Calendar

Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Nokuthula Ngwenyama and Benjamin Hochman will perform beloved piano quartets.  On the program are the Mozart E-flat piano quartet, the Vermont Premiere of Elegy by Nokuthula Ngwenyama, and the Brahms G minor piano quartet.

The BMC Chamber Series  concludes with an evening of beloved piano quartets featuring Jaime Laredo (violin) Nokuthula Ngwenyama (viola), Sharon Robinson (cello) and Benjamin Hochman (piano).

Their performance will include the Vermont premiere of award-winning composer/violist Ngwenyama’s new piano quartet Elegy. This BMC co-commission was composed in response to the tragic events of spring 2020, including the killing of George Floyd.

Known for writing “music of bold, mesmerizing character” (Gramophone), Ngwenyama joins what the Washington Post calls “superstars of the chamber music world,” Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson, with Benjamin Hochman, for the finale concert of this season’s BMC Chamber Music Series.

In addition to Elegy, the program will include Mozart’s Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major and the Brahms Piano Quartet in g minor.

BMC Artistic Advisor Jaime Laredo is regarded as one of the top violinists of the late 20th century, especially notable as part of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. He has also been active as a conductor and educator. Performing for over six decades before audiences across the globe, he has excelled in the multiple roles of soloist, conductor, recitalist, pedagogue, and chamber musician.

“Mother of Peace” and “Lion” in Zulu, Nokuthula Endo Ngwenyama’s performances as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician garner great attention. Gramaphone proclaims her as “providing solidly shaped music of bold mesmerizing character.” As a composer, Uptown Magazine featured her “A Poet of Sound.” As a performer, she gained international prominence by winning the Primrose International Viola Competition at 16. The following year she won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, which led to debuts at the Kennedy Center and the 92nd Street ‘Y.’ A recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, she has performed with orchestras and as a recitalist the world over.

Also serving as BMC Artistic Advisor, Sharon Robinson is winner of the Avery Fisher Recital Award, the Piatigorsky Memorial Award, the Pro Musicis Award, and a Grammy Nominee, and recognized worldwide as a consummate artist and one of the most outstanding musicians of our time. Whether as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra, or member of the world-famous Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, critics, audiences, and fellow musicians respond to what the Indianapolis Star has called “a cellist who has simply been given the soul of Caruso.”

Benjamin Hochman, pianist, is a musician of exceptional versatility who regularly appears in multiple guises as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. In recent years he has ventured into the orchestral repertoire as a conductor. His wide range of partners and projects is matched by his curiosity, focus, and ability to communicate deeply with audiences. Since his Carnegie Hall debut as soloist with the Israel Philharmonic under the baton of Pinchas Zukerman, Hochman has enjoyed an international performing career, appearing as a soloist with the New York, Los Angeles, and Prague Philharmonic Orchestras, and the Chicago, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Jerusalem Symphony Orchestras.

Nokuthula Ngwenyama is thrilled to rejoin artistic director Herbert Washington, pianist Mary Price and the Phoenix Boys Choir for this Nashville performance!

Nokuthula Ngwenyama is thrilled to rejoin artistic director Herbert Washington, pianist Mary Price and the Phoenix Boys Choir for their final Southern Tour performance!

Conductor: Xian Zhang
Soloist: Steven Banks, saxophone

PROGRAM:
NGWENYAMA Primal Message
GLAZUNOV Saxophone Concerto
IBERT Concertino da Camera
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 4

Conductor: Xian Zhang
Soloist: Steven Banks, saxophone

PROGRAM:
NGWENYAMA Primal Message
GLAZUNOV Saxophone Concerto
IBERT Concertino da Camera
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 4

Few ensembles in history have had the sustained artistry and success that the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio has had for 45 years. They are particularly beloved in Vermont, in part thanks to Jaime Laredo’s 20 years as music director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. The trio is joined on this program by star violist and composer Nokuthula Ngwenyama, and they will give one of the first performances in the world of Elegy, an LCCMF co-commission with several other presenters around the U.S.

This concert will honor pianist Joseph Kalichstein who passed away in March of 2022. Anna Polonsky will perform in his place. Join us at 2:15pm for a pre-concert conversation with Resident Composer, David Serkin Ludwig and Soovin Kim.

Mozart Piano Quartet no. 2 in E-flat major, K. 493
Nokuthula Ngwenyama Elegy for piano quartet (2022 LCCMF co-commission)
Brahms Piano Quartet in G minor, op. 25, no.1

Jaime Laredo, violin
Nokuthula Ngwenyama, viola
Sharon Robinson, cello
Anna Polonsky, piano

Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Nokuthula Ngwenyama and Anna Polansky perform a program

dedicated to the memory of pianist Joseph Kalichstein, founding member of the

Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio

Saturday, October 15, 2022

7:30 p.m. Westby Pavilion

Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia

Florence Price Sonata for Piano in E Minor, II. Andante

Brahms Piano Quartet No.1 in G minor, Op.25

Pre-concert talk with Ngwenyama: 2:15 pm

Mozart Piano Quartet in G Minor, K. 478

Nokuthula Ngwenyama Elegy – OK premiere co-commissioned by Chamber Music Tulsa

Dvořák Quartet in E-flat, Op. 87