This Season Spans Centuries, Styles and Continents!

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Close Encounters With Music’s 35th season spans centuries, styles and continents—with a world premiere, a Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble, a full orchestra, and a Berlin-to-Paris cabaret—November through June in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

“Saluting the Clarinet” opens the season on November 1 at 4 pm with clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein in Mozart, Beethoven, Bartók and Gershwin — and the season closes in June with the world premiere of Jorge Martín’s “Metamorphosis: Love,” commissioned by CEWM.

Embarking on its 35th year of presenting outstanding chamber music with lively commentary in the Berkshires, Close Encounters With Music marks the milestone with a season titled “Celebration & Discovery” — seven concerts that range from the bedrock of the repertoire to music with the ink barely dry. The season brings pianists Simone Dinnerstein, Anna Polonsky, Michael Chertock, Max Levinson and Daniel Rein; clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein; violinists Miranda Cuckson, Xiao-Dong Wang, Helena Baillie, Hye-Jin Kim and Siwoo Kim; violists Daniel Panner and Luke Fleming; cellists Yehuda Hanani and Hannah Sohn; hornist Rafael Castillo-Halvorssen; baritone Tyler Duncan, tenor Omar Najmi and soprano Dana Varga; percussionists Samuel Solomon and Nancy Zeltsman; the four-time GRAMMY-nominated Skylark Vocal Ensemble; the 26-member Vivace Orchestra under conductor Joshua Gerson; and Israeli singer-actress Yael Rasooly, making her CEWM debut.

The clarinet opens the season, and few instruments cover more ground. It can come on brash and it can come on sensuous — the wolf in “Peter and the Wolf,” the ecstatic lyricism of “The Magic Flute,” the wail at the top of “Rhapsody in Blue.” Alexander Fiterstein is joined by pianist Michael Chertock, violinists Xiao-Dong Wang and Helena Baillie, violist Daniel Panner, and cellist and artistic director Yehuda Hanani for Mozart’s valedictory Clarinet Quintet, Beethoven’s Trio in B-flat major, Op. 11, Gershwin, and Bartók’s “Contrasts” — written for Benny Goodman and Joseph Szigeti, and packed with Hungarian country fiddling, folk fare, jazz and outright clarinet-and-violin pyrotechnics.

The season closes on June 13 with a world premiere: Jorge Martín’s “Metamorphosis: Love,” commissioned by CEWM, in which a tenor protagonist is drawn into dialogue with a soprano Muse over cello, piano, marimba and vibraphone. It shares the program with Tchaikovsky’s great Piano Trio — the composer’s elegy for his teacher Nikolai Rubinstein, played by violinist Hye-Jin Kim with Hanani and pianist Max Levinson — an earlier CEWM commission, Kenji Bunch’s 2015 companion piece for narrator, cello and percussion written to a Shakespeare sonnet of desire and longing, and art songs by Schubert, Brahms, Fauré, Poulenc and Finzi. Loss, remembrance, joyous recollection, metamorphosis and love animate the whole evening.

In between, the season turns in every direction. On December 13, Yael Rasooly brings “Come to the Cabaret! Paris and Weimar Berlin” to the Mahaiwe with pianist Daniel Rein and hornist Rafael Castillo-Halvorssen, channeling Édith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich through the bold, satirical songs of Weimar Berlin and the chansons of interwar Paris — sung, mimed and staged with elaborate costumes and specially created life-size puppets. On February 21, in the intimacy of Saint James Place, Simone Dinnerstein — “a unique voice in the forest of Bach interpretation” — joins Yehuda Hanani and cellist Hannah Sohn for Bach and Handel: two composers born one month and 125 kilometers apart who took opposite roads to immortality.

On March 14, the Skylark Vocal Ensemble returns under artistic director Matthew Guard with Britten’s “Flower Songs,” Benedict Sheehan’s “Songbird Antiphons” and music inspired by gardens, birdsong and the living world. The four-time GRAMMY nominee has been called “exquisite…thrilling…stunning” by Gramophone Magazine and “gripping” by The Times of London. On April 18, Dvořák — who straddled two centuries, two continents and two sensibilities — is heard in the “American” Quartet, the Piano Quintet, and selections from the “Biblical Songs” and “Gypsy Songs” with baritone Tyler Duncan. And on May 16 the Vivace Orchestra — 26 top-tier soloists and chamber musicians under conductor Joshua Gerson, with Siwoo Kim, violin, and Luke Fleming, viola, as soloists — returns with “The Golden Chain of Classical Music”: Haydn’s “Surprise” Symphony, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, and Beethoven’s First — after whose premiere Emperor Francis II is said to have remarked, “There is something revolutionary in this music!”

Artistic director Yehuda Hanani is welcoming audience members new to the Berkshires as well as long-time residents to join for intimate programs with outsize talent, in the beautiful landmark Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center and at Saint James Place, “to regain a sense of Community through the inspiring and healing effects of the best music ever penned—from over 300 years ago to almost yesterday, with the ink just drying”!

All audience members are invited to an “Afterglow” reception following each concert to meet the performers and one another!

In addition to offering live in-person concerts, curated online performances will be available to accommodate geographically remote listeners and virtual followers.

THE 2026-2027 SEASON

Unless noted, performances take place at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, 14 Castle Street, Great Barrington.

Sun., Nov. 1, 2026, 4 p.m. — Saluting the Clarinet: Mozart, Beethoven, Bartók and Gershwin Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet; Michael Chertock, piano; Xiao-Dong Wang and Helena Baillie, violins; Daniel Panner, viola; Yehuda Hanani, cello. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center.

Sun., Dec. 13, 2026, 4 p.m. — Come to the Cabaret! Paris and Weimar Berlin Yael Rasooly, singer, actress, director (CEWM debut); Rafael Castillo-Halvorssen, horn; Daniel Rein, piano. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center.

Sun., Feb. 21, 2027, 4 p.m. — Bach and Handel Simone Dinnerstein, piano; Yehuda Hanani, cello; Hannah Sohn, cello. Bach’s Fifteen Sinfonias and Gamba Sonata No. 2; Handel’s Violin Sonata in F Major (performed on cello) and Sonata for two cellos and keyboard; Beethoven’s Variations on a theme from Handel’s “Judas Maccabaeus.” Saint James Place, 352 Main Street, Great Barrington.

Sun., Mar. 14, 2027, 4 p.m. — Skylark Vocal Ensemble, Matthew Guard, Artistic Director Britten’s “Flower Songs,” Benedict Sheehan’s “Songbird Antiphons,” and works inspired by gardens, birdsong and the living world. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center.

