(Photos | Courtesy of Chamber Music Northwest)
Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW) presents Beloved Piano Quartets, a program featuring Jaime Laredo (violin), Sharon Robinson (cello), Anna Polinsky (piano), and Nokuthula Ngwenyama (viola/composer). The concert will be held at the The Old Church Concert Hall on Thursday, November 10 at 7:30pm.
This virtuoso group comes to Portland following their inaugural concert together of this program at the Kennedy Center on October 18, 2022. The four-decades-strong violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson (of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio), will pair with award-winning pianist Anna Polonsky, and acclaimed composer/violist Nokuthula Ngwenyama, to play quartet masterpieces by Mozart and Dvořák. The ensemble will also present the West Coast premiere of Ngwenyama’s poignant new work, Elegy. This piece was written for the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, and was co-commissioned by CMNW and many supporting organizations.
From CMNW Artistic Directors Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim: “There is hardly a piano quartet ensemble in the world with this depth of artistry and generosity of spirit. It is a special privilege to invite the legendary Jaime Laredo who is one of my dear violin teachers! They will play classic Mozart and Brahms quartets that frame Nokuthula’s recent work, Elegy. We are proud to be a co-commissioner of this powerful work.”
CONCERT DESCRIPTION
For more than four decades of stellar success around the globe —including many award-winning recordings and newly commissioned works — violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson have dazzled audiences and critics alike. In this rare evening of musical mastery, they will pair with award-winning pianist Anna Polonsky and acclaimed composer/violist Nokuthula Ngwenyama, for quartet masterpieces by Mozart and Dvořák. This stirring concert will also be the West Coast premiere of Ngwenyama’s moving Elegy, a reflection and response to systemic racism across centuries to this moment in 2022, through a lens of collective societal struggle.
This special concert is dedicated to the memory of pianist Joseph Kalichstein, founding member of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio.
About the musicians
Jaime Laredo, violin
Sharon Robinson, cello
Nokuthula Ngwenyama, viola
Anna Polonsky, piano
Concert Program
MOZART Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478
NOKUTHULA NGWENYAMA Elegy (2022)
DVOŘÁK Piano Quartet No.2 in E-flat, Op. 87
PROGRAM NOTES: HERE
Chamber Music Northwest | 2022/23 Season
STRINGS + PIANO
Beloved Piano Quartets
DATE: Thursday, November 10
TIME: 7:30 pm
VENUE: The Old Church Concert Hall
1422 SW 11th Ave, Portland, OR 97201
MORE INFORMATION: CMNW concert listing
SUBSCRIPTIONS
4-concert subscription package range: $130-$250
Under 30: $80
Under 18: $40
Subscription Packages
AT-HOME 2022/23 SEASON SERIES
3-concert pass: $75
Anna Lee with Amadeus Chamber Orchestra ● 10/13/22 – 10/27/22
Will Liverman & Gloria Chien ● 12/26/22 – 1/9/23
Catalyst Quartet: UNCOVERED | Women Composers ● 4/30/23 – 5/14/23
AT-HOME Pass
SINGLE TICKETS
Range: $32.50-$62.50
Under 30: $20
Under 18: $10
Senior Rush: $30 (at the door)
Arts 4 All: $5 (advance/at the door)
AT-HOME CONCERT SERIES
Chamber Music Northwest offers three concerts as a part of their 2022/23 AT-HOME Series. These concerts include: CMNW Protégé Artist Anna Lee with Portland’s Amadeus Chamber Orchestra and CMNW Artistic Director Soovin Kim, world-lauded baritone Will Liverman with applauded pianist and CMNW Artistic Director Gloria Chien, and the ground-breaking Catalyst Quartet with a program focused entirely on women composers. These online concerts will be professionally recorded by Portland video producer Invisible Harness, and streamed online beginning two weeks after their live concert date. The AT-HOME concerts will be available online at cmnw.org for two weeks.
HEALTH & SAFETY
For concerts during the 2022/23 Season, CMNW will not check proof of COVID vaccination. Patrons will be strongly encouraged to wear face masks at all venues, and during the concerts. CMNW will adapt the policy over the course of the season, as necessary.
