The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center returns to Vero Beach with a three-concert series at Trinity Episcopal Church, following last year’s successful introductory season at the Community Church of Vero Beach. Founded in 1969, the CMS presents a full season of concerts at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in New York City, as well as performances at venues around the country.
Scott Johnson, a New York and Vero Beach architect with longtime family ties to the area, introduced the CMS to Vero Beach in connection with the Three Corners Project.
Johnson, a cellist and composer himself, was introduced to CMS while working with the architectural firm that renovated Lincoln Center, and invited cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han, co-artistic directors of CMS, to visit Vero. They performed a brief concert inside the old power plant and were encouraged by the vision of that project and the reception they received from the community last year.
“They are literally the best in the world at what they do. When you go to a CMS concert, there’s nothing like it. Even if you don’t like chamber music, you’re just blown away because of their expertise. They really captured me,” says Johnson, adding that Wu Han has started successful chamber music programs in other parts of the country.
“She’s a visionary,” says Johnson. “Wu Han got very excited about the idea; specifically, the idea of planting seeds in Vero Beach and then growing into the Three Corners Project as it develops.”
Finckel and Wu Han became co-artistic directors in the 2004-05 season, and in 2012, they received Musical America’s Musician of the Year Award in recognition of their mastery of the craft, stewardship of music organization, innovative programming and commitment to fostering young talent.
Additionally, the married couple oversee the CMS Bowers Program, a “competitive three-season residency for gifted, early career chamber music ensembles and individuals,” and the Chamber Music Institute at Music@Menlo, an immersive experience for young musicians of note.
Wu Han’s multi-faceted career includes artistic direction, performing and recording at the highest levels and Finckel, a professor at Juilliard and Stony Brook University, won nine Grammy Awards and the Avery Fisher Prize during his time with the Emerson String Quartet.
“Because this is a new venture, David and I wanted to be the group to open the CMS down there,” says Wu Han, who spoke with Vero Beach 32963 about the upcoming season of concerts in Vero Beach.
“The Beethoven Trio Opus 1, No. 1 is the trio that Beethoven made his debut with in Vienna, so we thought that’s going to be a really good opening. The Shostakovich Sonata is a piece written in the very turbulent time of Shostakovich’s personal life,” says Wu Han, explaining that they wanted something that would offset the happiness of the first and last pieces.
“We wanted to have a little spice in the program and that’s also a piece that David learned directly from [Mstislav] Rostropovich, his teacher. So that was historically important,” she says.
“And the Dvořák Quartet is one of the most joyful pieces of music in chamber music literature. It has the most incredible cello solo in the slow movement so we’re going to show off David as well.”
Always wanting to introduce audiences to their international roster of “up-and-coming young superstars in the chamber music field,” they are joined in this first concert by violinist Richard Lin and violist Timothy Ridout.
A Juilliard graduate, Lin received a Gold Medal at the 2018 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis and Ridout is a recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society 2023 Young Artist Award.
Wu Han next speaks about the last concert, which she describes as more intellectual.
“We always believe that people should learn more about the music they are listening to.
Because we started out with Beethoven, this is an exercise for the audience and the musicians to compare Haydn’s trios and Beethoven’s trios.”
She explains that Beethoven took the Haydn Trio, composed at the beginning of the German formation of piano trios, and moved it forward.
“So if you hear this program with the Haydn and Beethoven side by side, you will realize why Beethoven is so important as well as why Haydn is incredible. It’s a very real opportunity to have this kind of programming, which is the specialty of CMS,” says Wu Han.
For the middle concert, she says they added in some spice, likening the design to a balanced meal.
“You can’t always just have the German repertoire. You want to have something exotic. And so, for this very first season in the Trinity Church, I want to have a wide range of displays.”
The middle program, she says, showcases many diverse cultures, with composers from an array of countries and an international quintet of “superstar” musicians, all past or future CMS Bowers Program members, each given a moment to shine.
The Grieg Sonata will be played by another married couple, violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky and pianist Wu Qian. “They play that piece like nobody else. It’s incredible.”
Wu Han calls the Vieuxtemps Elégie “absolutely gorgeous. Very few people know about that and it’s a big showpiece for the viola.”
In Schubert’s Trio, she says each of the string players gets to show off a little before they all come together to finish with a Dohnányi Quintet.
“So, you will see a really wide array of different styles and different temperaments of the pieces. Each program is designed specifically for the reason that we want to make sure that it’s a really balanced and delicious diet. A little bit for everybody.”
Monday, Jan. 22: Beethoven, Shostakovich and Dvořák
Finkel, Wu Han and Lin open with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Trio in E-flat major for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 1, No. 1, his first published piece and a classic of the chamber music repertoire.
Next, Finckel and Wu Han perform their interpretation of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor, Op. 40, a piece described in 1934 as “disciplined, classically proportioned, sonorous and eminently lyrical.”
Finckel, Wu Han, Lin and Ridout close out the program with Antonin Dvořák’s high-spirited Quartet for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello in E-flat major, Op. 87.
Thursday, Feb. 29: Instrumental Inspirations
This concert includes Franz Schubert’s Trio in B-flat major for Violin, Viola, and Cello, D. 581; Edvard Grieg’s Sonata No. 3 in C minor for Violin and Piano, Op. 45; Henri Vieuxtemps’ Elégie for Viola and Piano, Op. 30; and Ernő Dohnányi’s Quintet No. 1 in C minor for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 1.
The artists are pianist Wu Qian, a critically acclaimed soloist and winner of a 2016 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award; violinist Julian Rhee, first-prize winner of the 2020 Elmar Oliveira International Competition; Russian born violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky, a founding member (with Wu Qian and cellist Isang Enders) of the Sitkovetsky Trio; American violist Matthew Lipman, who regularly performs with CMS at Alice Tully Hall, where he occupies the Wallach Chair; and cellist Jonathan Swenson, who has won numerous first prizes at international cello competitions.
Thursday, March 20: Trios Transformed
Wu Han and Finckel return, joined by Arnaud Sussmann on violin to play a quartet of trios by Ludwig van Beethoven and Joseph Haydn. Sussmann is artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, and founding artistic director of the Boscobel Chamber Music Festival.
Although better known for his symphonies and string quartets, Haydn’s Trio in A major for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Hob. XV:18, demonstrates a similar sophistication to his final six “London” Symphonies. Beethoven’s Trio in C minor for Piano, Violin and Cello, Op. 1, No. 3, was among his earliest masterpieces and introduced his style to the public. Haydn’s Trio in E major Piano, Violin, and Cello, Hob. XV:28 was dedicated to pianist Therese Jansen Bartolozzi to highlight her skill. Beethoven’s Trio in D major for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 70, No. 1, “Ghost” [so called because of its eerie-sounding slow movement at the end] concludes the program.
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center concerts take place at 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2365 Pine Ave., Vero Beach. 32960. Pre-concert talks with the artists, which Wu Han says will be a relaxed, but intellectually and aesthetically challenging and fun, begin at 6:45 p.m. Individual or three-concert subscription tickets can be purchased at ChamberMusicSociety.org.
Photos provided