Sun., Apr. 18, 2027, 4 p.m. — Dvořák—In the New World and Old World Anna Polonsky, piano; Miranda Cuckson, violin; Xiao-Dong Wang, violin; Helena Baillie, viola; Yehuda Hanani, cello; Tyler Duncan, baritone. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center.

Sun., May 16, 2027, 4 p.m. — Vivace Orchestra—The Golden Chain of Classical Music Joshua Gerson, conductor; Siwoo Kim, violin solo; Luke Fleming, viola solo. Haydn’s Symphony No. 94 “Surprise,” Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center.

Sun., June 13, 2027, 4 p.m. — World Premiere—“Metamorphosis: Love” The world premiere of Jorge Martín’s CEWM-commissioned Metamorphosis: Love, with Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio, Kenji Bunch, and art songs by Schubert, Brahms, Fauré, Poulenc and Finzi. Omar Najmi, tenor; Dana Varga, soprano; Hye-Jin Kim, violin; Yehuda Hanani, cello; Max Levinson, piano; Samuel Solomon and Nancy Zeltsman, percussion. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center.

Beyond the subscription series, CEWM presents its Annual Luncheon Musicale Benefit on Sun., May 2, 2027 at 12 p.m. at a private club in Lenox — a Gilded Age salon afternoon of music and a superb lunch in support of Close Encounters With Music’s Commissioning Program. Tickets go on sale in March.

TICKET INFORMATION

Season subscriptions are available now at cewm.org: Regular $295 (plus processing fee) and Early Bird $265 (plus processing fee) — a $30 savings — for the series of 7 concerts, with guaranteed Orchestra/Mezzanine seating at both the Mahaiwe and Saint James Place. The Early Bird deadline is September 7. A Pick 4 Series, good for any four concerts, is $195. The $15 processing fee is included at every level.

Memberships begin at Patron ($750), which includes two season seats per concert, recognition in the playbill, priority seat selection and CEWM merchandise. Benefactor ($1,000) adds tickets to the gala dinner following the June concert, and Endower ($2,000 and above) includes four season seats per concert and an invitation to Salon-style events.

Single tickets go on sale Friday, August 28: $60 Orchestra, $35 Balcony, Student tickets are $15 at the door. (Saint James Place has no balcony seating.) Virtual tickets are $30 per concert, or $100 for access to the complete season.

Tickets are available at cewm.org, by mail to Close Encounters With Music, P.O. Box 34, Great Barrington, MA 01230, and at the Mahaiwe Box Office, 14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, 413-528-0100. For subscriptions and information, email [email protected] or call 800-843-0778. All Close Encounters With Music events are wheelchair accessible.

ABOUT CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH MUSIC

Founded in 1992 by cellist Yehuda Hanani, Close Encounters With Music is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit presenting outstanding chamber music with lively commentary in the Berkshires, along with the Berkshire High Peaks Festival. More at cewm.org.

MEDIA CONTACT

Caitlin Marsden McNeill, Director of Operations

Close Encounters With Music

917.392.0969  |  [email protected]

 

The Vivace Chamber Orchestra Returns to the Mahaiwe — December 7

A conductorless chamber collective ignites Mozart, Britten, Bruch’s Kol Nidrei, and Mendelssohn’s miraculous Octet

Close Encounters With Music welcomes back The Vivace Chamber Orchestra, a New York–based collective renowned for precision, color, and expressive unanimity, on Sunday, December 7, 2025, at 4 PM at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington.

Curated to showcase the ensemble’s rare, one-mind musicianship, the program looks back and leaps forward. Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue in C minor—an homage to Bach’s contrapuntal craft—ventures into daring harmonies that feel a century ahead of their time, with the drama of an Italian overture. Britten’s Simple Symphony sparkles with wit and buoyant good spirits. Max Bruch’s Kol Nidrei (for cello and strings) unfolds as an extraordinarily expressive arc—from supplication and contrition to promise and redemption. And nothing less than a miracle, Mendelssohn’s String Octet in E-flat Major—written at sixteen and marked to be played “in symphonic orchestral style”—remains a beloved touchstone for its youthful verve, brilliance, and perfection.

“Vivace brings the electricity of a string quartet to an orchestral palette,” says CEWM Artistic Director Yehuda Hanani. “This program lets them pivot from the etched counterpoint of Mozart to Britten’s joie de vivre, the soulful depth of Kol Nidrei, and the sheer marvel of Mendelssohn’s Octet.”

The Vivace Chamber Orchestra, under Fleming’s direction, features an exceptional roster of New York–based string players: Siwoo Kim, Miho Saegusa, Keiko Tokunaga, Rubén Rengel, Suliman Tekalli, Christine Wu, and Edwin Kaplan on violins; Andrew Gonzalez, Laura Liu, and Sofia Gilchenok on violas; Ari Evan, Mihai Marica, and Aaron Wolff on cellos; and Andrew Trombley on bass.

“Performing without a conductor heightens our listening—we have to breathe and phrase as one,” says Luke Fleming, Artistic Director of The Vivace Chamber Orchestra. “From Mozart’s chiseled counterpoint to Britten’s sparkle, with the deep lyric core of Kol Nidrei, the program sets up the exhilarating release of Mendelssohn’s Octet.”

An elite, conductorless cohort of string artists, The Vivace Chamber Orchestra unites leading chamber musicians and orchestral principals for projects that demand both soloistic flair and chamber instinct. Their hallmark is unanimity—of intonation, articulation, and interpretive intent—resulting in performances of clarity, vitality, and breathtaking cohesion.

Beyond the Concert

Following the performance, audiences are invited to an “Afterglow” reception to meet the artists and mingle with fellow music lovers. Select concerts will also be available online, extending CEWM’s reach to listeners far beyond the Berkshires. (Subscribe to our YouTube Channel)

About Close Encounters With Music (CEWM)

Now in its 34th season, Close Encounters With Music presents world-class chamber music with imaginative programming, acclaimed guest artists, and community-centered events across the Berkshires. CEWM concerts pair beloved masterworks with discoveries, illuminating connections across eras and cultures. Learn more at cewm.org and follow CEWM on social media for updates and behind-the-scenes content.

Close Encounters With Music Announces Dazzling 34th Season

Season Opens with Silent Film Classic Der Golem and Live Original Score

Close Encounters With Music (CEWM) proudly unveils its 34th season, a dynamic series of chamber music concerts running from November through June. Renowned for pairing world-class performances with insightful commentary, CEWM’s 2024–2025 season spans centuries and styles, showcasing extraordinary musicians from around the globe.

