Brightmusic Announces 2010-11 Season
Brightmusic Announces Its 2010-2011 Season
Brightmusic proudly announces its 2010-2011 Season – our eighth season of bringing high-quality chamber music to the music-lovers of Oklahoma, from the best musicians in Oklahoma. Brightmusic Artistic Directors Chad Burrow and Amy I-Lin Cheng have selected a spectacular lineup of classical, romantic and modern works for the listening pleasure of our ever-growing audiences.
This season, for the first time, Brightmusic will give two performances of each of its six concerts – Monday nights at Casady School in Northwest OKC and Tuesday nights at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Downtown OKC.
Concert 1 - The season will open with a bang on September 20 and 21. World-renowned clarinetist David Shifrin will appear with the Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble in a concert titled “Clarinet Serenade.” Widely regarded as the finest classical clarinetist in America, David and his former student and protégé Chad Burrow will join forces to deliver a memorable opening night concert to our audiences. The works on the program are: Poulenc’s Sonata for Two Clarinets; Mozart’s Serenade No. 11 for Winds (featuring two clarinets, two bassoons and two horns); Bernard Hermann’s rarely-performed Souvenirs de Voyage for clarinet and string quartet; and Ponchielli’s Il Convenio for two clarinets and string quintet. Gregory Lee, Katrin Stamatis, Royce McLarry, Jonathan Ruck, George Speed, Carl Rath, Larry Reed, Kate Pritchett and William Scharnberg will join Chad Burrow in the Brightmusic ensemble for this concert. The Casady School performance on Monday night (September 20) will be given in Casady’s Fee Theatre.
Concert 2 – The name of this November 1-2 concert is “Die Forelle,” German for “the trout.” Brightmusic … fishing? Well, yes … if the anchor work of the concert is Schubert’s famous Piano Quintet in A Major, D.667, popularly known as the “Trout Quintet.” Joining the trout will be David Diamond’s Partita for oboe, bassoon and piano; and Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 1 for piano, violin and cello. The Brightmusic musicians will be Gregory Lee, Royce McLarry, Tomasz Zieba, George Speed, Lisa Harvey-Reed, Carl Rath and Amy I-Lin Cheng. We hope that the renovation of Casady’s Chapel will be finished by this time, so that we can perform in two acoustically superb venues. Major funding for this concert is generously provided by Chesapeake Energy Corporation.
Concert 3 – “Sounds from Vienna” on January 24-25 will warm the winter chill. The program features Beethoven’s Piano Trio in G Major, op. 1, no. 2; Mozart’s Oboe Quartet in F Major; Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1 (arranged by Webern); and Strauss II’s Emperor Waltz (arranged by Schoenberg). The Brightmusic musicians will be Gregory Lee, Katrin Stamatis, Royce McLarry, Jonathan Ruck, Parthena Owens, Lisa Harvey-Reed, Chad Burrow and Amy I-Lin Cheng. This will be a night of classics!
Concert 4 – “German Romanticism” is the theme of our March 7-8 concert. Our guest artists will be the dynamic husband-wife piano team of Ning An and Gloria Chien. And what a team! Ning made his concerto debut at age 16 with the Cleveland Orchestra, and Gloria made hers, also at age 16, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Add victories in international piano competitions, recital appearances in prestigious venues, orchestral appearances throughout the world, a couple of CD’s … stir … and piano musicianship will flow! Ning and Gloria will begin the program with the one-piano, four-hand Fantasy in F Minor by Schubert. Then each will take a turn at the piano, in ensemble with the Brightmusic musicians, to play Brahms’ Quartet for Piano and Strings No. 2 and Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E Flat Major. The Brightmusic musicians will be Gregory Lee, Katrin Stamatis, Royce McLarry and Jonathan Ruck. This will be Brightmusic’s first annual Mae Ruth Swanson Memorial Concert, with major season funding generously provided in her honor by the Civic Music Association.
Concert 5 – On April 11-12 Brightmusic will perform “A Soldier’s Tale,” a title that reflects our performance of Igor Stravinsky’s L’Historie du Soldat (The Soldier’s Tale). A military theme also informs Kevin Puts’ And Legions Will Rise. In between these two works, two pieces by Jean Francaix will be featured: Quartet for Winds and Divertissement. The Brightmusic musicians will be Gregory Lee, Katrin Stamatis, Royce McLarry, Tomasz Zieba, George Speed, Parthena Owens, Lisa Harvey-Reed, Chad Burrow, Carl Rath, Michael Anderson, John Allen and David Steffens.
Concert 6 – Brightmusic will jump the gun a bit on the patriotic holidays of Memorial Day and Independence Day with a May 9-10 concert entitled “Americana.” This concert will feature five works, all by living composers. Two of the works have been specially commissioned by Brightmusic for world premiere at this concert. Patriotism will have a local flavor with a reprise of the work that Brightmusic commissioned in 2007 in honor of the Oklahoma Centennial. The program will be: Rob Deemer’s Quartet for Trumpet and Strings (a world premiere); John Harris Harbison’s Twilight Music; Bill Douglas’ Suite Cantando; Edward Knight’s Beneath a Cinnamon Moon (originally premiered by Brightmusic in January 2007 in honor of the 100th anniversary of Oklahoma’s statehood); and Kris Maloy’s new American Folk Song Medley (a world premiere). What an evening it will be! The Brightmusic musicians appearing will be Gregory Lee, Royce McLarry, Tomasz Zieba, Chad Burrow, Carl Rath, Michael Anderson, Kate Pritchett and Amy I-Lin Cheng.
There you have it – 23 works that will feature 22 different instrumental combinations! The 2010-2011 season will continue Brightmusic’s tradition of doing what it does best – as Steve Blevins put it – mixing “traditional masterpieces with perfectly chosen works from the contemporary repertoire, offering novelty and familiarity – and extraordinary variety.”
The information in this special eNewsletter (and more) can be found on Brightmusic’s website, www.brightmusic.org, including program notes that will be posted approximately 60 days before each concert, and reprinted in next season’s concert programs.
Mark your calendars right now so that you won’t miss any of these concerts. Take your choice of a Monday night performance at Casady, a Tuesday night performance at St. Paul’s … or both! As always, a reception with the musicians follows each concert. As always, admission to our concerts is free of charge, although contributions from those who can contribute are just as necessary as they are deeply appreciated. Financial support for Concerts 1 and 3-6 is graciously provided by the Oklahoma Arts Council.
Brightmusic’s New Mailing Address
Brightmusic has changed its mailing address from P.O. Box 404, OKC 73101 to P.O. Box 20254, OKC 73156.
Contributing to Brightmusic
One hundred percent of Brightmusic’s revenues comes from donations. We don’t sell tickets, we don’t charge admission, and we don’t sell coffee mugs or T-shirts (yet). We are wholly dependent on the generosity of individuals, businesses, foundations and government agencies to continue our mission of presenting extraordinary music, performed by extraordinary musicians.
We thank those who, over the past seven seasons, have made these concerts possible for themselves and for their fellow Oklahomans. We thank those who have already contributed or pledged towards our 2010-2011 season. And we invite everyone who loves chamber music to contribute as generously as your means permit, to continue this special mission by this special organization.
Tax-deductible contributions may be made through our website at www.brightmusic.org or by mailing a check to Brightmusic Society of Oklahoma, P.O. Box 20254, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73156-0254.
We’ll see you in September!
