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Williams Chamber Players

Sat, March 10th, 2012
9:00 pm

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The Williams College Department of Music presents the Williams Chamber Players in concert on Saturday, March 10 at 8 p.m. This free, public event will be held on the Williams College campus in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall. All are invited to attend. A pre-concert talk presented by Williams music students can be heard in Room 30 of the Bernhard Music Center at 7:15 p.m.

The evening features three great composers of the early Romantic era. To open the concert, soprano Kerry Ryer-Parke performs a group of three Schubert songs. Collaborating on the Schubert works is Elizabeth Wright, Artist Associate in Piano.

Carl Maria von Weber composed few works for chamber ensembles, but those were a fresh take on the genre. The Piano Quartet in B flat Major op. 8 is an impressive vehicle for the pianist, and it is thought that the composer had himself in mind as the performer when he wrote it. Elizabeth Wright performs on piano along with violinist Joana Genova, violist Scott Woolweaver, and cellist Nat Parke.

The centerpiece of the evening is the monumental String Quintet in B flat Major, op. 87 by Felix Mendelssohn, with Austin Hartman and Joana Genova, violin; Scott Woolweaver and Ari Rudiakov, viola; and cellist Ronald Feldman. It is one of Mendelssohn’s greatest and most beloved chamber works.

Joining the Williams Chamber Players as a special guest for this performance, violinist and founding member of the Biava Quartet, Austin Hartman plays Schubert’s Sonatina in D Major. Mr. Hartman also offers a master class on Friday March 9th at 4:15 p.m. that is also open to the public.

The Williams Chamber Players is a resident chamber ensemble, founded at Williams College in 1999. Its purpose is to present concerts for the college and community throughout the academic year. Antecedents of the Williams Chamber Players are The Williams Trio, founded in 1970, and the Group for 20th Century Music, founded in 1989. Concerts are drawn from the standard chamber music repertoire. Musicians are drawn from the ranks of Artists Associates and other faculty, as well as occasional visiting artists.

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