Classical Music Sampler: January 2012

Highlights in classical music during January include a visit by the acclaimed cappella group Anonymous Four at the Gardner Museum’s new concert hall and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project performing “Strange Bedfellows: Unlikely Concertos.”

The Anonymous Four comes to Boston, MA

By Susan Miron.

Wednesday Concert Series offers free classical music each Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Church of St. John Evangelist, 35 Bowdoin Street, Boston, MA.

January 4: Keane Southard (piano) will present “A Composing Lineage,” featuring works by Bolcom, Pann and Southard.
January 11: Ben Henry-Moreland (baritone) and James Busby (piano) will perform songs by Schumann and Finzi.
January 18: Corey-James Crawford (counter-tenor) and Martin Neron (piano) will perform songs by Argento, Hajidakis, Poulenc and Stanford.
January 25: Sarah Darling (traverso) and Matthew Hall (clavichord) will perform music from the court of Frederick the Great, featuring works by Graun, Hasse, Quantz and C.P.E. Bach.

Also at St. John Evangelist: Thursday January 5 @ 7 p.m.: Benjamin Warsaw (piano) will present “From Bach to Warsaw,” featuring an array of music for solo piano.

Concord Chamber Players. At Concord Academy Performing Arts Center, Concord, MA, January 15,  3 p.m. Concord Chamber Players featuring fabulous BSO harpist Jessica Zhou in the familiar Saint Saëns Fantasy for Violin and Harp and unfamiliar chamber music with harp by John Williams and clarinet and piano by André Previn

“Exiled to Hollywood: Outcast Artists in Southern California.” Presented the Boston Chamber Music Society. At MIT’s Kresge Auditorium, Cambridge, MA, January 21. Forum at 1:30 p.m. Concert at 4 p.m. The BCMS presents its annual theme-based program. This one, like its predecessors, should be very interesting. “Exiled to Hollywood: Outcast Artists in Southern California” features music by composers who fled tyranny and persecution in Europe before and after the Nazi era and settled in Hollywood, including Korngold, Toch, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Eisler, and Gruenberg.

Cantata Singers. At First Church Congregational, 11 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, January 21, 8 p.m. The excellent Cantata Singers led by David Hoose in a program of works by such fascinating composers Alfred Schnittke and Arvo Pärt.

Emmanuel Music. At Emmanuel Church, Boston MA, January 22, 4 p.m. Another concert in the excellent Emmanuel Music‘s Beethoven Chamber Series that looks very promising, with pianist Sergey Schepkin. The program includes Beethoven’s Piano Quartet in D Major, Violin Sonata in A minor, and Sextet for Horns and String Quartet.

The Callithumpian Consort. At New England Conservatory, Jordan Hall, Boston, MA, January 25, 8 p.m. A free performance by The Callithumpian Consort, led by Steven Drury. On the challenging program are works by Debussy, Murail, Vines, and Zorn, with guest musicians Ikue Mori, electronics, and soprano Adrienne Pardee.

The Callithumpian Consort takes on a challenging program this month.

“Strange Bedfellows: Unlikely Concertos.” Presented by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. At New England Conservatory, Jordan Hall, Boston, MA, January 27, 8 p.m. The ever-enterprising Boston Modern Orchestra Project presents a beguiling concert entitled “Strange Bedfellows: Unlikely Concertos.”

Exsultamus. At the University Lutheran Church, 66 Winthrop Street, Cambridge, MA, January 28, 8 p.m. The excellent singers Exsultamus present an invigorating program of brass and voices (and sackbuts, organ, and recorder) from Italy, Germany, and Eastern Europe.

Anonymous Four. At Calderwood Hall, Gardner Museum, Boston, MA, January 29, 1:30 p.m. The Gardner Museum Sunday Concert Series takes up residency in its new concert hall and this is among its first presentations. Check out the others in this series—they often sell out quickly. This concert is sold out.

Leave a Comment





Recent Posts