Jorge Martín, Tchaikovsky, Kenji Bunch, Grieg, Poulenc

Loss, remembrance, joyous recollection, metamorphosis and love. These are universal themes and a progression of states of emotion that animate the music and texture of the program. A work of shattering intensity, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio was written in response to the composer’s grief at  losing his beloved teacher, Nikolai Rubinstein, and at the same time recollecting the happy moments spent in his company. It is elegiac and cathartic, as is the newest CEWM commission from Jorge Martin, Metamorphosis: Love, that gives the program its name. The Poet/protagonist role is sung by a tenor in dialogue with his Muse, sung by soprano, which in the end becomes Music itself. The accompanying ensemble is cello, piano, marimba and vibraphone. A companion piece (narrator, cello and percussion) is a 2015 CEWM commission from Kenji Bunch, written to a Shakespeare sonnet of desire and longing. Plus art songs from Schubert, Brahms, Fauré, Poulenc and Finzi. It’s all about transcendence and love!

Performers: Omar Najmi, tenor;  Dana Varga, soprano; Samuel  Solomon and Nancy Zeltsman, percussion;  Max  Levinson, piano;  Yehuda Hanani, cello

Tickets on sale in early September.