Classical 101 is launching a new concert series featuring great chamber music concerts performed at the Southern Theatre. Each Sunday in October and November, you can enjoy a concert chosen from the recent archives of Chamber Music Columbus.
Chamber Music Columbus In Concert offers an exciting blend of genres from internationally acclaimed musicians, with performances as varied as the Estonian Chamber Philharmonic Choir, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble, bassist Edgar Meyer, Imani Winds, and former Van Cliburn Competition winner Joyce Yang. Christopher Purdy is the series' host.
Chamber Music Columbus has been presenting concerts for more than 70 years, bringing the world’s finest musicians to Central Ohio. It’s the oldest continuously operating music organization in Columbus.
Sunday, October 4 at 1 p.m., the series premieres with a performance by the Harlem Quartet. Immediately following the broadcast, Classical 101 midday host Jennifer Hambrick will host a live Q&A with two members of the Harlem Quartet. Registration for the post-concert Q&A is at chambermusiccolumbus.org. Registration is free, and you’ll be sent a link to join the discussion.
Here are all the exciting offerings for October:
October 4: Harlem Quartet
The New York-based Harlem Quartet has been praised for its “panache” by The New York Times and hailed in the Cincinnati Enquirer for “bringing a new attitude to classical music, one that is fresh, bracing and intelligent.”
This concert was recorded in January 2019 at the Southern Theatre and features Three Rags by William Bolcom and A Night in Tunisia by Dizzy Gillespie, as well as standards of the quartet repertoire by Beethoven and Debussy.
October 11: Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (EPCC) is one of the best-known Estonian music groups in the world. The EPCC was founded in 1981by Tõnu Kaljuste, who was the artistic director and chief conductor for twenty years. Since 2014 Kaspars Putniņš has been the artistic director and chief conductor of the choir.
From a performance recorded in February 2017, EPCC sings a varied program of choral works ranging from Tchaikovsky and Sibelius to Arvo Pärt and Veljo Tormis.
October 18: Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields was formed in 1958 from a group of leading London musicians. The Academy, with longtime conductor Neville Marriner, became one of the most recorded ensembles in history, with a repertoire extending from Baroque to Mozart, Bartok, and Beethoven.
This week’s broadcast features the ASMF’s Chamber Ensemble, recorded back in October of 2015. The program features Schubert’s monumental Octet for winds and strings, as well as a Rossini sonata for strings and Mozart’s horn quintet.
October 25: Imani Winds
Imani Winds has established itself as one of the most successful chamber music ensembles in the United States. Since 1997, the Grammy-nominated quintet has been celebrated for dynamic playing, culturally poignant programming, adventurous collaborations, and inspirational outreach programs. Imani has a deep commitment to commissioning new work, and the group is enriching the traditional wind quintet repertoire while bridging European, American, African, and Latin American traditions.
This concert from February 2016 features a set of Klezmer Dances, a wind arrangement of music from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, and music by Astor Piazzolla, Valerie Coleman and Paquito D’Rivera.
...And the fun continues in November, with pianist Joyce Yang, Quartetto Gelato, and the Dover Quartet performing with bassist/composer Edgar Meyer. Stay tuned!
