2016 - 2017 Concert Series
Introduction to the 2016 - 2017 Season
First United Methodist Church
Our 57th Season in 2015 - 2016 was notable for the change in the concert venue, the instrument configurations offered among the five concerts, and the fixed weekday concert evening. The Chamber Music Corvallis (CMC) Board has received very positive feedback about the concert venue, the First United Methodist Church Sanctuary, in that it is much more appropriate and intimate for a chamber music concert. The musicians were definitely pleased with its lively acoustics; with a few exceptions, folks were likewise pleased. Two wind quintets performed after three decades without a brass ensemble and four years since the last wind quintet.
Our 58th Season features three ensembles new to Corvallis, one quartet known to folks in Corvallis, and one group that performed in our series four-plus years ago. The five-concert series begins with the Akropolis Reed Quintet based in Northville, Michigan, in early October. The instrument configuration consists of a saxophone, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and bass clarinet. The Telegraph Quartet from San Francisco will perform in early November. That string quartet is followed in late January by the Houston ensemble, WindSync, a quintet composed of the more wind traditional configuration: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn. Concert-goers in Corvallis may have heard the Tesla Quartet perform in another church venue in early Fall 2015. Based in Allentown, Pennsylvania , they will be performing here in late February. The Gould Piano Trio with Robert Plane, clarinet, from England performed in our concert series in October 2011. They will close out our concert season the last evening in March.
Our 58th Season features three ensembles new to Corvallis, one quartet known to folks in Corvallis, and one group that performed in our series four-plus years ago. The five-concert series begins with the Akropolis Reed Quintet based in Northville, Michigan, in early October. The instrument configuration consists of a saxophone, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and bass clarinet. The Telegraph Quartet from San Francisco will perform in early November. That string quartet is followed in late January by the Houston ensemble, WindSync, a quintet composed of the more wind traditional configuration: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn. Concert-goers in Corvallis may have heard the Tesla Quartet perform in another church venue in early Fall 2015. Based in Allentown, Pennsylvania , they will be performing here in late February. The Gould Piano Trio with Robert Plane, clarinet, from England performed in our concert series in October 2011. They will close out our concert season the last evening in March.
Location of the Annual Fischoff Competition, at the University of Notre Dame
One of the CMC Board’s preferences lately has been to present up-and-coming, nationally recognized ensembles who are fairly recent winners of major competitions. On May 11th, 2014, it was announced that, “Out of 48 competing ensembles from across the nation and around the world, the Telegraph Quartet has won the coveted Grand Prize of the 2014 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Gold Medal in the Senior String Division. Akropolis Reed Quintet captured the Gold Medal in the Senior Wind Division” - per the Fischoff website (www.fischoff.org). The Akropolis won the 2015 Fischoff Educator Award. The Tesla Quartet garnered the Gold Medal at the 2012 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
In deciding which chamber music ensembles to book, we felt that it was/is also important, based on our 57th Season experience, to continue offering world-class wind ensembles in various instrument configurations. As I wrote a year ago, we owe our public school and university students, as well as our loyal audience, the opportunity to hear superb musicians performing on brass, woodwind, and reed instruments during the coming seasons.
It is our hope that the fixed Friday evening concerts and the available parking nearby has suited our concert goers. The wooden pews, unfortunately, are not as comfortable as were the seats in LaSells’ Austin Auditorium.
Robert Verhoogen, Chair, CMC Board
It is our hope that the fixed Friday evening concerts and the available parking nearby has suited our concert goers. The wooden pews, unfortunately, are not as comfortable as were the seats in LaSells’ Austin Auditorium.
Robert Verhoogen, Chair, CMC Board
Coming up this Season
Akropolis Reed Quintet
Friday, October 7, 2016
|
Jean-Philippe Rameau: Selections from Suite in E minor "Le Rappel
des Oiseaux", arr. Raaf Hekkema Marc Mellits: Splinter David Biedenbender: Refraction George Gershwin: An American in Paris, arr. Raaf Hekkema "Imagination, infallible musicality, and huge vitality" - Fanfare Magazine About the Akropolis Reed Quintet The Music Program Notes |
Telegraph Quartet
Friday, November 4, 2016
|
Joseph Haydn: Op. 33 No. 3 "The Bird"
Ludwig van Beethoven: Op. 18 No. 5 Antonin Dvorák: Quartet Op. 105 “The group effortlessly shifted between the movement’s many moods…unflaggingly outgoing, committed and creative.” - San Francisco Classic Voice About the Telegraph Quartet |
WindSync
Friday, January 27, 2017
|
Mendelssohn: Scherzo from "A Midsummer Night's Dream", arr.
WindSync Schoenberg: Winter Music Radiohead: Exit Music (For a Film), arr. WindSync Stravinsky: Selections from "Pulcinella", arr. WindSync Prokofief: Selections from "Romeo and Juliet", arr. WindSync Bernstein: Selections from "West Side Story", arr. WindSync "... staunchly dedicated to pushing the boundaries of wind quintet performance with youthful, pop-rock sensibility." - Winnipeg Free Press About WindSync |
Tesla Quartet
Friday, February 24, 2017
|
Mozart: String Quartet in D minor, K. 42
Kevin Puts: Dark Vigil Sibelius: String Quartet in D minor, Op. 56 "Voces Intimae" "The Tesla was technically superb...its performance full of urgency, colour and subtle dynamics. This was a masterclass in quartet technique...” - The Strad About the Tesla Quartet |
Gould Piano Trio with Robert Plane, Clarinet
Friday, March 31, 2017
|
Beethoven: Trio Op. 11 for piano, clarinet and
cello Zemlinsky: Trio for piano, clarinet and cello Korngold: Suite from "Much Ado About Nothing" for violin and piano Brahms: Trio in C major for piano, violin, and cello "Celebrity groups cannot equal the musical excitement generated by first-class players..." - The Washington Post "Robert Plane is an eloquent and impassioned clarinettist. The playing is full-blooded and committed…" - International Record Review About the Gould Piano Trio and Robert Plane |
