Church of the Nativity
Signum Quartet
Friday, February 10, 2017, at 7:30 p.m.
Foy Concert Hall
Euclid Quartet
Sunday, April 2, 2017, at 3:00 p.m.
Foy Concert Hall
Borealis Wind Quintet
Sunday, April 30, 2017, at 3:00 p.m..
Cathedral Church of the Nativity
Claremont Trio with Melissa Reardon, viola
Sunday, May 21, 2017, at 3:00 p.m.
Foy Concert Hall
Please note: all programs throughout the Season are subject to change.
The mission of the Chamber Music Society
of Bethlehem is to further appreciation of chamber
music by presenting concerts to the greater
Lehigh Valley community featuring
world-class ensembles.
Donations
Season
2016-2017
We are extremely appreciative of the generous
donations we receive from our many friends each
year. Your donations are vital to the continued
success of the Chamber Music Society of
Bethlehem. All donations are tax deductible.
Please check to see if your employer has a
matching gift program. These donations are
acknowledged in our concert program in these
gift denominations:
About the concerts
• Rubato. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 and above
Season. We are privileged to present a series of seven
• Fortissimo . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,000 - $4,999
The Chamber Music Society of Bethlehem invites you to
experience the performances of world-class ensembles as
it celebrates its 65th anniversary with the 2016-2017
concerts, which include the highly anticipated return
of some audience favorites and the warm welcome of
• Crescendo . . . . . . . . . . . . . $500 - $999
others for their first introduction to our audience.
• Allegro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $250 - $499
Four Friday evening concerts - three at Foy Concert Hall
• Espressivo . . . . . . . . . . . . . $50 - $249
• Tranquillo . . . . . . . . . . . . . up to $49
and one at Cathedral Church of the Nativity - will begin
at 7:30 p.m. Three Sunday afternoon concerts - two at
Foy Concert Hall and one at Cathedral Church of the
Nativity - will begin at 3:00 p.m.
Contact
You can reach the
Chamber Music Society of Bethlehem at:
610-435-7611
chambermusic@cmsob.org
www.cmsob.org
Concertgoers can enjoy significant savings by purchasing
a full subscription for 7 concerts or packages of 4, 5 or
6 tickets. All tickets are flexible and can be used at
any concert. You might also consider purchasing a
subscription package as a gift for someone special.
Single tickets can be purchased at the door or online.
The Chamber Music Society of
Bethlehem receives state arts funding
support through a grant from the
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts,
a state agency funded by the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
and the National Endowment for the
Arts, a federal agency.
We invite you to join us for our traditional post-concert
receptions, where you can enjoy refreshments as you
chat with the artists and fellow concertgoers.
Program information and single tickets
sales at www.cmsob.org
Subscription
Subscribe and SAVE! We offer several cost-saving subscription
options listed in the table below. In addition, concertgoers aged
25 and younger will enjoy complimentary admission to all of our
concerts. Subscription tickets can be used at any concert during the
season. Your subscription tickets will be available at the ticket desk
at Foy Concert Hall from 6:30 p.m. until 7:20 p.m. before the first
concert on September 16, 2016. If you are unable to attend this
concert, your tickets will be mailed to you before October 1.
Single tickets purchased online or at the door are $27.
Trio Solisti
Friday, September 16, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.
Foy Concert Hall, Moravian College
Bethlehem, PA 18018
While the seamlessly perfect ensemble music-making of the Trio
Solisti has caused critics to applaud the group’s “signature intensity”
(The New Yorker) and compare it favorably to the Beaux Arts Trio
(The Wall Street Journal), the exciting diversity of the individuals
who compose the trio—three amazing and distinct soloists, as the
name insists—may be the spice that consistently piques the passions
of their audiences. Schooled at the finest American institutions—
Curtis, Juilliard, Yale—these musicians bring to their collaboration
interests and skills as different as the instruments they play. Violinist
Maria Bachmann is the Artistic Director of the Telluride Musicfest
in Colorado, where the trio has performed annually since founding
that chamber music festival a decade and a half ago. Cellist Alexis
Pia Gerlach makes music for dancers, performing directly on stage
with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, for example, and New York
City Ballet principal dancer Damian Woetzel. Pianist Adam Neiman
is also a successful composer, who is especially intrigued with
composing for television and film. He scored the PBS documentary
“Forgiveness: A Time to Love and a Time to Hate” in 2010.