2022/23 SEASON CONCERTS
The 2022/23 year-round season includes a diverse showcase of internationally-acclaimed artists ranging from the groundbreaking Sphinx Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and superstar cellists Sharon Robinson, Alisa Weilerstein (performing Bach’s Complete Cello Suites), to Metropolitan Opera baritone Will Liverman with Gloria Chien, and CMNW’s Artists-in-Residence, Catalyst Quartet with a program featuring all women composers. Gracing CMNW’s stage this season is Portland’s own Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, electric violinists Soovin Kim, Jamie Laredo and Anna Lee, as well as the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music’s leading alumni and students, and screen legend John de Lancie in A Soldier’s Tale.
Upcoming Highlights:
- A quartet of highly-celebrated musicians Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Nokuthula Ngwenyama, Anna Polonsky will play Mozart, Dvořák, and the West Coast premiere of Ngwenyama’s Elegy (11/10/22)
- Renowned baritone Will Liverman with Artistic Director Gloria Chien with a powerful program of works centered on the African American experience (12/12/22)
- In a feat rarely undertaken, the internationally recognized and heart-stirring cellist Alisa Weilerstein will perform the complete Bach Cello Suites in one sensational evening (2/4/22)
- Curtis Institute of Music alumni Soovin Kim and David Shifrin, joined by the on-tour orchestra, and film star John de Lancie present a fascinating line-up of classics and new works, along with The Solder’s Tale (3/14/22)
- CMNW’s critically-acclaimed 2022/23 Artists-in-Residence Catalyst Quartet close the season with an inspirational program comprised entirely of women composers with pieces representative of the past, and the present day (4/16/22)
NEXT UP FROM CMNW
VOICE + PIANO
Baritone Will Liverman & Pianist Gloria Chien
Monday, December 12 @ 7:30 pm
PSU, Lincoln Recital Hall
Called “a voice for this historic moment” (The Washington Post), Grammy-nominated baritone Will Liverman took the Metropolitan Opera by storm last fall as Charles in Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones. Following Fire’s success, the Met announced that Liverman will star in Anthony Davis’ X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X. The second opera by a Black composer in the company’s history, X has its premiere in November. CMNW Artistic Director and pianist Gloria Chien will join Liverman to perform in this intimate and powerful recital.
“…velvet-voiced baritone Will Liverman is out to make the classical music canon more inclusive…”
— NPR
Learn about the musicians:
Will Liverman, baritone
Gloria Chien, piano
- Concert Program
AFRICAN-AMERICAN SPIRITUAL Steal Away (Arr. Shawn Okpebholo) - PRICE Songs to the Dark Virgin (1946)
- PRICE Night (1946)
- RAVEL Don Quichotte à Dulcinée
- CARL LOEWE Selections from 3 Balladen
- VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Selections from Songs of Travel
- AFRICAN-AMERICAN SPIRITUAL Down to the River to Pray (Arr. Will Liverman)
- FREDERICK LOEWE If Ever I Would Leave You (Arr. Will Liverman)
- GEOGHEGAN Ten Thousand Miles Away (Arr. Steven Mark Kohn)
SOLO CELLO
Alisa Weilerstein: The Complete Bach Cello Suites
Saturday, February 4 @ 6:00 pm
The Old Church Concert Hall
In a rare mega-concert event, the “technically flawless and deeply expressive” (The New York Times) cellist Alisa Weilerstein, performs all six of Bach’s powerfully moving Cello Suites in a single concert. Weilerstein — featured in our 2020-21 virtual concerts — is known for her commanding performances of cello repertoire classics, and this intimate solo cello feat of musicianship is of epic proportions. This exciting music marathon will have an early start time, and an extended intermission with rejuvenating sustenance and libations before embarking on the second half.
“An exceptional cellist and distinguished musician…Weilerstein has carefully considered the path through these works, finding a magnitude of emotion. Weilerstein’s contemporary approach is respectful of the Baroque origins but brings a highly expressive performance.”
— The Classic Review
Learn about the musician:
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
Concert Program
- S. BACH
Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major
Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor
Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major
Cello Suite No. 4 in E-flat Major
Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor
Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major
MUSIC + STORYTELLING
CURTIS ON TOUR: L’Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier’s Tale)
Tuesday, March 14 @ 7:30 pm
Alberta Rose Theatre
A thrilling tale of trickery and magic, Igor Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat comes to life through an ensemble of renowned Curtis Institute of Music alumni leading their finest student musicians. Hailed as “One of the world’s leading music academies” (BBC Culture), two preeminent Curtis Institute graduates — CMNW Artistic Director Emeritus David Shifrin (1980-2020) and Artistic Director Soovin Kim (2020-present) — team up with Curtis’s rising-star performers, and are joined by beloved actor and narrator John de Lancie (Star Trek & Breaking Bad) who voices the characters for this dramatic treat. The program also features stirring masterpieces by Penderecki, Poulenc, and another Curtis alumnus, composer Viet Cuong.