A Cinematic Masterpiece Meets Live Music
The season launches November 2nd at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center with a rare treat: a screening of Der Golem(1920) accompanied by a live klezmer-infused score. Paul Wegener’s German Expressionist landmark tells the haunting 16th-century legend of a clay figure brought to life to protect Prague’s Jewish community—only to turn on its creators. The film was a sensation on release, influencing works from operettas to the 1931 cult classic, Frankenstein.

Israeli-born composer Betty Olivero’s evocative score—performed live by clarinetist Saerom Kim, the Avalon String Quartet, and conducted by Jonathan Yates—transforms traditional Yiddish folk melodies and Jewish liturgical music into a rich, cinematic soundscape. Her music heightens the film’s drama with color, urgency, and nuance, creating an unforgettable, fully immersive experience for both eyes and ears.

A Season of Remarkable Artists
Artistic Director Yehuda Hanani invites both longtime patrons and new Berkshire residents to experience intimate programs with outsize talent in the historic Mahaiwe theater. “We can regain a sense of community through the inspiring and healing effects of the best music ever penned—from over 300 years ago to almost yesterday,” Hanani says.

Highlights of the season include:

  • Pianists Adam Golka, Max Levinson, Anna Polonsky, and Gila Goldstein
  • Violinists Giora Schmidt, Miranda Cuckson, Xiao-Dong Wang, Ara Gregorian, Hye-Jin Kim,
  • Violists Anthony Devroye, Helena Baillie
  • Two appearances by the Vivace Chamber Orchestra
  • Metropolitan Opera baritone John Moore in Schumann’s sublime Dichterliebe

Beyond the Concert
After each performance, audiences are invited to an “Afterglow” reception to meet the artists and mingle with fellow music lovers. Select concerts will also be available online, extending CEWM’s reach to listeners far beyond the Berkshires.

Tickets and Subscriptions

Season subscriptions are available now at cewm.org:

Regular Series (7 concerts): $295

Early Bird (7 concerts): $265

Single tickets:

Orchestra/Mezzanine: $60

Balcony: $35

Students: $15

Available through the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center box office or by calling 413-528-0100.

As The Berkshire Edge noted, “CEWM patrons have learned that sooner or later they’ll be blindsided by a performance so sublime it will defy explanation.” Join us for Close Encounters With Music’s sparkling 34th season.

Berkshire High Peaks Festival 2025

Berkshire High Peaks Festival 2025—On the Campus of Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, MA, Situated in the Beautiful and Culturally Dynamic Berkshire Hills

“One World—A Harmonic Convergence”: Performances, Master Classes and Gifted Musicians on the Cusp of Careers; Folk-infused Classics at The Guthrie Center, Chesterwood, Berkshire Busk! and Kellogg Music Center, July 23 – August 3

GREAT BARRINGTON, MA: Berkshire High Peaks Festival, the educational initiative of Close Encounters With Music, will mount its 16th annual season on the bucolic campus of Bard College at Simon’s Rock in the heart of Great Barrington. At the core of the festival are over 50 international students of exceptional promise and demonstrated accomplishment who gather for intensive study, are coached as part of performing ensembles and enjoy discussions and workshops by renowned pedagogues and notable figures in the music world as they prepare for professional lives. 

Alumni have gone on to careers in conducting, teaching, and arts administration.  They are members of chamber music ensembles, orchestras and perform as soloists. Over 750 young musicians have been inspired by the High Peaks program, many on full or partial scholarships.

For audiences and listeners, High Peaks offers wall-to-wall performances as participants—strings, pianists and vocalists—showcase their talent at venues around the Berkshires, including the Guthrie Center, Chesterwood and the Kellogg Music Center, alongside their mentors. High Peaks participants also make their debut at Main Stage at Berkshire Busk! during Festival Latino—a joyful, high-energy evening of music in downtown Great Barrington.

The ten-day festival, directed by internationally acclaimed cellist Yehuda Hanani, will continue to make its offerings of “Moonlight Sonatas” concerts, lectures and master classes open to the public. Hanani and his renowned colleagues infuse students with love and enthusiasm for their musical vocation, instilling in them an appreciation for past traditions and a spirit of adventure and discovery—as well as connecting them to the Berkshire community and beyond with daily events. Highlights include performances of Close Encounters With Music’s 2002 commissioned work by superstar composer Osvaldo Golijov “How Slow the Wind,” Peter Warlock’s Suite Capriol, Dvorak’s “American” Quartet, Ginastera’s “Pampeana” and other repertoire demonstrating direct links from folk traditions that have fed into classical masterworks. A trifecta of farewell concerts throughout the afternoon and evening on August 2 concludes the 2025 Festival. 

“We are committed to bringing the very best artists and leading pedagogues to continue this musical tradition, here in the breathtaking environment that inspired generations of writers, artists and musicians,” says Hanani.

Guest faculty/performers include violinists Peter Zazofsky, First Prize winner of the Queen Elizabeth of Belgium Competition; Katie Lansdale, winner of grand prizes at Fischoff and Yellow Springs national competitions, and Ari Isaacman-Beck, first violin of the Dalí String Quartet. Violists are Anthony Devroye of the Avalon Quartet and Helena Baillie prizewinner in Munich ARD, Banff and Tertis competitions. Vocal faculty include Metropolitan Opera soprano Danielle Talamantes, baritone Kerry Wilkerson and opera director and conductor Jay Lesenger, who directed John Corigliano’s Ghosts of Versailles at Glimmerglass Opera. Returning piano faculty members are Alexander Shtarkman, a Van Cliburn Competition winner and Peabody Institute Professor, and Gila Goldstein, director of piano studies at Brown. Diego Fainguersch, principal cellist of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic, and Yehuda Hanani, currently on the faculty of Mannes College in New York City will coach and inspire cellists in the program.

“Music from High Peaks” has been presented in popular concert locations, including the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA; Orpheum Theater in Tannersville, NY; Basilica Hudson; the New York State Museum in Albany; Bridge Street Theater in Catskill, NY; the Carey Institute for Global Good in Rensselaerville, NY, and many others. This July, in addition to the concerts that are scheduled at the Kellogg Music Center of Simon’s Rock, performances take place at Berkshire Busk! in Great Barrington, Chesterwood in Stockbridge, at The Guthrie Center in Housatonic, and in Tannersville, NY.