Together since 2001, these three individuals beautifully blend their
talents in both fresh realizations of works from the traditional
chamber repertoire and cutting-edge commissions like a piano trio
by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon, projected for
2017. In fall 2015, the Trio Solisti extended their collaborative mojo
to include “and friends,” guest artists who joined them at Carnegie
Hall for a series presenting Brahms’ complete piano chamber music.
The Bethlehem audience will be treated to a broad range of periods
and styles by this practiced collective of three exceptional soloists.
PROGRAM
Beethoven
Turina
Liebermann
Arensky
Piano Trio No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 1, No. 3
Piano Trio No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 76
Piano Trio No. 3 Op. 122 (2012)
(Trio Solisti commission)
Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 32
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SUBSCRIPTION
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COST
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$160
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Six-ticket package:
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$140
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Please complete this form and mail with your check made payable to:
Chamber Music Society of Bethlehem (CMSOB)
P.O. Box 4336, Bethlehem, PA 18018-0336
Directions
Cathedral Church of the Nativity
321 Wyandotte Street, Bethlehem, PA 18015
The Cathedral is located on Wyandotte Street (Route 378)
just south of the Hill-to-Hill Bridge in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
FROM ALLENTOWN and points west take Route 22 East
to Route 378 South. Follow 378 South across the Hill-to-Hill
Bridge through the 2nd traffic light. The Cathedral is located
on the left.
FROM EASTON and points east take Route 22 West to
Route 378 South. Follow 378 South across the Hill-to-Hill
Bridge through the 2nd traffic light. The Cathedral is located
on the left.
FROM QUAKERTOWN take Route 309 North to Route
378 North. Follow 378 North into Bethlehem. At the bottom
of the Wyandotte Street hill stay on Route 378 North through
the next traffic light. The Cathedral is located on the right.
FROM HELLERTOWN take Route 412 into Bethlehem.
Bear right onto Third Street and continue to the intersection
with Wyandotte Street (Route 378). The Cathedral is located
on the left.
FROM PHILADELPHIA take the Northeast Extension of
the PA Turnpike to the exit for Allentown/Route 22 East and
follow the directions from Allentown.
PARKING: The Cathedral’s upper lot is accessed from
Wyandotte Street. The lower lot (with elevator access to the
Cathedral) is accessed from Third Street. On-street metered
parking is available on streets surrounding the Cathedral—
Third Street, Fourth Street, and the 400 block of Wyandotte
Street. An off-street metered lot is next to Lehigh Pizza at the
corner of Third and New Streets.
Aizuri Quartet
Friday, October 14, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.
