Chamber Music Kelowna 2009 - 2010 Concert Series

Saturday, September 19, 2009 - 7:30pm
Sunday, September 20, 2009 – 2:00pm
Mary Irwin Theatre, Rotary Centre for the Arts
Gala Audience Receptions one hour prior to concert time

The St. Lawrence String Quartet (Canada, USA)

Geoff Nuttall, violin
Scott St. John, violin
Lesley Robertson, viola
Christopher Costanza, cello

“These are fearless musicians whose spontaneity stretches past conventional interpretation and probes the music's imaginative limits." - The Washington Post

“A sound that has just about everything one wants from a quartet, most notably precision, warmth and an electricity that conveys the excitement of playing whatever is on their stands at the moment." - The New York Times

“The St. Lawrence is first and foremost, I think, about risk taking: about playing on the emotional edge; about performing, not to 'get it right', but because the music has something to tell us that we cannot live without; something that could make you change your life." - The Toronto Globe & Mail

Currently celebrating their 20th anniversary season, the St. Lawrence String Quartet has established itself among the world-class chamber ensembles of its generation. Back by popular request, this special SLSQ anniversary performance marks the fourth CMK appearance for this renowned ensemble.

To commemorate their 20th anniversary, the SLSQ launched an ambitious new project to select, by way of an open competition, new quartets representative of all regions of Canada. The BC winning composer is Marcus Goddard from Vancouver. Chamber Music Kelowna is proud to have co-commissioned this work with CBC Radio to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, and to celebrate CMK's 30th Anniversary which will receive its world premiere on this performance.

The SLSQ appears by arrangement with David Rowe Artists www.slsq.com

Program
Haydn: String Quartet in F-Major, Op. 77, No. 2
Mendelssohn: Sting Quartet in f minor, Op. 80
Goddard: World Premiere, CMK – SLSQ Commission
Ravel: String Quartet in F Major

This performance is made possible by the generous support of MusicFest Vancouver (formerly Festival Vancouver) through their Windsor Plywood Spectacular Music BC program.

Friday, October 23, 2009 - 7:30pm
Sunday, October 25, 2009 – 2:00pm
Mary Irwin Theatre, Rotary Centre for the Arts

The Bergmann Piano Duo (Canada - Germany)

Elizabeth & Marcel Bergmann, pianists
Photo Credit: Peter Gold

“...infectious in the extreme...has me grasping for superlatives like a sports commentator whose home side is unexpectedly winning everything in the Olympics.." - From Musicweb International

“...the playing is superb, the unanimity so perfectly coordinated the quality...is immediate and vivid..." - Review Corner, Naxox.com

CMK proudly presents an entire concert devoted to 2-piano, and piano 4-hand repertoire. Elizabeth and Marcel Bergmann became a piano duo while studying in Montréal. This remarkable Duo has since garnered many awards including first prize at the International Chamber Music Competition in Caltanissetta, Italy and at The 4th Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition. Their recitals and concerts with orchestra have taken Elizabeth and Marcel throughout the Americas and Europe, and they have recorded numerous CDs. They are members of Calgary's Land's End Chamber Ensemble, winners of the 2005 and 2006 Western Canadian Music Award for Outstanding Classical Recording.

Elizabeth and Marcel are on faculty at Mount Royal College Conservatory in Calgary and at the University of Calgary; they have been involved with Banff Centre for the Arts projects and have served as artistic directors for the Dranoff International Two Piano Competition in Miami.

2009 marks several anniversaries: 20 years as a duo, 10 years since their arrival in Canada and 14 years as a married couple.

www.bergmannduo.com

Program
Selections TBA from Brahms, Chopin, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Bergmann

Tuesday, November 24, 2009 - 7:30pm
Mary Irwin Theatre, Rotary Centre for the Arts

Russell Braun & Carolyn Maule
(Canada – Germany)

Russell Braun, baritone
Carolyn Maule, piano

This is CMK's first vocal recital since 2000! Now, in our 30th anniversary season, we proudly present this remarkable super-star in the 20th year since his Kelowna premiere! Russell Braun is one of the most sought-after lyric baritones on the international stage today. “Thrilling, manic, glorious, rich, powerful, elegant, and spine tingling” are but a few of the epithets the media have used to describe Canadian opera sensation Russell Braun. In concert, opera and recital, the international stages of the world are his - whether it be the Metropolitan Opera in New York, l'Opéra de Paris, the State Opera in Vienna, La Scala in Milan, or the Glyndebourne Festival.

Canadian pianist Carolyn Maule is much in demand as a vocal accompanist, having appeared on many of the great stages worldwide, including New York, London, Salzburg, Barcelona, Toronto. She has received critical acclaim for many performances, in particular for duo recitals featuring tenor Mr. Michael Schade and Mr. Braun.

