Easton, MD - Chesapeake Music’s 39th annual Chamber Music Festival will present six extraordinary concerts, June 7th through June 15th, at the historic Ebenezer Theater, 17 South Washington Street in Easton, Maryland. Built around the theme of “Festival Firsts,” the program will delight string, wind, and piano music lovers alike and will feature an inaugural performance by the winners of the 2024 Chesapeake Music International Chamber Music Competition Lerman Gold Prize. The famous Aizuri Quartet will headline the Festival’s first week, performing Franz Schubert’s late masterwork, the “Death and the Maiden” string quartet, and Richard Strauss’ beautiful string sextet from Capriccio, among other works. Returning Festival favorite performers will include cellist Marcy Rosen, violinist/violists Catherine Cho, Daniel and Todd Phillips, pianists Ieva Jokubaviciute and Robert MacDonald, flutist Tara Helen O’Connor, and clarinetist J. Lawrie Bloom.
Also programmed for the Festival’s first week are two additional late masterworks by Schubert: his Piano Trio in B-flat Major, performed by MacDonald, Cho, and Rosen, and his highly personal and moving Piano Fantasia for Four-Hands in F Minor with MacDonald and Jokubaviciute at the new Steinway grand piano. Catherine Cho and Todd Phillips will perform Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s brilliant Duo for Violin and Viola No. 1 in G Major, and the week will conclude with Ernst von Dohnányi’s passionate Piano Quintet in C Minor with Jokubaviciute, Todd Phillips, Cho, violist Brian Hong, and Rosen. Works by two important female composers, Clara Schumann, and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, will also be featured, and the Aizuri Quartet will introduce the Festival audience to the work of a contemporary female composer, Reena Esmail, in their performance of her Zeher (Poison).
The second week will introduce several Festival newcomers, including the Competition winners and violinist Max Tan, cellist Sterling Elliott, and pianists Sahun Sam Hong and Elliot Wuu. Chesapeake Music audiences will remember Rising Stars Sterling Elliott and Elliot Wuu from a sold-out 2022 Interlude concert, and together they will perform Claude Debussy’s ever popular Rêverie arranged for cello and piano as well as perform in larger ensemble works. Hong, Tan, and Elliott have programmed Johannes Brahms’ beautiful and majestic Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major, and Wuu and Tan will join Daniel Phillips and the Artistic Directors, Catherine Cho and Marcy Rosen, to close the Festival with Edward Elgar’s late masterpiece, the Piano Quintet in A Minor.
Several “Festival Firsts” are also programmed for the second week, including Joseph Haydn’s Symphony “London” arranged for Flute, String Quartet and Piano, Pietro Bottesini’s Andante and Variations for Flute, Clarinet, and String Quartet, Luigi Boccherini’s String Quintet in A Major (Op. 29, No. 4), Kenji Bunch’s Vesper Flight for Flute and Piano, Arthur Foote’s A Night Piece and Scherzo for Flute and String Quartet, and Emil Hartmann’s Serenade for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano. Vesper Flight was commissioned by and dedicated to Tara Helen O’Connor, who will perform the work with Elliot Wuu.
For complete program listings and to purchase tickets, go to chesapeakemusic.org.
Sponsors of this year’s Festival include the Maryland State Arts Council, Paul and Joanne Prager, and private benefactors.
Festival schedule
June 7-15, 2024
Opening Extravaganza!
Friday, June 7 – 7:30 p.m.
Personal Perspectives
Saturday, June 8 – 7:30 p.m.
Fabulous Fantasy
Sunday, June 9 – 5:30 p.m.
Masterminds
Thursday, June 13 – 7:30 p.m.
Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition and more
Friday, June 14 – 7:30 p.m.
Finale
Saturday, June 15 – 7:30 p.m.