Foy Concert Hall, Moravian College
Bethlehem, PA 18018
Philadelphia-based, world-traveled, and cosmically-attuned,
the Aizuri Quartet has established an impressive reputation andÊ
pursued unexpected projects in the short time since its 2012
inception. String Quartet-in-Residence at the Curtis Institute
and an active participant in Curtis-on-Tour, with strong ties toÊ
the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and the PhiladelphiaÊ
Chamber Music Society, the ensemble has brought its art toÊ
world audiences and international students of music not only
in person but virtually—through “The World of the StringÊ
Quartet,” a free seven-hour Curtis-Coursera online courseÊ
hosted by Arnold Steinhardt of the fabled Guarneri Quartet.Ê
Since the group is named for a Japanese method of woodblockÊ
printing, mostly in blue, it is not surprising that their partnershipsÊ
and appearances often feature a marriage of the visual and
musical arts. As the 2015 ensemble-in-residence at the BarnesÊ
Foundation, the musicians premiered or presented three worksÊ
commissioned for the Aizuri at the openings of four special
exhibitions of art and artists throughout the year. Boston’s
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, New York’s Morgan LibraryÊ
and Museum, and Philadelphia’s Museum of Art are also includedÊ
among their concert venues—as is Philly’s World Café Live,Ê
where the Aizuri added poetry to its artistic fusion, collaboratingÊ
with award-winning poet Denice Frohman and composer
Andrew Lipke in premiering two more specially commissionedÊ
works. About music education, the group confesses to being
“passionate.” This mission produced a series of “Curiosity
Concerts,” for example, at Connecticut’s Byram Shubert Library,Ê
where musicians and students chatted happily together aboutÊ
friendship in Mozart’s K. 575, trains in Janacek’s “Kreutzer,”Ê
and watery shapes and forms in Debussy’s String Quartet.
For further information, see www.nativitycathedral.org.
PROGRAM
Mozart
String Quartet No. 14 in G Major, K 387
Paul Wiancko Lift (2016) (Aizuri commission)
Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 13
378
Directions
Foy Concert Hall
Priscilla Payne Hurd Campus for Music and Art
Moravian College
South Campus at Main and Church Streets,
Bethlehem PA, 18018
FROM THE NORTH Follow Route 378 South to the Center
City Exit (#3). Turn left onto Third Avenue; then turn left
onto West Broad Street. Turn right onto Main Street and
continue south, through the light beyond the Hotel
Bethlehem. Foy Concert Hall will be on your left.
Modigliani Quartet
Friday, November 18, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.
Cathedral Church of the Nativity
Bethlehem, PA 18015
Dumas’ three musketeers plus d’Artagnan have nothing onÊ
the four Frenchmen of the Modigliani Quartet for égalité andÊ
fraternité, and local concertgoers who were thrilled by theirÊ
CMSOB performance three years ago are at liberté to relishÊ
their smooth sound and continental élan on this return visit toÊ
Bethlehem. Fresh listeners are also welcome—and may expectÊ
to become instant fans. Together since schooldays (thus,
fraternité), they formed the ensemble in 2003 and immediately impressed critics with their “balance” (there’s theÊ
égalité), which has only seasoned with the passage of time.Ê
Asked in a 2015 interview with LibérationÊhow the quartetÊ
had aged in a dozen years, they replied that, “We know
ourselves better; we are in accord with our choices. Our
decisions are collegial.” One of those decisions was to take onÊ
the artistic direction of the revived summer festival RencontresÊ
Musicales d’Evian, once famously helmed by Mstislav
Rostropovich, and they are justly proud of the festival’s newÊ
success. Recording for Mirare for eight of the ensemble’s
thirteen years together, the Modigliani has garnered numerousÊ
accolades for its CDs, the most recent of which (2015) includesÊ
Dvor?k’s “American” string quartet, which the Bethlehem
audience will hear. About the CD, the Guardian reviewerÊ
wrote: “Fast passages . . . are full of spontaneity and buoyancy,Ê
with a great conversational bravura between the players plus an
added refinement . . . . The sound is mainly light and shiny . . .
the litheness is invigorating, and there’s a stripped-back beauty
in the slow movements that stopped me in my tracks.”
PROGRAM
Mozart
String Quartet No. 21 in D Major, K. 575
Schumann String Quartet No. 3 in A Major, Op. 41
Dvorák
String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96
“American”
FROM THE SOUTH Follow Route 378 North to the Main
Street Exit, which is just north of the Lehigh River. At the end
of the bridge, turn right onto
Main Street. Foy Concert Hall
and parking lot will be on
your left.
PARKING Lighted parking lots
are adjacent to the Foy
Concert Hall and under the Hillto-Hill Bridge. City parking
garages are located at Walnut
Street and North Street.
