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Thursday Morning Brass performs earlier this season in the garden behind Smith Wilkes Hall. Photo by Greg Funka.

Thursday Morning Brass and more to raise funds with annual Lenna concert

August 20, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

On a Thursday morning in the Hall of Christ, trumpet player Paul Weber stood from his chair to conduct the brass ensemble he started almost 14 years ago, snapping his fingers to keep up their tempo. Joe Prezio, co-founder of the ensemble and other Chautauqua Amateur Music Program groups, called out, “Italians don’t march to 120.”

It was another Thursday morning rehearsal and another march rehearsed for Chautauqua’s Thursday Morning Brass, the first amateur music group founded on the grounds, whose spirit has added a whimsy and lightheartedness to the season that impacts the members as much as the Chautauqua community.

Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. in Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, the Thursday Morning Brass will perform their annual concert, but this year, the ensemble will also feature its fellow amateur music groups the Summer Strummers and the Dixie Lakesiders, as well as a tuba-euphonium quartet that has never performed before.

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A Far Cry

A Far Cry makes Chautauqua debut with Mozart, Britten

August 20, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

A Far Cry is the Goldilocks of the Logan Chamber Series this season — too large to be a quartet, too small to be an orchestra, but just right in their 16-member, self-conducted string ensemble.

“We end up being like the elephant, like the behemoth in a lot of the series that we go to, just because of the sheer number of people,” said Sarah Darling, a violinist in the ensemble. “The idea is that anybody in the group — they’re in the group because they love leading and they love following, and you have to be able to do both.”

For the concert today at 4 p.m. in Elizabeth Lenna Hall, A Far Cry will perform three pieces: Last Round by Osvaldo Golijov, Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik, and Benjamin Britten’s Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge, Op. 10.

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Touchstone Trio. Submitted photo.

Touchstone Trio sounds out ‘Day at Chautauqua’

August 16, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

What does Chautauqua sound like?

The Touchstone Trio, featuring clarinetist Debbie Grohman, pianist Willie La Favor, and flutist Rita George Simmons, present a program titled “Morning, Noon, and Night: A Day at Chautauqua” at 4 p.m. today in Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall.

The program includes pieces from composers Fauré, DeBussy, Karel Husa and Howard J. Buss.

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Sybarite5 Submitted photo.

String quintet Sybarite5 mixes the modern and the classics

August 13, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

Chautauquans who attend the Logan Chamber Music Series concert at 4 p.m. today in Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall will be given a music program, but in small italic letters at the bottom, it will read, “Program subject to change.”

Sybarite5, which won the Concert Artists Guild Competition in 2011 — a first for a string quintet — rarely has a set order of music when entering a concert. Today, it will provide a program. Usually, however, the group does not provide one and is known to change pieces 30 seconds before beginning, compensating by posting programs with the pieces and composers on its website and Facebook page.

The string quintet — the first of its kind performing in the chamber music series this season — is comprised of violinists Sami Merdinian and Sarah Whitney, violist Angela Pickett, cellist Laura Metcalf and bassist Louis Levitt. The group has performed for the Dalai Lama and in venues including the Library of Congress and the Museum of Sex.

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Haimovitz

Haimovitz, Frank and friends play the contemporary classics

August 6, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 1 Comment

For cellist Matt Haimovitz, everything is chamber music.

Haimovitz has made a name for himself in the solo world, which can be more challenging for a cellist than a violinist. His childhood friend, violinist Pamela Frank, has her own prominent solo career, having traveled the world to appear with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the New York Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, among others.

“We would have chamber music parties at Pam’s house,” Haimovitz said. “We would read sextets and quintets. … The best way we partied was to read chamber music. And it was tremendous fun.”

Still partying, Haimovitz will join Frank and violist Nokuthula Ngwenyama and violinist Andy Simionescu to perform at 4 p.m. today in Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall as part of the Logan Chamber Music Series.

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Carpe Diem String Quartet

Carpe Diem freshens string quartet repertoire through spirit of creation

July 30, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

When orchestral players Charles Wetherbee and Korine Fujiwara returned home from work, they would turn on the radio and listen to anything but classical music.

“And then we realized: Why do we only play classical chamber music? Why not explore more?” Fujiwara said. “And so we did.”

While they will not be playing any Guns N’ Roses during their concert at 4 p.m. today in Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall as part of the Logan Chamber Music Series, the musicians will treat Chautauquans to Beethoven, along with late Romantic composer Hugo Wolf, and finally a piece composed by Fujiwara, called “Fiddle Suite: Montana.”

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Chautauqua Chamber Winds revamps with new repertoire

July 23, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

When an album runs out of tracks, you change to another record. When the Chautauqua Wind Quintet ran out of repertoire, they changed their group entirely.

Now called the Chautauqua Chamber Winds, the group includes other instrumental voices and is open to playing repertoire for smaller ensembles.

“We’ve done so many quintets here that we just thought we’d presented the best of the repertoire, and rather than start repeating ourselves, we opened it up to other instruments and also new members,” said Eli Eban, principal clarinetist in the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and one of the members of the Chautauqua Chamber Winds playing at 4 p.m. today in Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall.

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New Arts Trio

New Arts Trio unwinds via timeless music

July 19, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

“Beauty … and the beast,” violinist Jacques Israelievitch said, pointing to his instrument, and then to his fellow ensemble mate, cellist Arie Lipsky. Rebecca Penneys, pianist, smiled in the background as all three unwound before their morning rehearsal.

The New Arts Trio, featuring Israelievitch, Lipsky and Penneys, will perform in the faculty chamber concert from 4–5:30 p.m. today in Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall. The self-described low-budget orchestra will play Beethoven’s Piano Trio, Op. 70 No. 2, and Schubert’s Piano Trio, Op. 99.

“It’s very juicy music,” Israelievitch said. “Especially with Schubert, you go on a journey. As you take your time, the audience should feel like they are in an oasis of beauty. And they can forget about everything else for about 40 minutes.”

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