Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center:
Summer Evenings Outdoors in Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center
Six Free Concerts, May 15 – July 10
Tickets by lottery via TodayTix

Saturday, May 15, 2021, 7:30 pm
Gershwin, Adolphe, and Dvořák 
World Premiere by Bruce Adolphe
Performed by Angel Blue

Join CMS for its return to the live stage at Lincoln Center with a program that spans continents. As a prelude to Dvořák’s beloved Piano Quintet, we will hear quintessentially American music, including ever-popular Gershwin and the world premiere of a new song cycle by Bruce Adolphe, composed for soprano Angel Blue, well-known to Lincoln Center audiences from her recent performances of Porgy and Bess. The poems in Water Songs range from the lyrical poetry of Katherine Barrett Swett, Emily Dickinson, and James Joyce to a comical verse by Shakespeare, a spiritual meditation by the Persian poet Rumi, and a thought-provoking list of water facts and statistics.

ANGEL BLUE, Soprano
BRYAN WAGORN, Piano
WU HAN, Piano
KRISTIN LEE, Violin
DANBI UM, Violin
PAUL NEUBAUER, Viola
DAVID FINCKEL, Cello

Gershwin Three Preludes for Violin and Piano (arr. Heifetz) (c. 1926)
Lee, Wu Han

Bruce Adolphe Water Songs for Soprano and Piano (2019) (world premiere)
Blue, Wagorn

Dvořák Quintet in A major for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, B. 155, Op. 81 (1887)
Wu Han, Um, Lee, Neubauer, Finckel

Saturday, May 22, 2021, 7:30 pm
Dvořák and Mendelssohn

One of Dvořák’s most inspired creations is the trio he called “Terzetto” for two violins and viola, composed for his friends. Following this unique piece of chamber music, we will hear Mendelssohn at his most effervescent, in his scintillating, virtuosic second Viola Quintet.

PAUL HUANG, Violin
SEAN LEE, Violin
MISHA AMORY, Viola
HSIN-YUN HUANG, Viola
NICHOLAS CANELLAKIS, Cello

Dvořák Terzetto in C major for Two Violins and Viola, Op. 74 (1887)
Lee, P. Huang, Amory

Mendelssohn Quintet No. 2 in B-flat major for Two Violins, Two Violas, and Cello, Op. 87 (1845)
P. Huang, Lee, H. Huang, Canellakis

Wednesday, June 2, 2021, 7:30 pm
Beethoven and Saint-Saëns

The piano trio, along with the string quartet, is perhaps the most popular form of chamber music, and the interest in this form spanned centuries and cultures. In this concert we will encounter two staples of the piano trio repertoire, the first by Beethoven (his first published work) and the second, the early, atmospheric work by Camille Saint-Saëns, also his Trio No. 1.  

ANNE-MARIE MCDERMOTT, Piano
CHAD HOOPES, Violin
DMITRI ATAPINE, Cello 

Beethoven Trio in E-flat major for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 1, No. 1 (1793)
McDermott, Hoopes, Atapine

Saint-Saëns Trio No 1 in F major for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op 18 (1864)
McDermott, Hoopes, Atapine

Saturday, June 26, 2021, 7:30 pm
Brahms

There is no music served up on the concert stage that is more meat-and-potatoes than Brahms. CMS is delighted to present an all-Brahms evening of chamber music that displays all the master’s craft and indomitable strength, allowing our musicians to revel in its sonic and melodic riches.  

MICHAEL BROWN, Piano
GILLES VONSATTEL, Piano
IDA KAVAFIAN, Violin
MATTHEW LIPMAN, Viola
PAUL WATKINS, Cello 

Brahms Sonata No. 2 in F major for Cello and Piano, Op. 99 (1886)
Watkins, Brown 

Brahms Quartet No. 1 in G minor for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 25 (1860-61)
Vonsattel, Kavafian, Lipman, Watkins

Wednesday, July 7, 2021, 7:30 pm
Beethoven and Dvořák

The art of chamber music is multi-faceted, with composers using their creative forces to constantly re-imagine the myriad possibilities offered by intimate ensembles. From Beethoven’s early piano quartet, a model of classical elegance and efficiency, we will quickly move to Dvořák in a large-scale work which, with the unusual addition of a double bass, is richly orchestral in timbre.  

SHAI WOSNER, Piano
CHAD HOOPES, Violin
KRISTIN LEE, Violin
TIEN-HSIN CINDY WU, Viola
DAVID REQUIRO, Cello
XAVIER FOLEY, Double Bass 

Beethoven Quartet in E-flat major for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 16 (1796)
Wosner, Hoopes, Wu, Requiro

Dvořák Quintet in G major for Two Violins, Viola, Cello, and Bass, Op. 77 (1875)
Lee, Hoopes, Wu, Requiro, Foley

Saturday, July 10, 2021, 7:30 pm
Haydn, Mendelssohn, and Schumann

Works by three masters combine to illustrate the endless and delightful diversity of chamber music. From the “father of the piano trio” Joseph Haydn we hear one of his most sublime examples; from the young genius Mendelssohn a riveting violin sonata; and from history’s most emotional composer, Robert Schumann, the first Romantic era piano quartet that set the stage for Brahms and beyond.  

ORION WEISS, Piano
PAUL HUANG, Violin
MATTHEW LIPMAN, Viola
JAN VOGLER, Cello

Haydn Trio in E minor for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Hob. XV:12 (1789)
Weiss, Huang, Vogler

Mendelssohn Sonata in F major for Violin and Piano (rev. Menuhin) (1838, rev. 1953)
Huang, Weiss

Schumann Quartet in E-flat major for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 47 (1842)
Weiss, Huang, Lipman, Vogler