Williams Chamber Players to Perform Early Romantics
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — 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.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.