“A searching musician, Braun also has one of the world's most beautiful baritone voices. He brings a poet's soul and a young man's bewildered grief to Schubert's shattering cycle of solitude and loss." - New York Newsday

“...a rare treat for lovers of song and singing: Franz Schubert's masterpiece Winterreise (Winter Journey), performed passionately and vividly by the Canadian baritone Russell Braun and his wife, the Canadian pianist Carolyn Maule. ...individual strongly imagined, often moving, and unfailingly gripping... heart-breaking... riveting.." - Globe and Mail

www.russellbraun.com

Program
Franz Schubert: Winterreise

Thursday, January 28, 2010 - 7:30pm
Mary Irwin Theatre, Rotary Centre for the Arts

Tokyo String Quartet (USA)

“It is easy to see why the Tokyo Quartet has built such an excellent reputation. They play with startling vivacity and subtle reserve...their fervor for the music is contagious; the audience can't help but be swept away with them." - Chicago Maroon

“The musicians displayed such finesse, such careful shaping of each melodic line as it was passed from one instrument to the next, that it left one almost breathless." - The Toronto Star

“The ensemble delivers it all, with an elegance and maturity rarely encountered. One of those musical experiences in which everything is right, everything played so perfectly that no other experience could be imagined." - The Palm Beach Daily News

The Tokyo String Quartet, celebrating its 40th anniversary season, has captivated audiences and critics alike since it was founded. Officially formed in 1969 at the Juilliard School of Music, the Tokyo String Quartet traces its origins to the Toho School of Music in Tokyo. Now regarded as one of the supreme chamber ensembles of the world, the Tokyo Quartet has collaborated with a remarkable array of artists and composers, built a comprehensive catalogue of critically acclaimed recordings and established a distinguished teaching record. Performing over a hundred concerts worldwide each season, the Tokyo String Quartet has a devoted international following that includes the major capitals of the world and extends to all four corners, from Australia to Estonia to Scandinavia and the Far East.

The ensemble performs on the "Paganini Quartet", a group of renowned Stradivarius instruments named for legendary virtuoso Niccolò Paganini, who acquired and played them during the 19th century.

The Tokyo String Quartet appears by arrangement with their North American management – Opus 3 Artists. www.tokyoquartet.com

Program
Selections TBA

Friday, March 5, 2010 - 7:30pm
Mary Irwin Theatre, Rotary Centre for the Arts

Osiris Piano Trio (Netherlands)

Ellen Cover, piano
Vesko Eschlenazy, violin
Larissa Groeneveld, cello
Photo Credit: Marco Borggreve

Chamber Music Kelowna welcomes back The Osiris Trio – having appeared previously on CMK's 25th Anniversary season. In 2005 violinist Vesko Eschkenazy (concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam) joined this accomplished trio. Since forming in 1988, the Osiris Trio has toured five continents and was twice given the honor of accompanying Her Majesty The Queen of The Netherlands on official state visits abroad. Over the past 20 years, the group has won a number of Dutch awards, including the 'Philip Morris Finest Selection' award and the Annie Bosboom Prijs.

The trio's discography encompasses two centuries of repertoire for piano trio but also includes song cycles and the highly regarded recording of Messiaen's “Quatuor pour la fin du temps” that earned the highest rating in the Dutch music magazine Luister. The Dutch Society of Concerthall and Theatre Managers recently nominated the Osiris Trio in the category "most impressive performances in chamber music".

“A chamber ensemble bearing the name of the god Osiris makes divine music...intensely thoughtful and refined..." - Cleveland Plain Dealer

“...most obvious is their driving force...invariably performed in the most sublime way .... audibly kindred spirits ... a crystal-clear three-dimensional performance ... an extraordinary musicality with a deceptive touch of simplicity." - NRC Handelsblad

“Tender musings and magical dialogues...such a mature performance of one of the highlights of the chamber music repertoire is seldom heard." - Telegraaf

The Osiris Trio appears by arrangement with their North American management – Lisa Sapinkopf Artists. www.osiristrio.com

Program
Selections TBA from Korngold, Martin, Shostakovich, Mendelssohn

HOLD THE DATE – TICKETS AVAILABLE SPRING 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010 - 7:00pm
Location: TBA

“CHEERS FOR CHAMBER MUSIC”

FEATURING:
HONENS INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION
FIRST-PLACE WINNING LAUREATE (TBD)

Special Fundraiser event to benefit
CMK's Youth & Community Outreach fund

This special gala marks the third semi-annual CMK “Cheers for Chamber Music” event, featuring winners of distinguished National and International competitions. Chamber Music Kelowna has been privileged to present the winner of both the Eckhardt-Gramatte Competition and the Banff International String Quartet competition in previous years. This season CMK is delighted to be able to feature the winner of the prestigious Honens Competition. As in previous years, tickets to this intimate recital event will be very limited.

Calgary's Honens International Piano Competition, founded in 1991, is one of the world's great music competitions. Every three years pianists from all parts of the globe compete for cash prizes and an even more lucrative Artistic and Career Development Program to launch and sustain their careers. Honens discovers “Complete Artists” – musicians who add knowledge, audacity, risk, individuality and the widest perspective to all they create or perform. The Sixth Honens Competition takes place October 22 to November 6, 2009 in Calgary.

www.honens.com