2023-2024 Season

Concert One

Music of Hope

Saturday, October 14 2023, 7:30 pm
Sunday, October 15 2023, 3:00 pm

Rebecca Jackson, violin
Jessica Chang, viola
Katie Youn, cello & concert director
Samantha Cho, piano

SAGE, a musician’s collective appearing with the Santa Cruz Chamber Players for the first time, will perform music that paints a vivid portrait of the emotional consequences that the pandemic has had on us all. The concert begins with works about COVID-19 by SF composer, educator, and performer Jungyoon Wie and Composer-in-Residence at the JFK Center for the Performing Arts, Carlos Simon. Also featured is Caroline Shaw’s Limestone and Felt, which Shaw writes, “may represent two opposing ways we experience history and design our own present”, and Polina Nazakinskya’s Hope. The program, which includes Mahler’s Piano Quartet, Enescu’s Aubade for String Trio, and Brahms’ Piano Quartet in c minor, creates an astounding vision of our shared experience—one that transcends boundaries and inspires hope!

#Anxiety for solo cello, Jungyoon Wie (1990 – present)
Loop for string trio, Carlos Simon (1986 – present)
Piano Quartet in A Minor, Gustav Mahler (1860 – 1911)
Aubade, George Enescu (1881 – 1955)
Limestone and Felt, Caroline Shaw (1982 – present)
Hope for solo violin, Polina Nazaykinskaya (1987 – present)
Piano Quartet No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60, Johannes Brahms (1833- 1897

Concert Two

Love and Thunder: A Road through Impressionism

Saturday, November 4 2023, 7:30 pm
Sunday, November 5 2023, 3:00 pm

Chia-Lin Yang, piano & concert director
Elbert Tsai, violin
Brady Anderson, cello

The award-winning Verve Trio returns with a varied program that spans a hundred years: The beloved C Major Piano Trio by Brahms soars with a romantic voice; Debussy’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, and his Sonata for Violin and Piano, unlike his more familiar image-inspired works, enclose his unique sonorities in a more traditional form; and American composer, Paul Schoenfeld’s Café Music abounds with fiery, ragtime-infused riffs.

Sonata for Cello and Piano (1915), Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918)
Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major, Op. 87 (1882), Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)
Sonata for Violin and Piano (1917), Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918)
Café Music (1986), Paul Schoenfeld (b. 1947)

Concert Three

Sonatas for Friends

Saturday, November 18 2023, 7:30 pm
Sunday, November 19 2023, 3:00 pm

Alison Lee, piano
Isaac Pastor-Chermak, cello

Pianist Alison Lee and cellist Isaac Pastor-Chermak are among Northern California’s most in-demand musical couples of their generation. Appearing for the first time in Santa Cruz County, they are delighted to bring a program of three cello-piano works written by composers for their instrumentalist friends: Beethoven’s g-minor sonata, written for cellist Jean-Louis Duport, complements a new commissioned work by Jean Ahn, written specially for Alison and Isaac. After intermission, the artists will tackle the monumental Prokofiev cello sonata, written for cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. A virtuosic amuse-bouche for solo cello by local favorite Ben Dorfan rounds out the program.

Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor, Op.5 No.2, Ludwig van Beethoven
Roll, Jean Ahn
XYZ Scatter, Ben Dorfan
Sonata for Cello and Piano in C major, Op.119, Sergei Prokofiev

Concert Four

The American Woodwind Quintet: A Musical Journey around America

Saturday, February 10 2024, 7:30 pm
Sunday, February 11 2024, 3:00 pm

Victoria “Tori” Hauk, flute
Laura Reynolds, oboe
Andrew Friedman, clarinet
Daniel Wood, horn
Jamael Smith, bassoon

Summerland, William Grant Still, Arr. Adam Lesnick
For Marianne, Joan Tower
Pastorale, Amy Beach
Un Diario Espanol, Bruce Thompson
Partita for Wind Quintet, Irving Fine
I. Introduction and Theme
II. Variation
III. Interlude
IV. Gigue
V. Coda

INTERMISSION

Six Minutes Thirty Seconds, William Susman
Fire in Spring, John Bilotta
Musings, Daniel Wood
Summer Music, Samuel Barber

Concert Five

A Soulful Panoply

Saturday, March 2 2024, 7:30 pm
Sunday, March 3 2024, 3:00 pm

Roy Malan, violin & concert director
Joseph Christianson, violin
Polly Malan, viola
Erin Wang, cello
James Winn, piano

A delicious assortment of musical treats spanning from the soul-stirring Brahms & the passionate virtuosity of the Schumann-Liszt to the yearning James Winn and the jubilant Florence Price.

Sonata #1 in A Major (1886), Johannes Brahms
Pibroch for Solo Violin (2008), James Winn
Widmung for Solo Piano (1840), Schumann-Liszt
Piano Quintet (1935), Florence Price

Concert Six

Low Notes on a High Level: Music for Bassoon, Clarinet & Piano

Saturday, May 18 2024, 7:30 pm
Sunday, May 19 2024, 3:00 pm

Michelle Keem, Bassoon
Erica Horn, Clarinet
Ivan Rosenblum, Piano & Director

Often viewed as “the clown of the orchestra,” the bassoon is more accurately characterized as an instrument of many moods and tone colors. With its wide range of over three octaves, it can play the buffoon in its lowest register, the pleading child in its upper notes, and a host of other tonal characters throughout its varied range. Together with the clarinet and piano, this program celebrates its diversity with solos, duos and trios from the 18th through the 20th centuries. Featured composers are CPE Bach, Beethoven, Glinka, Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, Stravinsky, Bill Douglas and last and (in his own words) definitely least, Rosenblum.

Sonata in D Minor (solo bassoon), CPE Bach (8′)
Rondo in B Minor (solo piano), CPE Bach (3′)
Two Mvts. From Duo for Cl. & Bsn. F Major, Beethoven (6′)
Three Pieces for Clarinet, Stravinsky (4′)
Trio Pathétique, Glinka (16′)