Chamber Music Series At The Clark09:07AM / Friday, July 17, 2009
 | | Photo Courtesy of the Clark |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute begins its August chamber music series with the Ying String Quartet joined by celebrated pianist Adam Neiman on Tuesday, August 4. Concerts begin at 8 pm and tickets are $21 ($18 for members and students) and may be purchased at clarkart.edu, 413-458-0524, or at the museum shop.
American pianist Neiman is hailed as one of the premiere pianists of his generation, praised for possessing a truly rare blend of power, bravura, imagination, sensitivity, and technical precision. With a burgeoning international career and an encyclopedic repertoire that spans over fifty concertos, Neiman has performed as soloist with many symphony orchestras including Belgrade, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, as well as with the New York Chamber Symphony and the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C. He has collaborated with conductors including as Jiri Belohlavek, Giancarlo Guerrero, Carlos Kalmer, Uros Lajovic, Yoel Levi, Andrew Litton, Peter Oundjian, Leonard Slatkin, and Emmanuel Villaume.
The Ying String Quartet has performed in some of the world's most prestigious concert halls, including Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House. The New York Times noted, "The Yings play with exceptional unity... Their performances were thoroughly prepared, wonderfully precise in matters of ensemble and coloration and full of felicitous phrasing details." In 2005, the group won a Grammy Award for their collaboration with the Turtle Island String Quartet. In 2007, they received a Grammy nomination for Best Chamber Music Performance.
The Ying String Quartet features Steven Copes on first violin, Janet Ying on second violin, Phillip Ying on viola, and David Ying on cello. The Yings have made their mark not only as first-rate performers, but as commissioners of new music. With the support of the Institute for American Music, the quartet aims to create a distinctively American string repertoire by commissioning emerging and established composers to create music that reflects contemporary American life. Actively involved in arts education, the Yings are quartet-in-residence at the Eastman School of Music and Harvard University. Copes is a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral leader. He joined the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra as concertmaster in 1998, and since then has led the orchestra in several highly acclaimed, eclectic programs.
The program at the Clark features Mendelssohn's String Quartet, Opus 12; Lowell Liebermann's String Quartet No. 3, "To the victims of war"; and the Brahms Piano Quintet in F minor, Opus 34.
A fixed-price, three-course dinner will be offered at the Clark Café at 6 pm. Cost for dinner is $25 per person (does not include concert, beverage, tax, or gratuity). Dinner reservations required; seating is limited. Call 413 458 0524 for reservations. The Clark's galleries will remain open until 6 pm on concert evenings, providing a chance to view the exhibition Dove/O'Keeffe: Circles of Influence.
Trio Solisti, an internationally renowned piano trio, is featured on August 11. On August 18, the Amernet String Quartet, ensemble-in-residence at Florida Atlantic University, will perform. The series concludes on August 25 with the American String Quartet, the resident quartet at the Manhattan School of Music and at the summer Aspen Music Festival. This concert series is funded by the Alice Shaver Foundation; additional support is provided by Legacy Portfolio Management.
On view this summer at the Clark is Dove/O'Keeffe: Circles of Influence. Georgia O'Keeffe burst onto the New York art scene in 1916 and captured the imagination of people around the world, not only with incredible artistic talent, but through her bohemian spirit as well. Experience this distinctly American artist's early works with those of modernist Arthur Dove, whom she credited as having the most significant role in the formation of her abstract works. Also on view is Through the Seasons: Japanese Art in Nature featuring traditional screens and scrolls, as well as contemporary ceramics, emphasizing the inspirational role of nature in Japanese art.
The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown. The galleries are open daily, 10 am to 5 pm (closed Mondays, September through June). Admission June 1 through October 31 is $12.50 for adults, free for children 18 and younger, members, and students with valid ID. Admission is free November 1 through May 31. For more information, call 413-458-2303 or visit clarkart.edu. |
