So, you fancy yourself a music aficionado? You can identify Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in four notes. Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” is in heavy rotation. You may even have a favorite piece by Aaron Copland. Or spent your summers at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. Well, then …
What are you doing next Thursday? Because if you’re not going to St. Cecilia to hear some of the world’s finest chamber musicians, we have questions.
On Oct. 29, St. Cecilia Music Center opens the 15th season of its Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center series with “Dvořák, Debussy and Chaminade.” The 7:30 p.m. performance in the center’s Royce Auditorium, located at 24 Ransom Ave. NE (with on-site parking), features the society’s co-artistic directors, Wu Han, piano, and David Finckel, cello, alongside pianist Anna Geniushene, violinists Chad Hoopes and Arnaud Sussmann, and cellist Edward Arron.
The milestone season reflects a partnership rooted in longstanding friendships, a shared vision and, surprisingly, chicken wings. After 15 years of traveling to Grand Rapids three or four times a year, the city has become a home away from home for these stars of the chamber music stage. Han and Finckel have earned honorary Grand Rapidian status, with favorite restaurants, bars and local haunts they return to whenever they’re in town. More on that in the January-February issue of Grand Rapids Magazine.
The program features works by Claude Debussy, Cécile Chaminade and Antonín Dvořák, showcasing the intimacy, technical brilliance and musical conversation that make chamber music so compelling.
This is no ordinary touring ensemble
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is the world’s largest international chamber music producing and presenting organization, bringing together a roster of distinguished musicians from around the globe. Han and Finckel, both recipients of Musical America’s Musician of the Year Award, are formidable artists in their own right. Finckel spent 34 seasons with the Grammy-winning Emerson String Quartet, while Han has built an internationally respected career as a pianist and artistic director. Together, they have helped shape the future of chamber music on some of the world’s most prestigious stages — including St. Cecilia’s.
That caliber of artistry is available right here in Grand Rapids, in the intimate, acoustically exceptional setting of Royce Auditorium. You don’t need to know a Debussy from a Dvořák to appreciate the experience, either. You just need to show up ready to listen.
The 15th season continues Feb. 4 with “Rhapsody in Blue,” a four-hands piano program featuring works by Mozart, Mendelssohn, Dvořák and, naturally, Gershwin. Get your tickets pronto for that one. “String Radiance,” on March 18, explores works by Boccherini, Dvořák and D’Ambrosio. The series concludes April 22 with “The Great Clarinet Quintets,” featuring works by Mozart and Brahms. That’s right: this season, the series grows from three concerts to four — and the expanded lineup is here to stay.
And don’t worry about what to wear. This isn’t a black-tie affair. Jeans and sneakers are perfectly welcome. Come as you are. Bring your ears. Let the music do the rest. And perhaps head out for some beer and chicken wings afterward.
Tickets and concert details are available at scmcgr.org.
How Han and Finckel’s partnership with St. Cecilia came to involve a downtown dive bar, beer, martinis and chicken wings is a story in itself. Look for their profile in the January-February issue of Grand Rapids Magazine. It’s one more thing you won’t want to miss.
