The RuraList: 4 Exceptional Chamber Music Events To Consider
You will always have the opportunity to hear Beethoven and Mozart and all the other greats in the classical music hit parade. There’s no lack of organizations and venues in the Rural Intelligence area programming them. But several chamber music series in the region are widening their scope, bringing to their audiences a variety of less traditional or multi-media concerts, each one quite different from the other but intriguing as all get-out. They will shake up your idea of what chamber music is, and if you’re a chamber music novice, any of these would be a great introduction to the genre.
The Hevreh Ensemble: Music, Art and Tea!
Sunday, Oct. 20 at 2 p.m. at Chaiwalla, Salisbury, Conn.
Not strictly a concert, this is a lecture with music, the first in a series of four Chinese-themed afternoons at the beloved (though now closed) Chaiwalla in Salisbury, Conn. The series will benefit the Hevreh Ensemble, a world-music quartet that frequently performs in the region. In March, the group will be touring China for two weeks on a tour sponsored by Hevreh’s label, Parma Records.
“We still have to cover our travel expenses to get there,” said Judith Dansker, the oboist in the group. “We thought, since we’re going to China, it would make sense to do a fundraising lecture series focused on China. Mary O’Brien from Chaiwalla offered to host these ‘pop-up’ events."
The first lecture, on Sunday, Oct. 20, “Hearing Nature: Chinese Music Through the Centuries,” brings in Dr. John Myers, professor of music and cultural studies at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. A musicologist and Asian music expert, he is a pipa specialist (a sort of Chinese lute) and will play some examples of Chinese music.
The other lectures (in November, January and February) will focus on Chinese art through the centuries, teas from different regions of China, and painters, poems and art. The requested donation is $25 for each lecture.
“Mary O’Brien will be serving her legendary desserts and tea,” Dansker added. (Though, sadly, not her hallowed tomato pie.)
Clarion’s Leaf Peeper Concert Series: Science Fair, An Opera With Experiments
Saturday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. at Hudson Hall, Hudson, N.Y.
This isn’t mixing just media or genres: this is a collision of worlds. A solo opera, “Science Fair” is an opera singer’s love song to science. Mezzo-soprano Hai-Ting Chinn gathered writings of an astronomer, chemist, physicist and other scientists and commissioned composers to put the “lyrics” to music. The result is a fully staged presentation that includes arias, fun costumes, a slide show with comic illustrations, and live scientific experiments. Erika Switzer provides piano accompaniment and music direction.
“I saw 'Science Fair' in New York City and was completely charmed by it,” said Dave Hall, Clarion Concerts board president. “With its combination of live experiments, funny costumes and beautiful music, I thought it would be an exciting concert and a message to our audiences that there’s adventure ahead.”
You wouldn’t want to miss Chinn singing while clad in a wearable model of the solar system, would you? Yes, this is chamber music.
Close Encounters With Music: Hajdu’s Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) for four cellos, narrated by Sam Waterston
Sunday, Oct. 27 at 5 p.m. at The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, Mass.
Audiences always leave Close Encounters With Music concerts feeling inspired, and this season’s opener will no doubt enhance that take-home reward with the North American premiere of Andre Hajdu’s “Kohelet.” Based on texts from Ecclesiastes (said to be written by King Solomon), Hajdu’s score highlights the timelessness of the texts and the autumnal reflections on the cycle of life and death (this is where the familiar “a time to be born and a time to die” comes from). Waterston takes on the role of the philosopher king, and a quartet of cellos accompany, serving as a sort of Greek chorus to the questions, observations and aphorisms of the narrator.
The piece “has a great deal of relevance to our time,” said Artistic Director and cellist Yehuda Hanani, noting it touches on “the complexities, uncertainties and irreconcilable paradoxes that we have to live with and make our peace with in a world that’s ever-more fraught.” Indeed.
In the Close Encounters With Music tradition, the performance will be followed by an Afterglow reception, with hors d’oeuvres and wine provided by a local restaurant. It’s a good opportunity to unpack what you’ve heard with the musicians themselves.
Rhinebeck Chamber Music Society: “Clara,” an opera by Victoria Bond, conducted by the composer
Sunday, Nov. 10 at 3 p.m. at Parish Hall, The Church of the Messiah, Rhinebeck, NY
To commemorate the 200th anniversary of pianist Clara Schumann’s birth, the Rhinebeck Chamber Music Society is mounting a concert version of the new opera by Bond and librettist Barbara Zinn Krieger. The opera’s world premiere took place this year at the 2019 Easter Festival in Baden-Baden, Germany, and received rave reviews.
Bond is an eminent composer and conductor who has held music directorships with leading performing ensembles. Although "Clara" was performed with full orchestration, Bond had also condensed the original score into a trio version for piano, violin and cello, which is what the RCMS will perform.
“Clara” weaves the intertwining lives of Clara Wieck, Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms into a dramatic mixture of music and passion, and contains a cast of four singers, who will be singing in English.
“This is about the biggest production we have undertaken,” said Babette Hierholzer, a pianist and artistic director of the series, which is celebrating its 40th season. “Victoria Bond is a good friend — we had her here in 2015 when we did a concert of women composers. She graciously offered to conduct our version of 'Clara’ and we will have a whole week of rehearsals with her coaching the cast at her studio in New York.”
The production will give an earlier performance at Symphony Space in New York on Friday, Nov. 8, presented by the German Forum.
A world-renowned composer/conductor directing her new opera based on the life of a 19th-century musical prodigy — this is a chamber piece not to be missed.
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