Beethoven and Your Brain
Edwin Outwater, world class conductor, and friend, exploring music and your brain - music is truly universal and can speak to all of us - no formal training required, just common human experience.
Beethoven, Schubert and more - An intimate evening of chamber music in a classic SF home - Ray Walton's House Salon
Our good friend, Ray Walton, hosted a wonderful event in Pacific Heights last night. Friends from all walks of life, some avid chamber music fans, and others first time listeners, gathered in his quintessentially San Franciscan home and together made an incredibly warm and receptive audience. We really enjoyed playing in his space - on his beautiful Hamburg Steinway that he had specifically customized to accomodate chamber playing. As he exclaimed after the performance, this is "how chamber music was meant to be heard!" We're grateful for the opportunity and hope to see you again!
BELLA Moments Musicaux
We're embarking on a journey of "moments musicaux," or musical moments. These are treasurable gems of pieces, sometimes written originally for piano trio, and other times adapted or arranged for piano trio. Each has something truly special and heartwarming, or soul-stirring to it, drawing us as performers into a world we'd love to embrace with you.
This Saturday we'll be previewing two of those pieces. The first is by Dmitri Shostakovich. But not the Shostakovich that some of you might have heard in our rendition of his second piano trio. This Shostakovich is warm, and soulful, and full of beauty and a wealth of emotions ranging from hope to sorrow. It's originally written for 2 violins and piano, but we have simply had one part played by the cello, usually an octave below what was written. It's gorgeous.
The second muscial moment we'll be performing is by a living composer from Estonia named Arvo Pärt. It's called Spiegel im Spiegel which can be "translated (from the German) as, "mirror in the mirror" as well as "mirrors in the mirror", referring to the infinity of images produced by parallel plane mirrors: the tonic triads are endlessly repeated with small variations as if reflected back and forth. The English word for this phenomenon is "enfilade." The piece is in the tintinnabular style of composition, wherein a melodic voice, operating over diatonic scales, and tintinnabular voice, operating within a triad on the tonic, accompany each other. It is about ten minutes long, and the perfect minimalist, meditative piece.
We hope you enjoy them!
Beethoven's "Archduke" Trio
We're getting ready for the first performance of our interpretation of Beethoven's 7th trio, nicknamed the "Archduke." If you already love this trio, Cheers! If you have no idea what we're talking about ... hold on to your seats - it's epic!
This trio is perfect. It's immensely gratifying, serious, silly, and provocative while being both symphonic and delicate. Not unlike a classic Radiohead album (OK Computer comes to mind...as the great author Haruki Murakami who frequently quotes both Beethoven and Radiohead in the same paragraph might muse...). It's about 35 minutes long, and has 4 movements. The first movement is regal, and grand to begin with, and develops into something cunning and coy, before finishishing with a flourish. The second movement is a mix of a kind of giddy march with a really serious, strange trio section in the middle - full of chromatics and weird polonaise rhythms. The third movement is the soul of the piece - horribly profound, hauntingly beautiful and inspirationally provocative. It is at once dark and somber and bright and hopeful. Uplifting, spiritual and deep. The final movement is an all out celebration. A huge jolly party that ends with a bang.
Sound like fun? Well, it is. So, be sure to come hear it live - March 23rd at the SF Conservatory, or March 31st in Berkeley at the Trinity Chapel!
Happy 2012 and Happy Year of the Dragon!
What better way to celebrate than with the beauty of chamber music?!
We're excited to perform a few new works for you early this year. Join us for a House Salon in Pacific Heights, or a Recital at the SF Conservatory of Music, or Berkeley's Trinity Chapel. We'll be performing works - small and large - from Beethoven and Schubert to Debussy, Shostakovich and Arvo Pärt.
We will also begin debuting pieces from our "Moments Musicaux" collection - more on that later!
We look forward to playing for you!
BELLA at the SF Conservatory of Music - December 2011
San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Recital Hall - perfect for chamber music!
We were honored to perform a recital of Schubert and Shostakovich sponsored the Harvard Club of SF at the SFCM's gorgeous Recital Hall - the perfect setting for chamber music! The house was filled with holiday spirit and the audience was warm and generously receptive. It was the perfect way to end 2011 - on a high note and with lots of new sights for 2012.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Holiday Salon at Lance Myers'
Gabriel introducing Shostakovich - the man and his second piano trio. A surprise hit for many in the audience - most of whom had never heard of either the composer or the piece!
Our good friend and host, Lance Myers welcomed nearly 30 guests into his beautiful loft home in Corona Heights. We were delighted to discuss and perform Schubert and Shostakovich for our friends - old and new. As one audience member stated, "I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Saturday night in the city." We couldn't agree more!
VIDEO - Chamber Music Day 2011
Check out the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music's short video highlighting some of the many great ensembles we got to perform alongside this year! Yes, that's us in the opening trailer - and what an amazing audience we had!!!
Happy Thanksgiving!
We hope you enjoy this Thanksgiving with your family, friends, pets, neighbors, and yourselves surrounded with warmth, love and music!
We are greatful for our hosts and supporters, including Dr. Gary Rust, who graciously hosted us in his elegant home right here in San Francisco last week. And many many thanks to our audience for listening and sharing this experience with us!
See you in December at our Holiday Salon or the Harvard Club's Annual Party!
Thanks for a great Chamber Music Day at the deYoung!
Thanks to an overwhelmingly receptive and supportive audience, Chamber Music Day at the deYoung was an incredibly inspiring experience!
We hope to present more Schubert to you in the very near future. Please visit often and let us know how we can make listening a better experience for you.