Beloved Colburn faculty, brilliant students, celebrated guest performers, and alumni come together in performances that blend youthful discovery with seasoned artistry. New this season, the Colburn Chamber Players concert series offers an exploration of chamber music in all its forms, from the warm resonance of strings to the bright energy of winds and percussion. Each performance is a unique meeting of generations, where the insight of experienced performers elevates the fresh perspective of emerging talent.
Featuring Jonathan Brown, Viola; Margaret Batjer, Violin; and Tatjana Masurenko, Viola
Sunday, October 12 at 4 pm Thayer Hall
This intimate afternoon concert explores the delicate balance of voices found in chamber music. The centerpiece of the program is Bach’s Art of Fugue, in which each instrument’s interpretation of the theme is expertly woven together into a kaleidoscopic masterwork. Interspersed between these dazzling dialogues are short pieces exploring Bach’s music through a contemporary lens. The second half of the concert continues the conversation between past and present when Schumann’s imaginative Fairy Tales is paired with György Kurtág’s late 20th-century response—a work using the same instrumentation and heavily referencing Schumann’s compositional style. Beethoven’s complex Grosse Fuge closes the performance.
Program Information
BACH Art of Fugue, No. 1 GYÖRGY KURTÁG Aus der Ferne III BACH Art of Fugue, No. 7 SHULAMIT RAN Bach-Shards BACH Art of Fugue, No. 10 GUBAIDULINA Reflections on the Theme B-A-C-H BACH Art of Fugue, No. 14 FANNY MENDELSSOHN Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano SCHUMANN Märchenerzählungen (Fairy Tales) for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano GYÖRGY KURTÁG Hommage à R. Sch for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano BEETHOVEN Grosse Fuge for String Quartet
This concert is included in these packages: Chamber Music Dialogues, Fantasy and Fury: Music of the Romantic, and Season Sampler.
Get tickets
Purchase a package
Featuring Clive Greensmith, Cello; Demarre McGill, Flute; and Martin Beaver, Violin
Sunday, November 23 at 4 pm Thayer Hall
Travel across the centuries in this program of vibrant chamber works rooted in the rich Austro-Hungarian musical tradition. First, Haydn’s “Quinten” string quartet masterfully darts from major to minor as each movement transforms and embellishes the central theme. The winds then take center stage for Ligeti’s whimsical Six Bagatelles, a piece saturated with Hungarian folk melodies, before two violins, two violas, and a cello close out the concert with Brahms’s radiant and warm String Quintet No. 1
Program Information HAYDN String Quartet Op. 76, No. 2 , “Quinten”LIGETI Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet BRAHMS String Quintet No. 1 in F Major
Featuring Jonathan Brown, Viola, and Matthew Howard, Percussion
Sunday, February 8 at 4 pm Thayer Hall
This colorful program highlighting a variety of music styles features the work of two influential French composers. César Franck’s expressive and fiery piano quintet will be performed alongside Claude Debussy’s only string quartet, an avant-garde tapestry of textures infused with the compositional stylings of Franck. Special guest Blake Pouliot, a Colburn alumnus beloved for his “immaculate, at once refined and impassioned” playing (ArtsATL), joins Colburn students for both works. Rounding out the program is a fugal masterwork by Mozart showcasing the bass and an innovative contemporary work by Tōru Takemitsu that blends Eastern and Western sounds.
Program Information MOZART Adagio and Fugue for Violin, Viola, and Bass FRANCK Piano Quintet in F Minor TAKEMITSU Bryce for Flute, Harp, Marimba, and Percussion DEBUSSY String Quartet in G Minor
This concert is included in these packages: Chamber Music Dialogues and Season Sampler.
Featuring Andrew Bain, Horn
Sunday, April 26 at 4 pm Thayer Hall
Jeremy Denk, a MacArthur Genius Grant-winning pianist that “you want to hear no matter what he performs” (New York Times), joins Colburn faculty and students in this program of electric quintets. Opening the concert is Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds, a work that masterfully balances the piano against oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon in what the composer described as “the best thing I have written in my life.” Edward Elgar’s Piano Quintet, composed in 1918 in the shadow of World War I, starts on an eerie tone before modulating towards a brighter, more symphonic end. In between these masterworks is Valerie Coleman’s Tzigane, a “passionate journey through woodwind virtuosity” inspired by Ravel’s similarly named Hungarian rhapsody for violin.
Program Information MOZART Quintet in E-flat Major for Piano and Winds VALERIE COLEMAN Tzigane for Wind Quintet ELGAR Quintet in A Minor for Piano and String Quartet
This concert is included in these packages: Chamber Music Dialogues, A Weekend with Jeremy Denk, Mozart’s Enduring Influence, Fantasy and Fury: Music of the Romantic, and Season Sampler.
See some of the world’s most distinguished chamber musicians perform with talented Conservatory of Music students and faculty, in the intimate setting of Thayer Hall. This package includes premium or aisle tickets to all of this season’s Colburn Chamber Players performances.
Orion Weiss
Tatjana Masurenko
Tine Thing Helseth
Andrew Bain