FOY
CONCERT
HALL
Signum Quartet
Friday, February 10, 2017, at 7:30 p.m.
Foy Concert Hall, Moravian College
Bethlehem, PA 18018
Claremont Trio with
Melissa Reardon, viola
Sunday, May 21, 2017, at 3:00 p.m.
Foy Concert Hall, Moravian College
Bethlehem, PA 18018
Like the Euclid Quartet, the Claremont Trio is named for a
street: New York City’s Claremont Avenue, near where all
three musicians once studied and now live with their families.
Fortunately, the trio is also familiar with Interstate Highway 78
and no stranger to Lehigh Valley audiences. The Claremonts
are huge CMSOB series favorites, and new concertgoers will
soon fall under their charm as the trio returns with special guest
artist, violist Melissa Reardon. Founded in 1999, the ensemble
soon established itself as “one of America’s finest young
chamber groups” (Strad Magazine). The Boston Globe has
described a Claremont concert as playing “with passion and
precision” and making “quieter passages . . . as interesting as
the climaxes.” The group’s half-dozen recordings have been
consistently and highly praised. First winner of the KalichsteinLaredo-Robinson International Trio Award, the Claremont is
the only piano trio to receive the Young Concert Artists International Auditions Award. The trio (twin sisters Emily and Julia
Bruskin and Andrea Lam) extends its repertoire through
frequent collaborations with individual artists (as at this season’s
Bethlehem concert), as well as with large orchestras (especially
for its frequent performances and recent recording of
Beethoven’s “Triple” Concerto). The Claremonts are also active
in the commissioning of new works and will perform one of
them at the Bethlehem concert. Melissa Reardon, who joins
the Claremont Trio for a Mozart quartet, is currently a sort of
classical idol, as evidenced by her touring with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk
Road Ensemble and Musicians from Marlboro. She has earned
her buzz, however, with an impressive body of work. Violist for
the Grammy-nominated Enso String Quartet, she is the
recipient of plenty of rave reviews and competitive awards solo.
PROGRAM
Mozart
Sean Shepherd
Dvorák
Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, K. 493
Trio (2012) ( Claremont Trio commission)
Piano Trio in F Minor, Op. 65
The Signum Quartet dates from 1994, when its founders—its
current violinist and cellist—formed the ensemble as teenagers,
both already a decade into the mastery of their instruments.
Three members are German; the violist is from South Africa.
Each boasts impressive individual credentials of musical
education, competition, and collaboration. Together they have
performed widely across Europe, less so in the United States
until recently. An American foray in 2013 took them to Boston
and Santa Fe. In 2015 and 2016, they came to New York City
and, most interestingly, performed in Princeton, where they
launched the #quartweet project with the Princeton Symphony
Orchestra in October 2015. On its website, Signum invites
“quartweeters”—composers of any age, ability, or level of
renown—to tweet 140-note (or less) quartets to be considered
for performance. The #quartweets are electronically broadcast
on Periscope and YouTube and regularly performed at concerts
(including the Bethlehem engagement) by the ensemble. As
might be expected of such innovators, the Signum Quartet
works closely with contemporary composers of even longer
compositions, yet the traditional repertoire is hardly neglected,
as the Bethlehem program and the group’s discography indicate.
The Strad reviewer of Signum’s latest recording—alla czeca—
describes the playing as “both clean in its clarity of ensemble
and interpretatively full of freshness and life, and its ebullience
of spirit in the exhilarating finale is infectious.” Winner of the
German Music Competition, Premio Paolo Borciani, and
London International String Quartet Competition, the Signum
Quartet received the International Classical Music Awards 2014
“Best Chamber Music Recording” for its 2013 release No. 3.
PROGRAM
Mozart
Mozart
Adagio and Fugue in E Major K. 405/3
after J.S. Bach BWV 878
String Quartet No. 17 in B-flat Major, K. 458
“The Hunt”
#quartweets
Jörg Widmann String Quartet No. 3 “Jagdquartett
(Hunt Quartet)” (2003)
Beethoven
String Quartet No. 9 in C Major, Op. 59 No. 3
Borealis Wind Quintet
Sunday, April 30, 2017, at 3:00 p.m.
