Festival Opening Night

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An all-star ensemble led by pianist Anton Nel and Artistic Director Barry Shiffman will feature Brahms? chamber music masterpieces. The program highlights the vocal splendor of American mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey, who was the Grand Finals winner of the 2017 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions; the incomparable violinist Chee-Yun, winner of the 1989 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and the 1990 Avery Fisher Career Grant; and culminate with horn virtuoso William Vermeulen.

Program:
Two Songs for mezzo, viola and piano
Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108
Horn Trio, Op. 40

The third floor reception hall will be transformed into a candlelit space of hi-tops and small tables creating a fun atmosphere of intimacy with the artists. Attendees will enjoy a casual, 45-minute performance late night in Rockport!

This evening?s program highlights the vocal splendor of American mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey, who was the Grand Finals winner of the 2017 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, performing arias from Carmen; the innovative pianist Stephen Prutsman, performing some of his own compositions and concluding with Liszt?s impressive and fun Hungarian Rhapsody, as well as the prolific harpsichordist John McKean performing Ligeti?s Continuum.

A one-man theatrical presentation adapted from a letter written by Franz Kafka, Kafka and Son is a blistering, often hilarious, dissection of domestic authority, and a revelatory visit with one of the architects of the modern psyche. The 1-hour play will be set to a recording of the powerful music of Osvaldo Golijov. The program will open with a musical performance of Golijov?s Lullaby and Doina.

Each composer in this program brought a new perspective to the music in his generation. Steve Reich?s Different Trains, performed by the Attacca Quartet, and is presented with a video by Beatriz Caravaggio that builds on a montage of wartime images. His inspiration for the piece was contrasting his own fond memories riding trains as a child juxtaposed with the memories of Holocaust victims riding trains to the camps. Prutsman and Koo perform two of Pärt?s most famous minimalist works, incredibly popular for the calm in which the music inhabits.

Program:
SHOSTAKOVICH: String Quartet No. 3 in F major, Op. 73
ARVO PÄRT: Fratres (violin and piano)
STEVE REICH: Different Trains (with video, recorded sound and string quartet)
ARVO PÄRT: Spiegel im Spiegel (violin and piano)

Festival On-sale Dates
Subscriptions: April 5 | Single Tickets: April 17

Pianist Frederic Chiu makes his Rockport debut with the powerful ?war? sonata No. 7 of Prokofiev. The program continues with cellist Andres Diaz in Tan Dun?s Elegy: Snow in June, based on a 13th century Chinese drama, about a woman executed for crimes, despite her innocence. Even nature cried out for her innocence with a heavy snowfall in June. The concert concludes with selected movements from Messiaen?s Quartet from the End of Time, written while a prisoner in a World War II camp.

PROGRAM
TURINA: Piano Trio No. 2 in B minor, Op. 76
MENDELSSOHN: Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66
BRAHMS: Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25

MONTROSE TRIO
Martin Beaver, violin | Clive Greensmith, cello | Jon Kimura Parker, piano
Formed in 2013, the Montrose Trio is a collaboration stemming from a long and fruitful relationship between pianist Jon Kimura Parker and the Tokyo String Quartet. Mr. Parker was the quartet?s final guest pianist, and a backstage conversation with violinist Martin Beaver and cellist Clive Greensmith led to the Montrose Trio?s creation. Named after Chateau Montrose, a storied Bordeaux wine long favored after concerts, with a nod to the Montrose Arts District of Houston and the street in Winnipeg where Mr. Beaver was raised, the Montrose Trio has quickly established a reputation for performances of the highest distinction.

BARRY SHIFFMAN, viola
Artistic director of the Rockport Chamber Music Festival and classical music at Rockport Music, internationally acclaimed violinist and violist Barry Shiffman is well-respected as a musician, educator and administrator. He was co-founder of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, and currently serves as both the Associate Dean and Director of Chamber Music at the Glenn Gould School and Dean of the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. During his 17 years with the SLSQ he appeared in over 2,000 concerts in venues around the globe, and recorded several critically acclaimed discs under an exclusive contract with EMI Classics.

Artistic Director Barry Shiffman leads an unforgettable Opening Night ensemble in a performance of one of the Romantic period?s foremost masterpieces?Tchaikovsky?s Souvenir de Florence?paired with the dramatic work Ayre by one of the world?s leading composers of today Osvaldo Golijov. This song cycle reveals the musical intermingling of Christian, Arab and Sephardic Jewish cultures and is performed by an all-star 11-member ensemble and the dynamic soprano Miriam Khalil.

Tickets: $72, $66, $50
(fees may apply)

Subscriptions: April 5 | Single Tickets: April 17

5:30 PM Doors & 6:30 PM Show Doors & Show Times are subject to change

Sale Dates and Times:

Public Onsale : Fri, 26 Jan 2018 at 10:00 AM

BOMH Presale : Wed, 24 Jan 2018 at 10:00 AM