The sounds of summer are poised for a cultural awakening as the 21st season of the Palm Beach Chamber Music Summer Festival strikes a chord July 6-29. The four-week festival charts a course throughout Palm Beach County, playing three different recital halls and theaters each weekend in order to bring classical music to the public, all the while giving local musicians an opportunity to play chamber music during the summer months.
This season, the Palm Beach Chamber Music Summer Festival will take musicians to Palm Beach Atlantic’s Helen K. Persson Recital Hall on Fridays, Palm Beach State College’s Eissey Campus Theatre on Saturdays, and Old School Square’s Crest Theatre on Sundays to round out the musical festivities. Each week the program shifts to incorporate a new and diverse field of classics, highlighting three to four musical works from the masters, while giving the audience a more intimate and personal musical experience.
Described as a musical conversation, chamber music composition takes a relatively small number of musicians and blends their complementary parts into a whole, testing not only their musical abilities but social graces as well. The artistic contribution of each can be measured, unlike an orchestra, where individual play is often lost in the sheer number of musicians. Chamber music’s long lineage has emerged from baroque trios and opulent palace soirees, evolved with the Age of Enlightenment, weathered the Industrial Revolution to find sure footing in the age of the Romantics, was gripped with the wave of Nationalism, and marched on into the Modern era, where the new world began to make its musical presence known.
The 2012 Palm Beach Chamber Music Summer Festival pulls from a diverse and talented pool of musicians from all over the world, many of whom were with the now defunct Florida Philharmonic Orchestra. The Palm Beach Chamber’s 21st season will cover compositions from all over the musical map, giving new meaning to the expression "summer soundtrack."
Tickets for the Palm Beach Chamber Music Summer Festival cost $25 per person per program (subscriptions cost $85 for each location); to purchase, please call the box office at 800-330-6874, or click here. Concerts will be held at Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Helen K. Perrson Recital Hall on Fridays at 8 p.m.; Palm Beach State College’s Eissey Campus Theatre on Saturdays at 8 p.m.; and Old School Square’s Crest Theatre at 2 p.m. The weekly program of performances is as follows:
Week One:
- Luigi Boccherini – Quintet in F Major for string quartet and double bass
- Francis Poulenc – Trio for oboe, bassoon and piano
- Alexandre Tansman - Septuor for woodwinds, trumpet, viola and cello
Week Two:
- Franz Schubert – Shepherd on the Rock for voice, clarinet and piano
- Nino Rota – Trio for flute, violin and piano
- Mel Powell – Divertissement for woodwinds and trumpet
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Quintet in g minor (two violas)
Week Three:
- Edward Elgar – Six Promenades for woodwinds
- Jean Françaix - Divertissement for bassoon and string quintet
- Vincent d'Indy – Suite dans un Style Ancien for 2 flutes, trumpet and string quintet
- Bela Bartok - Contrasts for clarinet, violin and piano
Week Four:
- Alessandro Rolla - Divertissement for winds and strings
- Carl Reinecke – Sextet for winds
- Johannes Brahms – Quartet in g minor for strings and piano
Palm Beach Atlantic University
901 S. Flagler Dr.
West Palm Beach, FL 33401
Palm Beach State College
11051 Campus Dr.
Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410
561-207-5900
Old School Square
51 n. Swinton Ave.
Delray Beach, FL 33444
561-243-7922, ext. 1
