by David Kulma
The theme of ENCORE Chamber Music’s fourth season is “La Bohème: Art and Freedom,” mixing meanings of Bohemianism. It has brought together the 19th-century artistic movement that sought to break down conventions (think the characters from Puccini’s opera) with composers from Bohemia, of which Dvořák is the most famous. I attended three concerts where the overarching theme was successfully bent to include music from Mozart to living American composers.
by Jarrett Hoffman
When it comes to classical music, there’s not much better party material than a rondo. It’s easy to follow, the refrain lodges itself into your memory like any great pop-song chorus, and most importantly, the music tends to be fast and fun.
The folks over at ENCORE Chamber Music decided that rondos would be just the thing to keep the festivities going with this season’s focus on Bohemian music and the Romani people. “There is such a danceable spirit to our theme, ‘La Bohème,’ and we felt that rondo movements celebrated that in a really lovely way,” artistic director Jinjoo Cho said during a recent interview.
A concert titled “Round Round Rondo” — the refrains, of course, come round and round — takes place this Friday, June 28 at 7:00 pm in the Tudor House at Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills. The program includes two pieces that conclude with that musical form — Mozart’s Viola Quintet in g and Brahms’ Piano Quartet in g — as well as Kodály’s Serenade, Op. 12.
by Jarrett Hoffman
One of the enduring images from last Sunday, June 9 at the Gilmour Academy’s Tudor House is of hugs being exchanged in the hallway. The Jupiter String Quartet and the young artists of the Lafontaine Quartet had just blown us away with Mendelssohn’s String Octet in E-flat, concluding the second concert in this season of ENCORE Chamber Music, and the mix of good feelings in the air was something special.
by Jarrett Hoffman
Bohemian music celebrating life and the arts is the theme for ENCORE Chamber Music’s fourth season, titled “La Bohème.” From June through mid-July, the festival will present eight ticketed faculty concerts, seven free student performances, and seventeen free master classes, all at the Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills. Both single tickets and season passes are available.
The Jupiter String Quartet (above) kicks off the season on Friday, June 7 at 7:00 pm at the Tudor House with a program that includes Puccini’s Crisantemi (“Chrysanthemums”), Janáček’s Quartet No. 1, “Kreutzer Sonata,” and Dvořák’s Quartet No. 13 in G.
Another side of the Jupiter will be on display the next day, June 8 during master classes at 10:00 am and 4:00 pm at the campus’s middle school band room.