CMNW Festival Finale: American Masterworks
$47.50-$62.50 ($20 ages 18-29, $10 ages 17 & under)
- Viano String Quartet
- Anton Nel, piano
- Fleur Barron, mezzo-soprano
- Daniela Naomi Molnar, poetry
Chris Rogerson — Sign for My Father, Who Stressed the Bunt (world premiere)
Charles Ives — 114 Songs (selections)
Amy Beach — Piano Quintet in F-sharp minor, Op. 67
Our festival finale is an exciting celebration of the vitality of American music from the turn of the 20th century until today: native and folk influences in Antonín Dvořák, New England church hymns and popular tunes in Charles Ives, traditional Romanticism in Amy Beach, and modern-day lyricism in Chris Rogerson. The sensational Fleur Barron, who opened the festival, returns to close the summer in a beautiful world premiere work by Rogerson, and the dynamic South African pianist Anton Nel makes his CMNW debut in Beach's ravishing Piano Quintet.
Includes Oregon Poet Prelude featuring Daniela Naomi Molnar.
This program will receive 2 in-person performances: Thursday, July 27 at the Reser Center; and Saturday, July 29 at Kaul Auditorium.
Prelude Performances:
Thursday, 7/27
7pm | Union Bassoon Quartet, Natalie Alexander (solo bass clarinet) & Alexis Zou (piano) in The Reser lobby
7:30pm | Portland Saxophone Ensemble on The Reser plaza
Saturday, 7/29
7pm | with students of Hae-Jin Kim's Violin Studio on the Kaul Auditorium stage
About Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW)
Chamber Music Northwest serves more than 50,000 people annually in Oregon and SW Washington with exceptional chamber music through over 100 events annually, including our flagship Summer Festival, year-round concerts, community activities, educational programs, broadcasts, and innovative collaborations with other arts groups. CMNW is the only chamber music festival of its kind in the Northwest and one of the most diverse classical music experiences in the nation, virtually unparalleled in comparable communities.
Chamber Music Northwest's mission is to inspire our community through concerts and events celebrating the richness and diversity of chamber music, performed by artists of the highest caliber, presenting our community with exceptional opportunities for enjoyment, education, and reflection.
https://cmnw.org/About Viano String Quartet
Praised for their “virtuosity, visceral expression, and rare unity of intention” (Boston Globe), the Viano Quartet are one of the most sought-after performing young ensembles today and currently in-residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Bowers Program from 2024-2027. Since winning First Prize at the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition, they have traveled to nearly every major city across the globe, captivating audiences in New York, London, Berlin, Vancouver, Paris, Beijing, Toronto, Lucerne, and Los Angeles.
The quartet was named the inaugural June Goldsmith Quartet-in-Residence for the Music in the Morning series in Vancouver until 2025, where their focus will be to commission new works and lead extensive community engagement initiatives. The quartet has also held residencies at the Curtis Institute, Colburn Conservatory, Northern Michigan University, and Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University.
https://www.vianostringquartet.com/About Anton Nel, piano
Anton Nel, winner of the first prize in the 1987 Naumburg International Piano Competition at Carnegie Hall, continues to enjoy a remarkable and multifaceted career that has taken him to North and South America, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. Following an auspicious debut at the age of twelve with Beethoven’s C-major concerto after only two years of study, the Johannesburg native captured first prizes in all the major South African competitions while still in his teens, toured his native country extensively, and became a well-known radio and television personality. A student of Adolph Hallis, he made his European debut in France in 1982, and in the same year graduated with the highest distinction from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He came to the United States in 1983, attending the University of Cincinnati, where he pursued his Master’s and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees under Bela Siki and Frank Weinstock. In addition to garnering many awards from his alma mater during this three-year period, he was a prizewinner at the 1984 Leeds International Piano Competition in England and won several first prizes at the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition in Palm Desert in 1986.
Highlights of Mr. Nel’s four decades of concertizing include performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the symphonies of Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, Detroit, and London, among many others. An acclaimed Beethoven interpreter, Anton Nel has performed the concerto cycle several times, most notably on two consecutive evenings with the Cape Philharmonic in 2005. Additionally, he has performed all-Beethoven solo recitals, complete cycles of the violin and cello works, and most recently, a highly successful run of the Diabelli Variations as part of Moises Kaufman’s play 33 Variations.
As a recitalist, he has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum, the Frick Collection in New York, the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, Davies Hall in San Francisco, and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Internationally, he has performed recitals in major concert halls in Canada, England (Queen Elizabeth and Wigmore Halls in London), France, Holland (Concertgebouw in Amsterdam), Japan (Suntory Hall in Tokyo), Korea, China, and South Africa.
https://www.antonnel.com/About Fleur Barron, mezzo-soprano
Fleur Barron's mezzo-soprano is "multi-layered and vibrant: imagine a voice that seems to have the blood in one’s viens and the life forces of nature running through it" (Opera News). Hailed as "a charismatic star" (The Boston Globe) and "a knockout performer" (The Times), the Singaporean-British artist possesses "incredible poise and expressive weight – not to mention a thrillingly dark and rich-veined mezzo, and a striking stage presence" (Seen and Heard International). Barron makes her Atlanta debut with Julius Drake, the "collaborative pianist nonpareil" (The New Yorker) who conjures "myriad pianistic moods with a masterly touch" (The Times).
https://imgartists.com/roster/fleurbarron/