The following events are open to the public:

Thursday, July 24

1:30 PM – Master Class Gila Goldstein (Longy School of Music), piano

Friday, July 25

1:30 PM – Master Class Anthony Devroye (Avalon Quartet), viola

Saturday, July 26

1:30 PM – Master Class Peter Zazofsky (Boston Univ.), violin

6:30 PM – Mainstage at Berkshire Busk!, Great Barrington, MA

Sunday, July 27

3:00 PM – Music from High Peaks – Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA

Monday, July 28

1:30 PM – Master Class Yehuda Hanani (Mannes College), cello

7:00 PM – Moonlight Sonatas (High Peaks Residents & Faculty Perform)

Tuesday, July 29

1:30 PM – Master Class Alexander Shtarkman (Peabody Conservatory), piano

7:30 PM – “One World – A Harmonic Convergence” – The Guthrie Center, Housatonic, MA

Wednesday, July 30

1:30 PM – Master Class – Danielle Talamantes (Metropolitan Opera) and Kerry Wilkerson (George Mason Univ.), vocalists

7:30 PM – Moonlight Sonatas (High Peaks Residents & Faculty Perform)

Thursday, July 31

1:30 PM – Opera Talk – Jay Lesenger (Opera Director / Conductor)

7:30 PM – Moonlight Sonatas (High Peaks Residents & Faculty Perform)

Friday, August 1

3:00 PM – Music from High Peaks – Tannersville, NY (private event)

7:30 PM – Moonlight Sonatas (High Peaks Residents & Faculty Perform)

Saturday, August 2

10:30 AM – Farewell Sonatas (High Peaks Residents Perform)

2:00 PM – Farewell Sonatas (High Peaks Residents Perform)

7:00 PM – Farewell Sonatas (High Peaks Residents Perform)

The Berkshire High Peaks schedule can be found at cewm.org/high-peaks-calendar. Contact Caitlin Marsden McNeill with questions: [email protected], 917.392.0969.

L'Amour Toujours And a World Premiere concert event image with vibrant pink and green imagery

“L’Amour Tourjours—And a World Premiere,” Sunday, June 18, 4pm at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, Mass

Concert Featuring Brahms, Broadway, Schubert, Massenet, Mozart, Ellington, and New Grosshandler Trio, “All Speak of Love”

GREAT BARRINGTON — It’s all about love: A new work for clarinet trio by composer Seth Grosshandler that celebrates young love, courtship and the serendipity of meeting one’s intended receives its inaugural performance. Signature love arias from favorite operas and Broadway sung by Metropolitan Opera soprano Danielle Talamantes and Kerry Wilkerson. Schubert’s Shepherd on the Rock (“My sweetheart dwells so far from me, I long hotly to be with her over there”) is a tour de force meshing clarinet and soprano. Resolved to retire, in 1891 Brahms encountered the clarinet playing of Richard Mühlfeld and was inspired by a fresh muse to compose once again. A scholar and close friend of Brahms praised the Clarinet Trio, writing that & “It is as though the instruments were in love with each other.”

“Love is revealed in many different manifestations,” says Yehuda Hanani. “The passion, the tenderness, the devotion, the longing, the elation, and the heartbreak. Music is the perfect vehicle to capture it all.” Seth Grosshandler’s new work, also “L’Amour Toujours, Miniatures on 853-4542” was inspired by a chance meeting, a telephone number written backwards on a piece of music paper, and a marriage of many decades that followed a fateful phone call.

An all-star ensemble that shares the stage with artistic director Yehuda Hanani includes clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein (“…treats his instrument as his personal voice, dazzling in its spectrum of colors, agility, and range”—Washington Post) returning to CEWM after several seasons and Metropolitan Opera soprano Danielle Talamantes and her partner in romance and song, baritone Kerry Wilkerson, who also will regale with a love songs by Mendelssohn, Turina, from “Magic Flute” and “Phantom of the Opera.” Pianist Max Levinson’s career was launched when he won first prize at the Guardian Dublin International Piano Competition, the first American to achieve this distinction. He was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and in 2005, the Andrew Wolf Award for his chamber music playing. The Boston Globe proclaimed: “The questioning, conviction, and feeling in his playing invariably remind us of the deep reasons why music is important to us, why we listen to it, why we care so much about it.” Levinson has performed as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Oregon Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Boston Pops, and National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland among others.

So concludes Season 33 of Close Encounters With Music —bookended by the immortal Brahms, by inspiration, and love for the craft. As Shakespeare so eloquently put it, “If Music be the food of love, play on.”

TICKET INFORMATION

Single Tickets, $55 (Orchestra and Mezzanine), $30 (Balcony) and $15 for students, are available through the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center or by calling 413-528-0100. 

“CEWM patrons have learned that sooner or later they’ll be blindsided by a performance so sublime it will defy explanation.”

—  The Berkshire Edge

HOW TO REACH US

Close Encounters With Music
Post Office Box 34
Great Barrington, MA 01230
Web: cewm.org
e-mail: [email protected]

If you don’t already, please follow us on social media! We work to keep our posts informative and inspiring. Facebook: @closeencounterswithmusic and Instagram: @closeencounterswithmusic

A Tale of Two Salons—Winnaretta Singer and Marcel Proust

Sewing machine heiress takes Paris by storm, befriends cultural luminaries, and inspires (and supports!) new works by Ravel, Debussy, De Falla, Milhaud, Boulanger, Chabrier, Reynaldo Hahn, and Stravinsky

The daughter of sewing machine industrialist Isaac Merritt Singer, Winnaretta Singer-Polignac was a force of nature, hosting everyone from Leon Bakst to Jean Cocteau and Jean Giraudoux to Prokofiev, Madame Jean Lanvin, Siegfried Wagner, Arthur Rubinstein, Arnold Schoenberg, and Edith Wharton in her Paris salon. More importantly, she was responsible for developing a new genre: “Great music for a small space by up-and-coming composers” in the words of Sylvia Kahan, her biographer, who will join for the four-hand piano “Bagatelle” by Winnaretta’s husband, Edmond de Polignac.  Works either commissioned by her, dedicated to her, or that were performed in her mansion on Rue Henri-Martin, will be featured in this on-stage “salon”: Ravel’s Pavane pour un enfant défunte, Stravinsky’s Piano Sonata 1924, the sizzling César Franck Piano Quintet and songs by Fauré, Poulenc and Reynaldo Hahn. Winnaretta also befriended Marcel Proust and his lover Hahn, who reciprocated with an evening at their Paris salon, inspiring a chapter in Swann’s Way.  The program is a rich tapestry in search of a certain time, place and fascinating personages.

A tantalizing Berkshire connection to the tale of the Princess is that her father Isaac Merritt Singer’s business partner was Edward Clark, a wealthy lawyer who took charge of the manufacturing end of the business, turning it into a major success. The rest is history as Clark’s grandson Robert Sterling Clark and his wife Francine founded the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown to house their personal art collection, much of it acquired on their trips to France.

