Chesapeake Music’s Sunday afternoon March 10th Interlude Concert features a piano quintet with artists from the collective ensemble/132. This concert promises to be a one-of-a-kind chamber music experience characterized by the quintet’s artistry and unique programming.
The quintet includes pianist Sahun Sam Hong, violinists, Abi Fayette and Stephanie Zyzak, violist, Luther Warren, and cellist, Zachary Mowitz.
Robert Schumann’s “Carnaval” and Igor Stravinsky’s Petrouchka, both arranged by pianist Hong, are two of the selections on the program. The concert will also include a Joseph Haydn Piano Trio and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s “Calvary” String Quartet.
The program begins with a piano trio in A major by Joseph Haydn, Hob.XV:18, a good example of his late trios. After beginning with three firm introductory chords the composition is in turn flowing, lyrical, and lively, dancing happily to a good-natured close.
Next on the program is Robert Schumann’s “Carnaval” Op.9 subtitled “21 Little Scenes on Four Notes.” It consists of a collection of short pieces representing masked revelers at a grand ball where Schumann imagined the people, situations, moods, and dances that one might encounter at such a festival and, from those impressions, created the individual movements of the “Carnaval.” The pieces are connected by a recurring motif. Today, despite its technical and emotional difficulty, it is one of Schumann’s most often performed works.
Following the intermission, the group will feature Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s String Quartet No.1 “Calvary,” a classical quartet, influenced by spirituals and jazz. Violist Philip Payton describes Perkinson as a prodigious composer who spanned many genres including classical, jazz, pop, film, television, and dance. Perkinson was briefly the pianist for jazz drummer Max Roach and also wrote arrangements for renowned artists including Harry Belafonte and Marvin Gaye.
The final selection will be a ballet score performed by five musicians. Imagine that! No one did until Hong came out with his arrangement of Igor Stravinsky’s Petrouchka! Originally a full-scale ballet about a hand puppet’s fatal infatuation with his ballerina counterpart, Petrouchka was a pivotal piece that brought Stravinsky immense acclaim in the highly critical arts scene of 1911 Paris.
For more information and to purchase tickets for what promises to be an enjoyable concert, please visit the Chesapeake Music website at https://chesapeakemusic.org. There you will find information for upcoming events including the 11th International Chamber Music Competition on April 13, community concerts featuring Competition finalists on April 14, the Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival running June 7 through June 15, the Steven Philip Harvey Octet on July 20, and the Isidore String Quartet on October 5.
Based in Easton, Maryland, Chesapeake Music is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to bring renowned jazz and classical musicians to delight, engage and surprise today’s audiences, and educate, inspire, and develop tomorrow’s. They have been doing it for more than 35 years! To learn more about Chesapeake Music, visit their website at https://chesapeakemusic.org/.
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