BRIGHTMUSIC CHAMBER
ENSEMBLE SEASON PREMIER
Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble Season Premier
Melodic Masters
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| Amy I-Lin Cheng, Gregory Lee, Zach Reaves and Mark Neumann Photo: performingartsphotos.com |
Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble will present the first
concert of the 2019-20 season at 7:30 pm September 24 at the beautiful and
historic St. Paul’s Cathedral, 127 N.W. 7th Street near downtown
Oklahoma City. This season marks Brightmusic’s 17th as Oklahoma
City’s foremost classical chamber music presenter. The season premier, Melodic Masters, offers a lyrical
evening with works by three masters of melody: Germaine Tailleferre’s piano
trio, Josef Suk’s Piano Quartet in A minor, and Johannes Brahms’ String Sextet
No. 1.
This season
Brightmusic celebrates the contribution of women to the vast body of classical
works, many of these compositions remaining in the modern repertoire. Until the
early 20th century, women composers were usually obliged by societal pressures
to publish under assumed masculine names or those of male relatives, if they
published at all. Some of them suffered push back even from those closest to
them: Clara Schumann from her husband Robert, and Fanny Mendelssohn from
brother Felix. In the early part of the 20th century, women were starting to be
recognized for their own compositions, including Germaine Tailleferre
(1892-1983), whose piano trio will be performed in Concert 1. She was the only
female member of the celebrated French group Les Six (Francis Poulenc, Darius
Milhaud, Arthur Honegger, Georges Auric, Louis Durey and Germaine Tailleferre) who
were active in the 1920s, when Paris was reestablishing itself as the cultural
capitol of Europe after the Great War. Born Marcelle Germaine Taillefesse, she
studied piano with her mother and began to compose short works as a child. Her
father did not support her musical studies, but she persevered. Later, to spite
him, she changed her name to Tailleferre. Written around 1916 and revised in
1978, her melodic piano trio for violin, cello and piano reflects the energy
and turmoil of the war years. Rounding out the evening will be Joseph Suk’s
Piano Quartet in A minor, Op. 1, and Johannes Brahms’ String Sextet in B-flat
Major, Op. 18.
The remaining regular
season concerts will include works by Brahms, Dvořák, Mozart, Haydn and
Tchaikovsky. The ensemble will be joined this season by two guest artists:
pianist Stephen Buck in Concert 3 and French horn player Adam Unsworth in
Concert 4. Buck is Visiting Professor of Music at the Conservatory of Music at
the State University of New York (SUNY), and Unsworth is Professor of Horn at
the University of Michigan. Then in June the ensemble will again present a
four-concert summer chamber music festival, programs and dates to be announced
later in the season.
Season
membership passes are available on our website or at the door for $100 for all
regular season concerts plus all four festival concerts. Single admission prices
are $20 at the door. There is no charge for children and active-duty military
and students are admitted free with ID.
Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble, Oklahoma City’s own chamber ensemble, presents fine classical chamber music in acoustically-rich St. Paul’s Cathedral at NW 7th and N. Robinson near downtown Oklahoma City. Free parking is available just south of the cathedral. For more information about the ensemble and upcoming concerts, visit www.brightmusic.org