Artists: Alexander Shtarkman, piano; Sylvia Kahan, piano; William Ferguson, tenor; Xiao-Dong Wang, violin; Grace Park, violin; Helena Baillie, viola; Yehuda Hanani, cello 

TICKET INFORMATION

Single Tickets, $55 (Orchestra and Mezzanine), $30 (Balcony) and $15 for students, are available through the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center or by calling 413-528-0100. 

“CEWM patrons have learned that sooner or later they’ll be blindsided by a performance so sublime it will defy explanation.”

—  The Berkshire Edge

HOW TO REACH US

Close Encounters With Music

Post Office Box 34

Great Barrington, MA 01230

Web: cewm.org

e-mail: [email protected]

If you don’t already, please follow us on social media! We work to keep our posts informative and inspiring. Facebook: @closeencounterswithmusic and Instagram: @closeencounterswithmusic

NEXT UP

L’Amour Toujours and A World Premiere 
Sunday, June 8, 2025 4 PM
Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center

It’s all about love: A new work for clarinet trio by composer Seth Grosshandler that celebrates young love, courtship and the serendipity of meeting one’s intended receives its inaugural performance.  Signature love arias from favorite operas and Broadway sung by Metropolitan Opera soprano Danielle Talamantes and Kerry Wilkerson.  Schubert’s Shepherd on the Rock (“My sweetheart dwells so far from me, I long hotly to be with her over there”) is a tour de force meshing clarinet and soprano.  Resolved to retire, in 1891 Brahms encountered the clarinet playing of Richard Mühlfeld and was inspired by a fresh muse to compose once again. A scholar and close friend of Brahms praised the Clarinet Trio, writing that “It is as though the instruments were in love with each other.” 

Artists: Max Levinson, piano; Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet; Danielle Talamantes, soprano; Kerry Wilkerson, baritone; Yehuda Hanani, cello

2024/2025 Current Season 

Sunday, October 20, 4 PM, The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
Drama and Melodrama – The Schumanns

Sunday, December 15, 4 PM, The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
Vivace Chamber Orchestra: Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Boccherini, Barber

Sunday, February 23, 4 PM, Saint James Place
6 Unaccompanied Bach Suites for Cello with Colin Carr & Yehuda Hanani

Sunday, March 23, 4 PM, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
”Rite of Spring” – Rachmaninoff/Stravinsky 

Sunday, April 27, 4 PM, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
Classical Roots, Latin Soul – The Dalí String Quartet

Sunday, May 4, 12 PM – Private Club, Lenox MA
Luncheon Musicale 

Sunday, May 18, 4 PM, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
“A Tale of Two Salons” – Winaretta Singer and Marcel Proust

Sunday, June 8, 4PM, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
L’Amour Toujours and a World Premiere

“Classical Roots, Latin Soul” with the Dalí String Quartet

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH MUSIC PRESENTS “CLASSICAL ROOTS, LATIN SOUL” – THE DALI STRING QUARTET ON SUNDAY, APRIL 27, 4 PM AT THE MAHAIWE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, GREAT BARRINGTON, MASS.

Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Piazzolla and Morales-Matos’ Caribbean Dances Live Side by Side on the Program

Alongside Beethoven’s Quartet No. 1 Op. 18 and Mendelssohn’s Op. 80 Quartet, this program is infused with striking Latin repertoire: Sonia Morales-Matos’ Divertimento Caribeño No. 3 (dance suites of Caribbean merengue sandwiched around a Cuban bolero) and Astor Piazzolla’s Tango Ballet, a work that paints pictures through rhythms and melodies.  The Dalí Quartet is Chamber Music America’s 2024 Ensemble of theYear and the 2019 recipient of the Atlanta Symphony’s esteemed Aspire Award for accomplished African American and Latino Musicians, among other awards. Beethoven’s first of his 16 string quartets contains thematic scaffolding and inspiration from Mozart and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.  Mendelssohn’s Quartet No. 6 in F minor was written in homage to his sister Fanny, shortly after her death and just before his.  With these selections, the program perfectly exemplifies the balance the Dali achieves in its classical roots and Latin soul identity.

Carrying dual “citizenship” in the chamber music realm, the Dali’s latest CD, with pianist Olga Kern, features the piano quintets of Brahms and Shostakovich. They have recorded works by: Efrain Amaya, Alberto Ginastera, Sonia Morales-Matos, Astor Piazzolla, Juan Bautista Plaza, and Gerardo Matos Rodriguez for Centaur Records. Dali violinist Ari Isaacman-Beck, trained traditionally, observes, “For me, my favorite (ongoing!) discovery is the breadth of repertoire of wide-ranging musical languages and profound quality by Latin American composers. From Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga, Reynaldo Hahn, Alberto Ginastera, and Heitor Villa-Lobos to Sonia Morales, Eleanor Alberga, Gilbert Galindo, Tania León, Angélica Negrón, as well as so many others—it has been a total joy to become better acquainted with these older (and contemporary!) composers’ works. Through their music, I’ve learned more about Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn, and I’m continuing to learn about Bolero, Merengue, Mambo, Guajira, and a huge repertoire of folk influences that are particular to Latin America. We as human beings experience dance and music in the same area of the brain, and the interaction between rhythm, harmony, and motive is profoundly fascinating and moving to me; the particularities of those three elements, in their endless possible permutations, gives rise to a greater experience of cultural backgrounds other than my own.”

In its over three decades of offering the finest soloists and chamber ensembles and stretching the reach of chamber music to include accordion, rapper, pipa, percussion, marimba, tabla, in addition to traditional instruments, CEWM has presented the most distinguished string quartets on the music scene:  the Alban Berg, Ariel, Borromeo, Escher, Avalon, Lark, Dover, Fine Arts, Harlem, Muir and Vermeer.  CEWM is delighted to add the Dali to this stellar list.

“… beautifully prepared program … the Latin American program alternately glimmered and blazed.”-The Philadelphia Inquirer

Dalí String Quartet:  Ari Isaacman-Beck, violin; Carlos Rubio, violin; Adriana Linares, viola; Jesus Morales, cello

TICKET INFORMATION

Single Tickets, $55 (Orchestra and Mezzanine), $30 (Balcony) and $15 for students, are available through the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center or by calling 413-528-0100. 

“CEWM patrons have learned that sooner or later they’ll be blindsided by a performance so sublime it will defy explanation.”