Curtis on Tour is made possible by the Nina von Maltzahn Global Touring Initiative of the Curtis Institute of Music.
“For more than ten years, Curtis on Tour artists and ensembles have delighted audiences around the globe with performances that are ‘exhilarating from beginning to end…’”
— The Washington Post
Learn about the artists:
Curtis on Tour/Curtis Institute, ensemble
Soovin Kim, violin
David Shifrin, clarinet
John de Lancie, narrator
Concert Program
VIET CUONG Well-Groomed for Solo Snare Drum (2019)
POULENC Sonata for Clarinet & Bassoon in D Major
PENDERECKI Duo Concertante for Violin and Double Bass
NICHOLAS DIBERARDINO (New Commission)
STRAVINSKY L’Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier’s Tale)
STRINGS
Catalyst Quartet: UNCOVERED | Remarkable Women Composers
Sunday, April 16 @ 4 pm
The Old Church Concert Hall
Hailed by The New York Times as “invariably energetic and finely burnished…playing with earthy vigor,” the Grammy Award-winning Catalyst Quartet was founded by the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Organization, which is dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts. Catalyst combines a serious commitment to diversity, education, and contemporary works with virtuosic playing “reminiscent of great quartets of the past such as the Guarneri and Budapest” (Richmond Times). In this concert, CMNW’s 2022-23 Artists-in-Residence will continue their celebration of music by Black composers with selections from the quartet’s acclaimed multi-volume anthology of albums, UNCOVERED, that highlight masterworks by classical composers previously overlooked because of their race or gender.
“Like all great chamber groups, the Catalyst Quartet is beautiful to watch, like a family in lively conversation at the dinner table: anticipating, interrupting, changing subjects.”
— The New York Times
Learn about the musicians:
Catalyst Quartet, string ensemble
Concert Program
CAROLINE SHAW Bittersweet synonym
ANGELICA NEGRÓN Lo infinito
JESSIE MONTGOMERY Build
JOAN TOWER A short flight
TERESA CAREÑO String Quartet in B Minor
GERMAINE TAILLEFERRE String Quartet in B Minor
FANNY MENDELSSOHN String Quartet in E-Flat Major
ABOUT CHAMBER MUSIC NORTHWEST
Now in its 52nd season, Chamber Music Northwest shares the richness and diversity of chamber music with more than 50,000 people through 80 events annually, including our Summer Festival of outstanding concerts, illuminating outreach activities, educational programs and support of young musicians, and innovative collaborations across the Portland Metro region.
Chamber Music Northwest’s mission is to inspire our community through concerts and events celebrating the richness and diversity of chamber music, performed by artists of the highest caliber, presenting our community with exceptional opportunities for enjoyment, education, and reflection. Chamber Music Northwest is led by Artistic Directors Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim, and Executive Director Peter Bilotta.
As one of the nation’s leading chamber music presenters, Chamber Music Northwest brings to our community the world’s greatest musicians and composers, from rising-star members of our Protégé Project and exceptional local musicians to world-renowned artists that include Grammy Award winners, Avery Fisher Prize honorees, and MacArthur ‘Genius Award’ recipients. Together they collaborate to perform the expansive 500-year chamber music repertoire, ranging from beloved classics and hidden masterpieces to less conventional projects and contemporary works.
In June 2022, Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW) launched their new Young Artist Institute (YAI), an intensive education program for 16 talented string players from around the world, ages 14-18. The three-week YAI program included a faculty of esteemed musicians and teachers: CMNW’s Artistic Director Soovin Kim, Jessica Lee (violin), Nicholas Cords (viola), and Peter Stumpf (cello). The Institute was managed by Alyssa Tong, and young artist mentors Katie Danforth and Paul Kim. The program also included a Collaborative Piano Fellowship for two international pianists who collaborated daily with YAI students and faculty in rehearsals and performances.
Chamber Music Northwest is an international leader in celebrating chamber music’s enduring relevance and diversity, with more than 100 commissions and premieres of new works as well as its Protégé Project, which cultivates the next generation of dynamic chamber music performers by supporting exceptional, early-career chamber musicians and composers in their professional development.