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Friday, September 16, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
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ST. PETERSBURG STRING QUARTET
www.stpetersburgquartet.com
The St.
Petersburg String Quartet is one of the world’s most esteemed chamber
ensembles, providing a fitting start to the 2011-12 season. The Quartet’s rise to fame has included a
Grammy nomination, “Best Record” honors in both Stereo Review and Gramophone,
and hundreds of concerts on many of the world’s most prestigious series and
festivals. Founded in 1985 as the
Leningrad String Quartet, the SPSQ blazed a trail through chamber music
circles, winning a number of prestigious international competitions. When the city of Leningrad resumed its historic
name, the quartet changed its name to the St. Petersburg String
Quartet. The SPSQ has recently
toured the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Israel, and the
U.K., where Tchaikovsky Piano Competition winner Peter Donahoe called their
collaboration “some of the most sublime moments of chamber-music-making I
have ever experienced.” Be prepared
for sublime moments here in Augusta.
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SUNDAY,
October 2, 2011, 3:00 p.m.
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QUARTETO VIVACE
BRASIL
www.quartetovivace.com
The Quarteto Vivace Brasil, founded in 2008,
is one of the most exciting new groups on the Brazilian music scene. Four master players on two guitars,
percussion, and flute bring sizzling energy to Brazilian sambas and choros, Argentinian tangos, American
ragtime, and arrangements of favorite classics from Bach to Bizet’s Carmen to Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals. This eclectic mix of musical styles
reflects their heritage, Tadeu Coelho, the flutist, points out: “[Brazilians] are a very mixed
population, African, European, Japanese, and native Indian. We are very much like our national dish, feijoada, where you put a little bit
of everything in it and make this very wonderful stew.” The ingredients of this stew include
arrangements of folk-based popular Brazilian music, particularly in the
sentimental genre called choro
(pronounced shaw-ru, from the
Portuguese word for cry). The
members of the Quarteto have made a mission of bringing choro to a very sophisticated level.
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SUNDAY,
November 13, 2011, 3:00 p.m.
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ROBERTO PLANO,
PIANIST
www.robertoplano.com
Roberto Plano will
return to Augusta for his fourth appearance on the Harry Jacobs Chamber
Music Society to inaugurate the Vola Jacobs Memorial Piano Concert
Series. This annual series will be
held to pay homage to Mrs. Jacobs, widow of HJCMS founder Harry Jacobs; she
was a concert pianist of significant reputation and an active performer
until shortly before her death in 2010.
Mr. Plano’s friendly and outgoing personality has made him a favorite of
Augusta audiences, as well as for guest appearances on a number of radio
programs, including NPR’s Performance Today. As a teacher, he has given public master
classes at Augusta State University, the Cleveland Institute of Music
(USA), Ken State University, Utah State University, the Alberta Conservatory
(Edmonton, Canada), the Conservatory of San Juan (Puerto Rico), and in all
the major cities of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
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Friday, January 20, 2012, 7:30 p.m.
 
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POULENC TRIO
www.poulenctrio.com
The Poulenc Trio, a piano
trio with oboe and bassoon substituting for stringed instruments, is the
most active touring piano-wind chamber music ensemble in the world. Since its founding in 2003, the Trio has
performed in more than 30 U.S. states and at music festivals around the
world. In a recent review, the
Washington Post says the trio “does its namesake proud” in “an intriguing
and beautifully played program” with “convincing elegance, near effortless
lightness and grace,” and has been called “virtuosos of classical and contemporary
chamber music” in a profile for Russian television. Since its founding, the Trio has greatly
expanded the repertoire available for the oboe, bassoon, and piano with 20
new works written for and premiered by the group. The Trio also has made a commitment to
explore and promote music that reflects its members’ African, Pan-American,
Eastern European, and Jewish roots.
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Friday, February 24, 2012, 7:30 p.m.
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FINE ARTS QUARTET
www.fineartsquartet.org
The
Fine Arts Quartet, on tour celebrating its 65th anniversary, has
been a favorite with HJCMS audiences over the years and will be performing
here for the fifth time. The FAQ is
one of the most distinguished ensembles in chamber music today, with an
illustrious history of performing success and an extensive recording
legacy, having recorded more than 200 works. Founded in Chicago in 1946 and based at
the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee since 1963, the Quartet is one of the
elite few to have recorded and toured internationally for over half a
century. Three of the Quartet’s
current artists have now been performing together for nearly 30 years. Each season, the Fine Arts Quartet tours
worldwide, with concerts in such musical centers as New York, Paris,
Beijing, Istanbul, and Jerusalem.
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Friday,
April 20, 2012, 7:30 p.m.
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ARABESQUE WINDS
www.arabesquewinds.com
The Arabesque Winds formed at the Eastman
School of Music in 2005. Since then
they have performed to high praise in many venues, both in Europe and the
United States. They “played with
skill and depth beyond their years,” at a recent performance, according to
the Washington Post, “but it was the unanimity of their ensemble phrasing
that took the breath away.” In what
the judges described as “an astounding performance” at Carnegie Hall’s
Weill Recital Hall, the group garnered first prize over 70 international
ensembles during the 2008 International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition
and also won the Harvard Musical Association’s 2009 Arthur W. Foote Prize,
awarded to young musicians on the verge of professional careers. As active supporters of music outreach,
the Arabesque Winds have presented interactive and educational programs in
schools and community venues all over the country, and they will be
presenting clinics and masterclasses in CSRA schools during their residency
with the HJCMS.
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