|
Contact: Gabriel Langfur
info@chameleonarts.org
617-427-8200
Chameleon Arts Ensemble opens 2009-2010 chamber music season
with music and all silence held
September 2, 2009 – Boston, MA – The Chameleon Arts Ensemble will open its eleventh chamber music season with two performances of music and all silence held, on Saturday, October 3 at 8 PM and Sunday October 4 at 3 PM, both at the Goethe-Institut Boston, 170 Beacon Street in the Back Bay. The program centers on the world of Olivier Messiaen with his masterpiece Quatuor pour la fin du temps for clarinet, violin, cello & piano. Also on the concert are Mozart’s Duo for violin & viola in G Major, K. 423, Claude Debussy’s Sonata for cello & piano, and the great Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu’s And then I knew 'twas wind for flute, viola & harp.
The birth of Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the end of time) is a famous story often told: called into service during World War II, Messiaen was captured by the Germans in May of 1940 and sent to Görlitz, a prisoner-of-war camp in Silesia. He found among his fellow prisoners a cellist, a violinist and a clarinetist, as well as a piano to play in the camp. He composed the piece during that winter and premiered it for an audience of 5000 inmates. The life-or-death circumstances of the composition of the Quatuor, Messiaen’s first real masterpiece, must have served to crystallize his compositional ideas, because three years later at just 35 years of age, he published his Technique de mon langage musical, an extraordinary treatise on music theory and his own compositional methods.
The two composers whom Messiaen most deeply and outspokenly admired were Claude Debussy and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Debussy had liberated lush, complex harmony from its tonal functionality in a way that Messiaen would fully capitalize on. Mozart he considered, like himself, to be a “rhythmician,” a composer free from slavish ties to a regular pulse, free to express the irregularities of “the waves of the sea, the sound of the wind, or the shape of tree branches.”
Although he was in nearly every respect self-taught as a composer, Toru Takemitsu considered Messiaen to be his spiritual mentor and principal influence. His And then I knew 'twas wind takes its title from a poem by Emily Dickinson, and owes a debt of gratitude to Debussy for his invented ensemble. “Both Takemitsu’s and Messiaen’s music,” Chameleon’s Artistic Director Deborah Boldin describes, “are full of ravishing sounds of seemingly endless timbral variety, blurring the line where the music stops and silence begins.”
Since its founding in 1998, Chameleon and artistic director Deborah Boldin have earned unqualified praise for integrating old and new repertoire into unexpected chamber music programs that are themselves works of art. They were recognized nationally with 2009 and 2007 ASCAP/CMA Awards for Adventurous Programming. The Boston Globe praised Ms. Boldin’s “carefully curated blending of classic and contemporary repertoire,” and her “discerning ears and cosmopolitan tastes,” and remarked, “during intermission, concertgoers could be heard marveling at the program’s breadth and wondering why other groups aren’t as adventurous. Chameleon makes daring seem easy.”
This innovative ensemble now draws capacity audiences of those who love the adventure of music—classic and contemporary. A Chameleon concert is a multifaceted experience in an intimate environment joining audience and musicians in an exuberant celebration of music. The musicians are among Boston’s most highly-respected and sought-after performers, with growing national and international reputations. Their superb artistry and finely honed collaborative skills ensure luminous performances and dynamic musical dialogues.
For tickets or more information, concertgoers can call 617-427-8200 or visit www.chameleonarts.org. Subscription prices range from $49 to $152, and individual tickets are $38, $28 and $18. $5 discounts for students and seniors are available. The Goethe-Institut is a wheelchair accessible venue.
#####
top
|
|
|
info@chameleonarts.org
