Cody Englander
Staff Writer
Aaron Berofsky and Kathryn Votapek, both violinists, have been coming to Chautauqua Institution for around 18 years.
“The first few summers I had two little kids in tow, and so he was teaching and I was corralling children,” said Votapek. “Then I started teaching here. Now, the children are grown and gone, and we’re still here.”
Within their roles at Chautauqua’s School of Music, Votapek is Chautauqua’s chair of Chamber Music and Berofsky is Chautauqua’s chair of Strings. At 3 p.m. Sunday in the Amphitheater, they’ll deliver a performance in conjunction with the school’s annual Faculty Spotlight Showcase Concert series.
The strings and piano performance will consist of three separate pieces: Suite for two violins and piano in G minor, Op. 71 (‘19) by Moritz Moszkowski, Overture on Hebrew Themes Op. 34 (‘9) by Sergei Prokofiev and the Shostakovich Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57 (‘35).
“This is the first time the School of Music is doing the faculty chamber music this way,” Berofsky, the event organizer, said. “We’ve never quite done a spotlight showcase like this in the Amp.” The School of Music faculty will be joined by select members of the Chautauqua Symphony.
Berofsky noted the Moszkowski as the piece that stands out to him the most, where he’ll be accompanied by his wife, Votapek, who will also join him in the Shostakovich Piano Quintet.
“We’re very excited to play the Shostakovich piece together; this will be the first time that Kathryn or I will perform with Alexander Kobrin,” said Berofsky. “It’s also the first time we’re performing with Chris Fischer and Jolyon Pegis from the Chautauqua Symphony. I think it’s a nice thing that we’re combining forces in that way.”
Berofsky and Votapek first met when they played together professionally in the Chester String Quartet.
“We got to know each other and decided we rather liked each other quite a bit. We loved playing together,” Votapek said.
Although the two are no longer performing with the quartet, they play together whenever they have the opportunity. As far as any particular song they like to play together, Votapek notes there are too many to choose from.
“For many string players, the string quartet repertoire is the summit of everything we have written for us,” she said. “If you start going into the string quartet repertoire, there are so many pieces that are profoundly beautiful, emotional or fun to play.”
The two continue to come back to Chautauqua every summer to assist student musicians on their mellifluous journey.
“The students at the School of Music are really terrific,” Votapek said. “… I love putting together small chamber groups and deciding a fantastic repertoire for them to sink their teeth into.”
