Arts & Entertainment

The Met and Harlem come to Chilmark and Edgartown

The Martha's Vineyard Chamber Music Society brings a variety of New York City musicians to the Island over the next two weeks.

If you missed last night's Martha's Vineyard Chamber Music Society (MVCMS) concert at the in Edgartown, you need not worry. You can catch the same concert tonight, August 9, at the . In fact, you can see some of the Island's, the country's and even some of the world's premier classical musicians at both of these venues on Monday and Tuesday nights all summer.

This week, MVCMS is presenting a group of virtuosos from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Performers include Nancy Wu on violin, Joel Noyes on cello and Leigh Mesh on double bass. "I love the virtuosity of these players," said MVCMS artistic director, Dee Stevens who will be joining the group on piano. "These are some of the best players in the country and the world."

The show includes two pieces composed for virtuoso bass. Rossini's Duetto composed in the early 1800s and contemporary composer David Anderson's Sonata for double-bass and piano. Stevens says she set the program up that way because "there are not too many pieces composed for virtuoso bass players and it is fascinating to see what a composer does now compared with 155 years ago, to see the different techniques that have come about."

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The group will be playing a series of duets, including Claude Debussy's Sonata for violin and piano and Maurice Ravel's Sonata for violin and cello. "Both of the pieces that are for violin are impressionist pieces, and to me they really speak to the effervescence of the Island."

Next week, the MVCMS heads Up-Town to bring the Harlem String Quartet to the Island. Not all of the members are Harlem-based—there is a violinist from Cuba—but all four musicians were First Place Laureates of the Sphinx Competition, dedicated to highlighting works by minority composers while advancing diversity in classical music for young and new audiences. The Sphinx Organization is based in Harlem and the first Harlem String Quartet performance took place at the famous Apollo Theater there. 

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Hailed by the press as "remarkable" and "fresh," the group includes Melissa White on violin, who has won international recognition for her playing. "I'm always trying to encourage young people to get involved with Chamber Music, because I believe it is our highest form of music," said Stevens. "If anyone can inspire young people to get involved in this type of music, it is the Harlem String Quartet." The group will be performing such pieces as Beethoven's String Quartet in D Major, OP.18 #3, Dvorak's Piano Quintet in A Major, op.81 and Chick Corea's Adventures of Hippocrates. "They are returning this year after two years," said Stevens, "and I'm really looking forward to hearing them again."

 

The final MVCMS concerts take place August 9, 8 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center; August 15, 8 p.m. at the Old Whaling Church; and August 16, 8 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center.


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