Cathedral Church of the Nativity
Bethlehem, PA 18015
Euclid Quartet
Sunday, April 2, 2017, at 3:00 p.m.
Foy Concert Hall, Moravian College
Bethlehem, PA 18018
The Euclid Quartet is named for Cleveland’s famed Euclid
Avenue, not for the 4th-century BCE Greek mathematician,
although the translation of the Greek name—“renowned,
glorious”—certainly applies. Founded in 1998 by four
graduate students at Kent State University in Ohio and in
residence at Indiana University South Bend since 2007, the
ensemble has regularly garnered critical accolades, won
international competitions, and earned “American
Masterpieces” grant support from the National Endowment
for the Arts for educational work with young audiences.
Reviewers tend to use terms like “fierce,” “ferocity,”
“fearless,” and “fervent” to describe the group’s playing, but
they also notice a lovely, “feathery” quality (Washington Post)
and a “romantic élan” (Palm Beach Daily News). Despite its
solid home base in America’s heartland, the quartet’s current
membership hails from four corners of the world: violinists
Cooper and Murphy, founding members of the Euclid, from
the United Kingdom and Unites States, respectively; violist
Vargas from Venezuela; and cellist Li from China. Local
audience members familiar with the Allentown Symphony
Orchestra’s “El Sistema Lehigh Valley” program for
underserved and special needs youth will be interested to
know that Vargas is a proud product of the original “El
Sistema” in Venezuela. He joined the Euclid Quartet in 2001,
and Li came aboard in 2009. The four musicians have
become exquisitely attuned to each other during their years
performing and recording together. Bartók’s complete cycle of
six string quartets has been recorded by the group, as have
four of Hugo Kauder’s nineteen string quartets, lesser known
than the Bartók but as enthusiastically received by listeners of
the Euclid’s recordings. The Bethlehem audience will be
treated to a live performance by the ensemble of Bartók’s first.
PROGRAM
Bartók
Schubert
String Quartet No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 7
String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810
“Death and the Maiden”
The Borealis Wind Quintet returns to the CMSOB concert
series after fifteen years, and we are excited about welcoming
them back and also introducing this widely known ensemble
to new Lehigh Valley listeners. Maybe it is the Moravian
tradition of trombone choirs that provides local audiences
with a practiced ear for the wind repertoire and a deep
appreciation for its purveyors. This group is one of the best.
Although the quintet aptly compares itself to the aurora
borealis in deed as well as name, describing its own musical
output as “a brilliant array of sparkling color and magic”
(with a Grammy nomination to support the boast), its name,
of course, derives from Boreas, the name the Greeks bestowed
on the god of the cold north wind. This wind ensemble does,
indeed, blow in from our north—New York and New
England—though tours since its 1976 founding have circled
the nation many times. Classical music lovers with a, perhaps,
secret yen for popular musicals will note an even more specific
northern base: Broadway. Three of the Borealis musicians
have played in the pits of The Phantom of the Opera, Les
Miserables, or Beauty and the Beast. The New York Times
has described the group as “polished,” “elegant,” and
“scintillating”; The Philadelphia Inquirer as “demonstrat[ing]
the sort of rapport that characterizes the very best chamber
playing”; and The Washington Post as “sensitive,”
“sophisticated,” and “cosmopolitan.” After 40 years of
experience in pleasing audiences, the quintet promises ours
a thoughtful and moving program, friendly commentary,
and a few surprises.
PROGRAM
Charles Lefebvre
Eric Ewazen
Nino Rota
Samuel Barber
Carl Nielsen
Suite, Op. 57
Roaring Fork Quintet
Petite Offrande Musicale
Summer Music, Op. 31
Wind Quintet, Op. 43