—  The Berkshire Edge

HOW TO REACH US

Close Encounters With Music

Post Office Box 34

Great Barrington, MA 01230

Web: cewm.org

e-mail: [email protected]

Close Encounters With Music Presents “Rite of Spring”—Rachmaninoff/Stravinsky on Sunday, March 23, 4pm at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center

ALSO MASTERPIECES OF CHAMBER MUSIC AND VOCAL FOLKLORE FROM TCHAIKOVSKY AND MOUSSORGSKY

Two monumental works, two Russian ex-pats of the same aristocratic background—and two divergent extremes. One, a master of nostalgia and a formidable pianist, follows in the footsteps of Chopin.  The other, a trailblazer, scandalizer and collaborator of Picasso delights in breaking old molds—though harking back to traditional Russian folk material—and ushers in a new age in music, conceptually aligned with Cubism. Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring shocked tout-Paris and sparked riots (scenes from the film Coco Chanel will be shown).  Rachmaninoff’s Sonata in G minor for Cello and Piano was written after a course of hypnotherapy for “composer’s block,” out of which emerged a work of virtuosity and grandeur, with his characteristic flourishes and a Russian Belle Époque sensibility.  “Terrifyingly difficult” for the piano, it is a virtual piano concerto—not to downplay the soulful melodic role of the cello! Baritone Enes Pektas joins with Russian folk songs and favorites by Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky.

Pianist Michael Chertock comes to the Mahaiwe and Rite of Spring directly from Carnegie Hall, where he joins the Cleveland Orchestra and conductor Franz Welser-Möst on March 19in a Russian symphonic masterpiece by Stravinsky—Pétrouchka, a work he previously recorded with the Cincinnati Symphony.  Baritone Enes Pektas brings vocal folklore to the program with Moussorgsky’s political parody in the story of a flea that becomes a government minister as well as the ever popular “Ochi Tchernye” and Tchaikovsky’s “None but the Lonely Heart.”  “It’s a program of unceasing dramatic and emotional eloquence,” says artistic director Yehuda Hanani.

Michael Chertock, piano; Yehuda Hanani, cello; Enes Pektas, baritone

Meet the Artists

Michael Chertock made his orchestral debut at the age of 17, performing the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 with Andrew Litton conducting and made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1999 with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, performing Duke Ellington’s New World A’Comin’. He has recorded John Alden Carpenter’s Concertino for Piano and Orchestra with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Abbey Road Studio; the Roger Davis Piano Concerto in F, with the Sofia Philharmonic; and the Rhapsodies of Piano and Orchestra of William Perry with the RTE Orchestra of Dublin, Ireland.  He has toured Asia with the Boston Pops and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. Chertok’s 2003 performance on the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Petrouchka with Paavo Järvi turned in rave reviews in Gramophone and American Record Guide. In 2005, he performed Gershwin’s Concerto in F Major with Keith Lockhart and the National Youth Orchestra of London. Later that year, he performed the world premiere of “Jeux Deux” for hyper-piano and orchestra by Todd Machover, commissioned by the Boston Pops expressly for Mr. Chertock and later repeated at MIT and in Portugal. Other conductors he has worked with include James Conlon, Jaime Laredo and Erich Kunzel with orchestras such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Toronto Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Chattanooga Symphony, Utah Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony and the Dayton Philharmonic. Festival appearances have been at Steans Institute of the Ravinia Festival and Grand Tetons. Additional recordings are Cinematic Piano, Chamber Music of Frank Proto, Palace of the Winds, Christmas at the Movies, Love at the Movies and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s Festival Prelude for Organ and Orchestra, on which he was the organ soloist. In 1991, Mr. Chertok was awarded the silver medal at the World Piano Competition of the American Music Scholarship Association. He received bachelor and master of music degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where he is currently chair of the piano department.

Named “one of the most polished performers of the post-Starker generation and a consistently expressive artist” by The New York Times, CEWM artistic director Yehuda Hanani’s charismatic playing and profound interpretations bring him acclaim and reengagements across the globe. He has won wide international recognition as soloist, chamber musician and inspiring pedagogue. His concerto appearances have been with the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, San Antonio, New Orleans, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, BBC Welsh Symphony, Irish National Symphony, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony, Honolulu Symphony, Taipei and Seoul symphonies among many other orchestras, and he has toured with I Solisti de Zagreb, conducting from the cello. A frequent guest at Aspen, Bowdoin, Chautauqua, Yale at Norfolk, Great Lakes, Casals Prades, Finland Festival, Ottawa, Oslo, Round Top Institute, Manchester, and the Australia Chamber Music festivals, he has collaborated in performances with preeminent fellow musicians, including Leon Fleisher, Aaron Copland, Christoph Eschenbach, David Robertson, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Itzhak Perlman, Vadim Repin, Julian Rachlin, Dawn Upshaw, Yefim Bronfman, Eliot Fisk, the Tokyo, Vermeer, Muir, Escher, Ariel, Colorado, and Manhattan quartets.  In New York City, he has appeared as soloist at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y, Alice Tully, and the Metropolitan Museum.  A three-time recipient of the Martha Baird Rockefeller grant, he has inspired scores of cellists as Professor of Cello at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and previously served on the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory. In recognition of his distinguished teaching, he was given the title of honorary professor of the Tianjin Conservatory, China. He now is a member of the faculty of the Mannes College of Music in New York City. 

Baritone Enes Pektas is recognized for his rich voice and captivating stage presence. Currently pursuing his graduate studies at the prestigious Mannes School of Music, he also serves as a Resident Artist with Classic Lyric Arts, honing his craft under the guidance of leading vocal and dramatic coaches.  A native of Turkey, he completed his Bachelor of Music degree at the Istanbul University State Conservatory, where he laid the foundation for his career in opera and classical music. Since then, he has quickly established himself as a promising talent on the international stage, making his Carnegie Hall debut in 2022.  His recent performance credits include Leonidas in Lysistrata, Le Fauteuil in L’enfant et les sortilèges, and a cover of the titular role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Each performance has been met with critical acclaim, showcasing his versatility across a diverse operatic repertoire. In addition to his stage work, he has earned recognition in prestigious vocal competitions: three awards in Turkey and, most recently, the Encouragement Award at the MetropolitanOperaLaffont Competition (New York District), further solidifying his reputation as a rising star.

Artist bios here.

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TICKET INFORMATION

Single Tickets, $55 (Orchestra and Mezzanine), $30 (Balcony) and $15 for students, are available through the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center or by calling 413-528-0100. 

“CEWM patrons have learned that sooner or later they’ll be blindsided by a performance so sublime it will defy explanation.”

