Local Classical Music Spring 2018

Local Classical Music Spring 2018: The local classical music scene heats up in Bedford & Chappaqua and with top line soloists Jeremy Denk and Edgar Meyer at PAC.

April

The Masked Ball by Giuseppe Verdi, Taconic Opera – Sat, 4/7: 3:30pm & Sun, 4/8: 2pm: : The Taconic Opera presents Giuseppe Verdi’s masterpiece The Masked Ball – fully stage with full orchestra. This “buoyant” tragedy tells the story of a king secretly in love with his best friend’s wife. From humor to calamity, a planned assassination to one of the most compelling love duets ever written. (Yorktown Stage, 1974 Commerce St., Yorktown Heights; www.taconicoperea.org)

Eternal Spring, The Westchester Phil with Edgar Meyer, Performing Arts Center – Sun, 4/8: 3pm: The New York Times called double bassist, Edgar Meyer “the most remarkable virtuoso in the relatively un-chronicled history of his instrument.” He has a mantel-full of Grammys, a MacArthur “Genius” grant and a remarkable instinct for collaboration with the likes of Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Béla Fleck, Emanuel Ax, and now, the Westchester Philharmonic. Here he performs Bach’s Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 1, Mozart’s Serenade in C minor and his own Concerto in D with The Phil. (735 Anderson Hill Rd., Purchase; www.westhcesterphil.org)

Richard Goode (piano), Caramoor – Sun, 4/15: 3pm: Richard Goode, hailed as one of the “finest pianists in the world” (The Washington Post) performs in the intimate Rosen House Music Room. Known for his interpretations of Beethoven, Goode will offer one of the composer’s late masterpieces, the Sonata Op. 101, plus works by Debussy and Renaissance and Baroque masters Byrd and J.S. Bach. (149 Girdle Ridge Rd., Katonah; www.caramoor.org)

Jeremy Dank, piano, Performing Arts Center – Sun, 4/15: 3pm: Jeremy Denk is one of America’s foremost pianists – an artist The New York Times hails as someone “you want to hear no matter what he performs.” Winner of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, the Avery Fisher Prize, and Musical America’s Instrumentalist of the Year award, Denk was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016. (735 Anderson Hill Rd., Purchase; www.artscenter.org)

Frederich Chiu, South Salem Presbyterian Church – Sun, 4/15: 4pm: Frederic Chiu has been described as “a stunningly virtuosic pianist with a dynamic range that defies the capabilities of modern recording…” – BBC Music Magazine. Here he performs Chopin, Debussy and Prokofiev showing the way composers used the piano, from a singing instrument to a sound machine to a percussion box, concluding with the Liszt transcription of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, considered among the most demanding piano music ever written, and labeled “the greatest works for the piano,” by Vladimir Horowitz. (111 Spring Rd., S. Salem; www.theseminaryseries.org)

Postponed! Chappaqua Orchestra, Chamber Series, First Congregational Church – TBA: Pianists Svetlana Gorokhovich and Irena Portenko perform piano duets by Bach, Hartl, Ravel, and Tchaikovsky. (210 Orchard Ridge Road, Chappaqua; www.chappaquaorchestra.org)

Symphonic Music for Small Ensembles, Bedford Chamber Concerts – Wed, 4/18: 8pm: Dr. Anthony Newman and his chamber ensemble perform a Brahms Piano Quintet, a Mozart Piano Quartet and Newmans’ own Concerto for Trumpet and Strings. (St. Matthews Episcopal Church, 382 Cantitoe Rd., Bedford; www.bedfordchamberconcerets.org)

German Pastry Alert! The Legacy of Brandenburg, Ars Antiqua, Church of St. Mary, Chappaqua – Sat, 4/21: 8pm: Virtuoso violinist, Nicholas Di Eugenio joins Mark Kramer (Baroque cello) and his Ars-Antiqua ensemble for an evening of music from the private library of  Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Hailed by the New York Times for his “evocative” playing, Di Eugenio will be featured as soloist on Locatelli’s Capriccio for Violin Solo Opus 6, No. 12 as well as works by Brescianello, Veracini, Albinoni, Vivaldi and Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No 4. German pastries, Italian confections and coffee after the show. (191 S. Greeley Ave., Chappaqua; www.ars-antiqua.org)

