MEMETERIA by Thomas May

Two blissful weekends of intimate music-making are about to start as Seattle Chamber Music Society’s 2024 Winter Festival kicks off on Friday, 26 January.  Artistic Director James Ehnes will appear in all six programs over the festival’s two weekends. On opening night, he’ll join colleagues Amy Schwartz Moretti, Che-Yen Chen, Cynthia Phelps, Edward Arron, and Efe Baltacıgil for Brahms’s String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 18; the program also includes Ravel’s Violin Sonata No. 2 in G major and British composer Rebecca Clarke’s Piano Trio — part of this winter edition’s focus on 20th-century British composers.

Jan. 26-28 and Feb. 2-4; Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle; $30-$65; subscriptions and streaming options available; free prelude recital starts an hour before each concert; seattlechambermusic.org

Filed under: chamber music, James Ehnes, Seattle Chamber Music Society

Seattle Chamber Music Society’s 2023 edition of the Winter Festival has started, presenting two weekends of chamber music by Beethoven, Fanny Mendelssohn, Ravel, William Grant Still, Julia Perry, et al. plus a new work by contemporary American composer Jeremy Turner, who is especially known for his TV and stage scores.

The second weekend of concerts includes the local premiere (Feb. 3) of Turner’s Six Mile House for clarinet, violin, piano, and cello. which was inspired by the Charleston, SC-based urban legend about Sweeney Todd-ish murders said to have been committed by an evil innkeeper couple.

SCMS Artistic Director James Ehnes will be onstage for the three concerts of the second weekend, playing works by Brahms, Shostakovich, and César Franck. And a free prelude recital is open to the public before each concert — no ticket required. Here’s the free prelude lineup:

January 27 – 6:30PM
Richard Strauss: Violin Sonata, Op.18
Arnaud Sussmann, violin
Jeewon Park, piano

January 28 – 6:30PM
Franz Schubert: Fantasie in F minor, D. 940
Dmitri Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67
SCMS Academy Musicians

January 29 – 2:00PM
Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 6, Op. 82
Adam Neiman, piano

February 3 – 6:30PM
Julia Perry: Prelude
William Grant Still: Three Visions
George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue, solo version 1924
Andrew Armstrong, piano

February 4 – 6:30PM
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1 No. 3
SCMS Academy Musicians

February 5 – 2:00PM
Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in F minor, Op. 20, No. 5
James Ehnes and Amy Schwartz Moretti, violins;
Che-Yen Chen, viola; Edward Arron, cello

Filed under: chamber music, James Ehnes, Seattle Chamber Music Society