Last modified: Wednesday, June 15, 2011
IU Jacobs School's 'Summer Music' performances open with world-class chamber music series
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 15, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University's inaugural Summer Festival of the Arts moves into top gear June 20 with the opening performance of the Jacobs School of Music's Chamber Music Series, a world-class collection of free and ticketed events that feature high-profile visiting artists and members of the prestigious Jacobs School faculty.
Jacobs Dean Emeritus Charles Webb, piano, will commence the chamber music series June 20 at 8 p.m. in Auer Hall with friends Steven Mann, piano; Esther Kim, violin; Alan Ohkubo and Joseph Kaizer, cello; and Jeff Dunford, horn, performing works by Mozart, Schumann and Saint-Saëns.
Among the additional highlights of the chamber music series are performances by the Afiara, Penderecki and Cecilia String quartets, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, the Festival Chamber Players and a special repeated performance -- June 22 and 23 -- by world-renowned pianist Menahem Pressler in a concert with violinist Alexander Kerr, violist Paul Coletti and cellist Desmond Hoebig.
Time for Three, an eclectic string trio that includes Indianapolis Orchestra Concertmaster Zach De Pue, will offer a July 5 performance with elements of classical, country western, gypsy and jazz idioms.
New faculty member Peter Stumpf, who begins his tenure as professor of violoncello in the fall, will give Bloomington audiences a preview of his cello skills June 29, accompanied by Jacobs faculty pianist Chih-Yi Chen.
The Weiss-Kaplan-Newman Trio -- comprising Yael Weiss, piano; Jacobs Professor Mark Kaplan, violin; and Clancy Newman, cello -- will perform the complete Beethoven Piano Trios across a series of three concerts (June 28 and 30, and July 3). The trios encompass Beethoven's creative years, starting with his very first published works, Opus 1, and going through the monumental Archduke Trio, Op. 97, and the Kakadu Variations, Op. 121.
This is the first time the trio will be performing all these works together as a cycle.
"Performance cycles of Beethoven's piano trios are even rarer than cycles of his quartets or piano sonatas, so this is a wonderful opportunity for the Bloomington audience to experience all of these amazing works very close to each other," said Kaplan. "We'll be playing everything -- not only the full-length trios but also some lesser known works, such as the Variations, Op. 44."
Kaplan said that they chose to do the Beethoven cycle because, as performers, each of them has found that immersing themselves in the complete works of a single composer is both personally and artistically stimulating and leads to a deeper understanding of that composer's music.
"Performing the cycle specifically in Bloomington is also important to us," Kaplan said. "This is an unusually exciting and knowledgeable audience, and we feel that IU Summer Music is just the right environment for this project."
Although the ensemble has not recorded the Beethoven trios, it does have a recording featuring trios of Brahms and Smetana coming out on the Bridge Records label soon.
The trio appears by arrangement with Jonathan Wentworth Assoc. Ltd. (www.Jwentworth.com).
Additional artists in the Chamber Music Series include alumna Tai Murray and Mihaela Martin, violin; Jacobs Professor Atar Arad, viola; Jeannette Koekkoek and Gilles Vonsattel, piano; and Jacobs College Audition Preparation faculty.
For more information about the Jacobs School of Music Summer Music Series, visit https://music.indiana.edu/events.
The Summer Music series is sponsored in part by WFIU Public Radio, WTIU Public TV, the Bloomington Herald-Times and Lamar Outdoor Advertising.