CMS of Lincoln Center, Classical Evolution, Performing Arts Center – Sat, 4/21: 5pm: In their final appearance of the 2017-18 season, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center explores the Classical style with three works that have endured the test of time. Including, Mozart’s Trio in E-flat Major for Clarinet, Viola and Piano; Weber’s Quintet in B-flat Major for Clarinet, Two Violins, Viola and Cello, and Brahms Quintet in F Minor for Piano, Two Violins, Viola and Cello. (735 Anderson Hill Rd., Purchase; www.artscenter.org)

Anthony Roth Costanzo (countertenor) with Ruckus, Caramoor – Sun, 4/22: 3pm: The “utterly riveting” (The New York Times) Anthony Roth Costanzo appears with the newly-minted period instrument ensemble Ruckus, for a concert of cantatas by Scarlatti, Handel, and Vivaldi. Plus instrumental works by Couperin, Saint Colombe, and Marais. (149 Girdle Ridge Rd., Katonah; www.caramoor.org)

Verona Quartet, Caramoor – Sun, 4/29: 3pm: Caramoor’s Ernst Stiefel Quartet-in-Residence performs Haydn, Shostakovich and Brahms in the historic Rosen House Music room. (149 Girdle Ridge Rd., Katonah; www.caramoor.org)

May

Andrew Armstong, (piano) Caramoor – Wed, 5/9: 11am: Caramoor’s Wednesday Morning Concerts feature a 45-minute concert, followed by a tour of the Mediterranean-style Rosen House and its collection of fine and decorative art amassed by our founders, Walter and Lucie Rosen, and an optional buffet lunch. Here Andrew Armstrong performs Chopin, Dbussey & Rachmaninoff. (149 Girdle Ridge Rd., Katonah; www.caramoor.org)

Beethoven, Bedford Chamber concerts – Wed, 5/9: 8pm: Dr. Anthony Newman and his Bedford Chamber ensemble perform Beethoven’s “Eroic” Symphony No. 3 and “Kreutzer” Sonata for Violin and Piano. (St. Matthews Episcopal Church, 382 Cantitoe Rd., Bedford; www.bedfordchamberconcerets.org)

Scenes from Motherhood, Magdalena Baczewska, South Salem Presbyterian Church – Sun, 5/13: 4pm: Pianist and harpsichordist Magdalena Baczewska [ba-CHEV-ska], Director of the Music Performance Program and Lecturer at Columbia University, has been acclaimed as a “world-class” musician (The American Record Guide), and lauded as “eloquent & technically flawless” (The Washington Post). She presents a special program for Mother’s Day with works by Schumann, Chopin, Ravel and more plus a Champagne Toast to mothers. (111 Spring Rd., S. Salem; www.theseminaryseries.org)

Concerto Winners Concert, Chappaqua Orchestra, ChappPac – Sun, 5/20: 3pm: TCO’s final concert of the season features the winners of Chappaqua 2018 International Concerto Competition. Come hear the future of classical music performing with the TCO conducted by Music Director Michael Shapiro.  Concert concludes with New York composer Robert Paterson’s Dark Mountains about the beauties of Vermont and Franz Liszt’s epic Les Preludes. (480 Bedford Road, Chappaqua; www.chappaquaorchestra.org)

REBEL Barqoue, Bedford Presbyterian Church – Sun, 5/20: 4pm: REBEL Baroque, one of the most aired period instrument ensembles in the US performa a program of Mozart, Haydn, and their contemporaries. Featuring Matthias Maute, traverso & Dongsok Shin, fortepiano. Works by Mozart, Haydn, J.C. Bach & Gyrowetz. (Village Green, Bedford; www.rebelbaroque.com)

June 

Keys, Kegs & Que, Westchester Philharmonic Purchase College – Sun, 6/17: 3pm: Jaime Laredo conducts the Westchester Philharmonic with soloists Anna Polonsky and Orlon Weiss (piano) in a program of Rossini, Mozart and Mendelssohn at this annual Father’s Day performance followed by a Father’s Day BBQ. (735 Anderson Hill Rd., Purchase; www.westchesterphil.org)