—  The Berkshire Edge

HOW TO REACH US

Close Encounters With Music

Post Office Box 34

Great Barrington, MA 01230

Web: cewm.org

e-mail: [email protected]

If you don’t already, please follow us on social media! We work to keep our posts informative and inspiring. Facebook: @closeencounterswithmusic and Instagram: @closeencounterswithmusic

NEXT UP

Dalí String Quartet
April 27 @ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Alongside Beethoven’s Quartet No. 1 Op. 18 and Mendelssohn’s Op. 80 Quartet, this program is infused with striking Latin repertoire: Sonia Morales-Matos’ Divertimento Caribeño No. 3 (dance suites of Caribbean merengue sandwiched around a Cuban bolero) and Astor Pizzolla’s Tango Ballet, a work that paints pictures through rhythms and melodies. The Dalí Quartet is Chamber Music of America’s 2024 Ensemble of the Year and the 2019 recipient of the Atlanta Symphony’s esteemed Aspire Award for accomplished African American and Latino Musicians, among other awards. Beethoven’s first of his 16 string quartets contains thematic scaffolding and inspirations from Mozart and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Mendelssohn’s Quartet No. 6 in F minor was written in homage to his sister Fanny, shortly after her death and just before his.

“… beautifully prepared program…the Latin American program alternately glimmered and blazed.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer

Dalí String Quartet:  Ari Isaacman-Beck, violin; Carlos Rubio, violin; Adriana Linares, viola; Jesus Morales, cello

2024/2025 Current Season 

Sunday, October 20, 4 PM, The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
Drama and Melodrama – The Schumanns

Sunday, December 15, 4 PM, The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
Vivace Chamber Orchestra: Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Boccherini, Barber

Sunday, February 23, 4 PM, Saint James Place
6 Unaccompanied Bach Suites for Cello with Colin Carr & Yehuda Hanani

Sunday, March 23, 4 PM, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
”Rite of Spring” – Rachmaninoff/Stravinsky 

Sunday, April 27, 4 PM, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
Classical Roots, Latin Soul – The Dalí String Quartet

Sunday, May 4, 12 PM – Private Club, Lenox MA
Luncheon Musicale 

Sunday, May 18, 4 PM, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
“A Tale of Two Salons” – Winaretta Singer and Marcel Proust

Sunday, June 8, 4PM, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
L’Amour Toujours and a World Premiere

Close Encounters With Music Presents 6 Unaccompanied Bach Suites for Cello

C

Two leading Bach interpreters, Colin Carr and Yehuda Hanani will embark an unaccompanied voyage on Sunday, February 23, 2025 at Saint James Place, 352 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA

For CEWM artistic director Yehuda Hanani, the suites are the end-all in classical music. 

“The wonders of Bach are inexhaustible. After decades of intimate dialogue with the suites, alone, in performance, and in masterclasses (where one is inspired as much as one inspires), I am still awed by the mastery of Johann Sebastian:  his architectural strength and harmonic daring, the human truth reflected in his balancing tension and release.” 

Hanini’s colleague, the distinguished British cellist Colin Carr would agree.  On Sunday, February 23, these two leading Bach interpreters embark on a journey traversing his Six Suites, the apogee of the cello repertoire.  Filled with mystery and beauty, blasted through with rapture, every note is a bold statement.  Music that first flowed from the composer’s quill in the early 1700’s, it belongs to no specific time or place.  At the same time as it floats in the heavenly spheres, it provides plenty of earthly pleasures—courtly music, riffs, Celtic jigs, the merriment of a tavern musician, and glimpses of modern minimalism.  The title “Unaccompanied” is a bit of a misnomer: a single cellist takes on numerous voices, making the music a drama for three or four characters played by one actor! If angels danced, this is the music that would no doubt accompany them on their gramophone.  Hanani and Carr will alternate playing the six works on legendary instruments, both built in 1730 —Carr on his Matteo Gofriller made in Venice, and Hanani on his David Tecchler made in Rome.

Colin Carr has been hailed for his “supreme technique and ebullience” (Boston Musical Intelligencer).  He appearsthroughout the world as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and teacher.  He has played with major orchestras worldwide, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, The Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, the orchestras of Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, Philadelphia, Montréal and all the major orchestras of Australia and New Zealand. Conductors with whom he has worked include Rattle, Gergiev, Dutoit, Elder, Skrowasczewski and Marriner. He has been a regular guest at the BBC Proms and has twice toured Australia.  As a member of the Golub-Kaplan-Carr Trio, he recorded and toured extensively for 20 years.  He is a frequent visitor to international chamber music festivals worldwide and has appeared often as a guest with the Guarneri and Emerson string quartets and with New York’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.  Recent CD releases include the complete Bach suites on the Wigmore Live label. Read bio here.

Named “one of the most polished performers of the post-Starker generation and a consistently expressive artist” by The New York Times, CEWM artistic director Yehuda Hanani’s charismatic playing and profound interpretations bring him acclaim and reengagements across the globe. He has won wide international recognition as soloist, chamber musician and inspiring pedagogue. His concerto appearances have been with the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, San Antonio, New Orleans, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, BBC Welsh Symphony, Irish National Symphony, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony, Honolulu Symphony, Taipei and Seoul symphonies among many other orchestras, and he has toured with I Solisti de Zagreb, conducting from the cello. A frequent guest at Aspen, Bowdoin, Chautauqua, Yale at Norfolk, Great Lakes, Casals Prades, Finland Festival, Ottawa, Oslo, Round Top Institute, Manchester, and the Australia Chamber Music festivals, he has collaborated in performances with preeminent fellow musicians, including Leon Fleisher, Aaron Copland, Christoph Eschenbach, David Robertson, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Itzhak Perlman, Vadim Repin, Julian Rachlin, Dawn Upshaw, Yefim Bronfman, Eliot Fisk, the Tokyo, Vermeer, Muir, Escher, Ariel, Colorado, and Manhattan quartets.  In New York City, he has appeared as soloist at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y, Alice Tully, and the Metropolitan Museum.  A three-time recipient of the Martha Baird Rockefeller grant, he has inspired scores of cellists as Professor of Cello at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and previously served on the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory. In recognition of his distinguished teaching, he was given the title of honorary professor of the Tianjin Conservatory, China. He now is a member of the faculty of the Mannes College of Music in New York City. Read bio here.

Photo by InSight Foto, Inc.
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www.insightfoto.com
[email protected]
(505) 988-1424

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TICKET INFORMATION

Season subscriptions are available at cewm.org:  $180 for the remaining season series of 4 concerts  Single Tickets, $55 (Orchestra and Mezzanine),

“CEWM patrons have learned that sooner or later they’ll be blindsided by a performance so sublime it will defy explanation.”

