Westport Arts Center's Chamber Music Series Has Broad Range

The Westport Arts Center's upcoming chamber music series is moving into "fresh territory," reports Alyssa Crouse, marketing and communications manager for the nonprofit arts organization.

"We are keeping in touch with classics," she states. "But this year we also will explore new directions in chamber music and introduce our audiences to contemporary artists. The goal of the series is to educate the community that chamber music is for everyone."

To attract a broader audience, the arts center is offering special pricing for college students as well as youths 18 and younger.  

"We want to draw new and diverse audiences by making the series affordable to a range of income levels," Crouse said. "We also are trying to reach cross-generations. We have formed a partnership with the Westport Senior Center to offer time-limited, reduced-cost tickets prior to each concert."

Under the direction of curator Russell Platt, the 2010-11 chamber music series will feature five concerts, beginning Saturday, July 24, with husband-and-wife piano team, Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung. Bax, a young Italian pianist, is a member of Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's CMS Two. He and Chung will perform a one-piano, four-hand concert of favorite works.

The 8 p.m. concert will take place at Saugatuck Congregational Church and will honor the tradition of South Shore Music, a longtime summer series, which has been integrated into the art center's chamber music schedule.

Platt, a composer and a senior editor for classical music at The New Yorker, says his intention this season is provide the audience with a wide range of chamber music performances. "My aim is to give the audience an expanded perspective over the broad range of music today, and to make connections between pieces and styles," he said. 

The July 24 performance, titled "20 Fingers and 88 Keys" will include famous works by Schubert, Ravel and Stravinsky.

"The opening concert on Saturday night is, indeed, profoundly traditional," notes Platt. "But what makes it unique is that most of the music — the Ravel "Mother Goose" Suite, and Stravinsky's complete "Petrushka" ballet — is more familiar in orchestral versions. And it has the added attraction of being offered by two gifted and charismatic performers."

On Oct. 3, the series will feature the St. Petersburg String Quartet, renowned for its authentically Russian style. The concert will begin with "Five Miniatures on Jewish Folk Tunes" by the distinguished Georgian composer Sulkhan Tsintsadze, programmed to complement Westport Art Center's fall art exhibition, "Memory."

"This will be a rare opportunity to hear two cornerstones of Russian music — the Borodin "Nocturne" and Tchaikovsky's "Third Quartet" — played by a group with an authentic Russian style," said Platt. "Peter Kolkay, the renowned bassoonist, will be on hand to play my own 'Quintet for Bassoon and Strings,' a work which suits the St. Petersburg's intensively melodic style of performance."

Kolkay claimed first prize at the 2002 Concert Artists Guild International Competition and was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2004, the first artist on his instrument to receive both honors.

This concert will take place at the Westport Arts Center Gallery at 51 Riverside Ave.

On Nov. 7, Trio Solisti, an internationally recognized piano trio, will perform Dvorak's "Dumky" Trio, Astor Piazzolla's "Four Seasons of Buenos Aires" (inspired by Vivaldi's "Four Seasons"), a work by Pulitzer Prize-winner and former curator of the WAC chamber music series Paul Moravec, and the trio's own unique arrangement of Mussorgsky's thrilling "Pictures at an Exhibition."

"The concert offered by the piano trio will show how the definition of 'classical' has expanded in the last few years," notes Platt. "Trio Solisti is an exceptionally vibrant and virtuosic group and makes a range of styles its own. They couldn't be more audience-friendly."

On Feb. 6, 2011, the series expands into the early music field by engaging Rebel, a much-heralded group of baroque instrumentalists in residence at New York's Trinity Church Wall Street. The group will perform "Irregular Pearls," a program of music by beloved Baroque-era composers.

"Rebel is one of New York's finest period-performance ensembles," says Platt. "This concert offers a selection of Baroque masterworks for strings and harpsichord."

Named after the innovative French Baroque composer Jean-Féry Rebel (1666-1747), Rebel was originally formed in The Netherlands in l99l.

Closing the season on April 10, 2011, will be a solo performance by Simon Mulligan, a Sony Classical recording artist. As a chamber musician, Mulligan collaborates with many notable artists. He began touring with cellist Lynn Harrell, while a student at London's Royal Academy of Music. He has also given numerous recital tours worldwide with Joshua Bell, including performances at New York's Carnegie Hall, London's Wigmore Hall, Hamburg's Musikhalle, Tokyo's Suntory Hall, the 2002 Grammy Awards, and a recent performance for President Barack Obama.

"Simon Mulligan, a charming and elegant young British pianist, will mix music by two great Romantics, Chopin and Samuel Barber, with some suave renditions of jazz masterworks," said Platt.

The opening concert on July 24 is sponsored by Westport Arts Center Chamber Committee members Howard J. Aibel and Joyce Thompson. Tickets are $25 for adults, $10 for college students and $5 for children ages 18 and younger.  WAC members receive 10 percent off concert tickets.

For information, call (203) 222-7070 or go to the website at www.westportartscenter.org.

Tickets for the St. Petersburg Quartet with Peter Kolkay are Oct. 3 at Westport Arts Center Gallery are priced $35. Admission for college students is $10. Those 18 and under will be charged $5.

The final three concerts will be performed at Pequot Library in Southport.

"This is a gorgeous concert hall that provides an intimate concert experience with wonderful acoustic," Crouse said.

Trio Soliste performs at 4 p.m. Nov. 7;  Rebel at 3 p.m. on Feb. 6 and Simon Mulligan at 4 p.m. April 10. The final three concerts are priced $25 for adults, $10 for college students and $5 for children ages 18 and younger.