—  The Berkshire Edge


HOW TO REACH US

Close Encounters With Music

Post Office Box 34

Great Barrington, MA 01230

Web: cewm.org

e-mail: [email protected]

If you don’t already, please follow us on social media! We work to keep our posts informative and inspiring. (insert logos/hyperlinks)

Close Encounters With Music Presents The Vivace Chamber Orchestra with Works by Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Boccherini and Barber

A 14-person Pop-up Collective of New York’s Finest String Players Offers Power, Precision, Finesse and Soaring Artistry in a Festive Holiday Concert on Sunday, December 15, 4pm at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center.

Great Barrington, MA: Close Encounters With Music’s 33rd Season in the Berkshires continues with chamber music royalty in a 14-person ensemble on Sunday, December 15, 4PM at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, MA. This festive holiday concert is filled with music by Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Boccherini and Barber.

Composed by Tchaikovsky to counter a bout of insomnia and melancholy, Serenade for Strings immediately cheered him up, and he reported “feeling well, invigorated and content”—as gratified listeners have over the years. Few composers have possessed the ability to reflect emotions within their music as well as Tchaikovsky, and the Serenade channels solemnity and joy (an homage to Mozart, a memorable waltz) into one perfect package. Barber’s iconic Adagio, “full of pathos and cathartic passion, rarely leaves a dry eye” (it was played at the funerals of Albert Einstein and Princess Grace of Monaco…). Holberg Suite (subtitled “suite in olden style” — 1884), one of Grieg’s most beloved works, offers chorale-like harmonies, joyous and lilting rhythms, and hints of a rural fiddle player. Boccherini’s Baroque-era Cello Concerto, rewritten in a Romantic vein, is a virtuosic delight. The conductorless Vivace String Orchestra takes center stage and CEWM’s artistic director Yehuda Hanani and cellist extraordinaire will be the soloist in this work.

Comprised of fourteen top-tier soloists who gather for periodic tours, Vivace performers are the crème de la crème of chamber music players.  They are members of the legendary Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Sybarite5, Frisson, Eighth Blackbird, Seraphic Fire, Sejong Soloists, The Knights, A Far Cry, Music from Copland House, Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, and the Jasper String Quartet.  Individually, they have performed as soloists with prestigious orchestras around the globe— Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, Spanish National Orchestra, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, Staatsorchester Brandenburgisches Frankfurt, Columbus, Houston, Dallas, Detroit, and New Jersey, symphony orchestras, Johannesburg Philharmonic, Venezuela Symphony, Kwazulu-Natal Philharmonic, Orchestre Royal de Chambre and  Montevideo Philharmonic in the most prestigious cultural venues and in chamber music settings with stars of the music world.  Members have taken top prizes in competitions, including the Naumburg, Boston Symphony Concerto Competition, Avery Fisher, and a Rising Star Award by Tiffany & Co. They lead colorful and eclectic lives in music, performing jazz, tango, contemporary and Baroque; have mastered the Violoncello da Spalla (a five-stringed mini cello that is played on the shoulder!) and the Argentine bandoneon; compose, teach, and have found other exciting outlets for their creativity.  Cellist Aaron Wolff had a lead role in the Coen brothers’ film A Serious Man and has provided string arrangements for Comedy Central’s sitcom Broad City.  

United in their excellence, experience and the excitement they generate, Vivace presents a precision-instrument orchestral voice.  

Vivace Chamber Orchestra: Katie Hyun, Kobi Malkin, Siwoo Kim, Keiko Tokunaga, Ruben Rengel, Sami Merdinian, Miho Saegusa, violins; Luke Fleming, Caeli Smith, Tanner Menees, Andrew Gonzalez, violas; Ari Evan, Arlen Hlusko, Aaron Wolff, cellos; Lizzie Burns, double bass

Yehuda Hanani, cello solo

All audience members are invited to an “Afterglow” reception following each concert to meet the performers and one another! In addition to offering live in-person concerts, curated online performances will be available to accommodate geographically remote listeners and virtual followers.

TICKET INFORMATION

Season subscriptions are available at cewm.org:  $225 for the remaining season series of 6 concerts, plus a 4 concert, select-your-own option. Single Tickets, $55 (Orchestra and Mezzanine), $30 (Balcony) and $15 for students, are available through the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center or by calling 413-528-0100. 

“CEWM patrons have learned that sooner or later they’ll be blindsided by a performance so sublime it will defy explanation.”

—  The Berkshire Edge

HOW TO REACH US

Close Encounters With Music
Post Office Box 34
Great Barrington, MA 01230
Web: cewm.org
e-mail: [email protected]

If you don’t already, please follow us on social media! We work to keep our posts informative and inspiring. (insert logos/hyperlinks)

NEXT UP:

6 Unaccompanied Bach Suites for Cello with Colin Carr & Yehuda Hanani

Sunday, February 23, 2025 4 PM, Saint James Place, Great Barrington

Two leading Bach interpreters embark on a journey while traversing his Six Suites, the apogee of the cello repertoire. Filled with mystery and beauty, blasted through with rapture, every note is a bold statement. Music that first flowed from the composer’s quill in the early 1700’s, it belongs to no specific time or place. At the same time as it floats in the heavenly spheres, it provides plenty of earthly pleasures – courtly music, riffs, Celtic jigs, the merriment of a tavern musician, and glimpses of modern minimalism. The title “Unaccompanied” is a bit of a misnomer: a single cellist takes on numerous voices, making the music drama for three or four characters played by one actor! If angels danced, this is the music that would no doubt accompany them on their gramophone.

Colin Carr, cello; Yehuda Hanani, cello

“…Colin Carr – supreme technique and ebulllience” – Boston Musical Intelligencer

“In this era of the cello, Hanani is among the best. His Bach was absorbing imaginative, beautiful i all respects” – San Francisco Examiner

2024/2025 Current Season


Sunday, October 20, 4 PM, The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center: Drama and Melodrama – The Schumanns

Sunday, December 15, 4 PM, The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center: Vivace Chamber Orchestra: Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Boccherini, Barber

Sunday, February 23, 4 PM, Saint James Place: 6 Unaccompanied Bach Suites for Cello with Colin Carr & Yehuda Hanani

Sunday, March 23, 4 PM, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center: “Rite of Spring” – Rachmaninoff/Stravinsky 

Sunday, April 27, 4 PM, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center: Classical Roots, Latin Soul – The Dalí String Quartet

Sunday, May 18, 4 PM, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center: “A Tale of Two Salons” – Winaretta Singer and Marcel Proust 

Sunday, June 8, 4PM, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center: L’Amour Toujours and a World Premiere