Worcester Chamber Music Society season expands its repertoire with lesser-known composers
The Worcester Chamber Music Society's 18th season, which gets underway with performances Sept. 29 and Oct. 1, will be featuring some composers that even regular concertgoing audiences may not have heard played live too frequently.
Black 20th-century composers Florence B. Price and George Walker, 20th-century Israeli composer Paul Ben-Haim, Haitian composer Ludovic Lamothe (1882-1953), Baroque composer Anna Bon and contemporary composers Judith Weir from Great Britain and Gabriela Lena Frank (whose heritage is Jewish, Peruvian and Chinese) are all featured in the seven concerts announced for the season so far.
They will be part of concert programs that also include more recognizable names such as J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Debussy.
While the 2023-24 season doesn't have an overall title (although most of the seven programs do), "in general the theme to the season is about the wide range of composers we're performing," said Tracy Kraus, WCMS executive director and flutist.
'The wide range of music'
WCMS is maintaining its commitment to racial and cultural diversity, and that broad reach for the 18th season also demonstrates "the wide range of music that is available to the chamber music genre," Kraus said.
The new season also includes two programs that are special events in intimate settings at the Worcester Center for Crafts and the American Antiquarian Society, where the cultural perspective will be expanded even further as audiences can, respectively, take in an art exhibition and explore musical manuscripts.
The 2023-24 season will also include new venues such as the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester and Stone Church Cultural Center in Gilbertville. There are 11 venues all told in the announced season and eight guest artists, including Eric Thomas, clarinetist, Deborah Selig, soprano, Vanessa Holroyd'Time changes'flute, and John McKean, harpsichord.
WCMS is going to busy over the next three months as it has four announced concerts between the very end of September and December.
"We generally have been top-heavy. Most of our programming happens in the fall," Kraus said.
'Eye of the Beholder'
The first concert program is the Annual Tom Keil Memorial Concert with performances at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 29 in Unitarian Universalist Church, Harvard, and 4 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Jeanne Y. Curtis Performance Hall, Assumption University.
Titled "Time Changes," the concert explores the musical shift from Romanticism to the modern era, through works by Copland, Stravinsky, Debussy, and Paul Ben-Haim, a German emigré to Israel who blended German, French, and Israeli elements that influenced him at different times of his life. Ben-Haim's Serenade for flute and string trio, which will be performed at the concert, is "a beautiful piece," Kraus said.
WCMS was able to return to the Curtis Performance Hall for a concert last season after it had been unavailable the previous two seasons because of the pandemic. It is back again this season, this time for two performances. It has become one of WCMS' favorite concert halls. "We really love that place," Kraus said.
"Eyes of the Beholder" will be performed at 3 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Stone Church Cultural Center in Gilbertville ("we're excited to be there," Kraus said) and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at the Worcester Center for Crafts.
Works by Florence Price, Gabriela Lena Frank and George Walker, three composer influenced by their views of the world, will be paired with Mozart, whose music has been described as visionary.
At the Oct. 26 concert only there will be paintings by artist John Pagano on view and a wine reception following the concert.
"A Sense of Place" at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10 in First Congregational Church, West Boylston, and 4 p.m. Nov. 12 in the Jeanne Y. Curtis Performance Hall, Assumption University, features works by Ludovic Mamothe, Judith Weir, Ravel and Beethoven with guest soprano Deborah Selig.
WCMS has put on its annual baroque concert at the Worcester Historical Museum in December for several years.
"Effervescence" is set for 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 in First Congregational Church, Princeton, and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8 in the Worcester Historical Museum.
"It's a great place for baroque music," Kraus said of the museum.
'A beautiful sound'
Anna Bon, one of the featured composers, was an 18th-century composer from Italy. Recently, her works have been rediscovered, Kraus said. WCMS will perform Bon's Divertimento in D minor. The highlights of the concert will also likely be J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, and an arrangement of his Air in G for nyckleharpa, hardanger fiddle and violin. The nyckleharpa and hardanger fiddle are Scandinavian instruments. The nyckleharpa looks like "a rectangular version of a viola but keys come out of the instrument. It really has a beautiful sound," Kraus said. As does the hardanger fiddle. The guest musicians for the concert are Vanessa Holroyd, flute, and John McKean, harpsichord.
"On The Edge" at the American Antiquarian Society at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 1 pairs works by American composer Amy Beach and Debussy. The evening will include an opportunity to view original scores by Beach and other women composers, part of the American Antiquarian Society’s collection. A wine and dessert reception will follow the concert.
WCMS's annual free family concert returns to Mechanics Hall at 3 p.m. March 10 with a performance of Israeli composer Lior Navok's "The Little Mermaid." Students from WCMS' Neighborhood Strings program, about which more later, will also be performing. Art by students at Learning First Public Charter School, a learning site for Neighborhood Strings, will be on display in Mechanics Hall.
The Nason A. Hurowitz Memorial Concert will be at 7:30 p.m. April 19 in the Fitchburg Art Museum and 4 p.m. April 21 at Shapiro Hall at the Joy of Music Center in Worcester. Titled "Out of the Ordinary," the works include one by another neglected female composer now getting recognition, Mélanie Bonis, along with pieces by Mendelssohn and Franz Schubert. Bonis was a French late Romantic composer, Kraus said. Like Bon, "there's also a resurgence in her music."
Other concerts likely to be announced soon are a performance in WCMS' ongoing "Music On Main" (Main Street) series in November, and a benefit concert for Neighborhood Strings in June.
'Building a vibrant, inclusive and diverse community'
WCMS states on its website that it "strives to cultivate an appreciation for classical music, building a vibrant, inclusive and diverse community through inspiring concerts and education."
Its award-winning Neighborhood Strings program offers free music lessons in violin, viola and cello to youths who are mostly from Main South and inner city/downtown while also fostering family involvement. Children can also be eligible to receive a stringed instrument to take home, honor, practice on, play and make music (and hopefully have fun) with. In the first year of Neighborhood Strings, 2012-13, 14 children received instruments as the first students in the program. Last season, was "a fabulous year" with 90 children at four program sites. About 100 children are expected to take part in the program this season, which starts Sept. 15, Kraus said.
Another of WCMS' programs, "Very Open Rehearsals," is returning for the first time since the pandemic. Put on in private homes, Very Open Rehearsals provide an opportunity to watch WCMS at work and see how a piece of music is shaped and polished. The occasion includes dinner and wine following the rehearsal.
There will be "Very Open Rehearsals" on Oct. 15 and Jan. 28.
"It's been a while. We're really excited to bring this back," Kraus said. "It's an inside view of how we bring a piece to the concert stage." There are two "wonderful hosts who we can't name," for privacy reasons. The group that attends is small, but "it's like chamber music was supposed to be with conversation. It is truly an engaging and enlightening experience." "Very Open Rehearsals" are also fundraisers for the Neighborhood Strings Program.
A WCMS program popular in pre-pandemic times that still hasn't returned yet is its Café Concerts series with dinner followed by a performance.
"We need to look for the right space," Kraus said.
Building the future
However, WCMS' "Music Heals" series continues with concerts at Abby's House in Worcester, which provides shelter and affordable housing, as well as advocacy and support services, to homeless, battered and low-income women, with or without children. "Music Heals" was previously at UMass Memorial Medical Center — Memorial Campus and started as a way of saying thanks to health professionals for their challenging work during the pandemic. The series is also based on the belief that music can actually heal. Another location for the program is expected to be announced soon.
WCMS is coming back from the pandemic with a good feeling about the season ahead, Kraus said.
The 2020-21 season was basically livestreamed and virtual because of the pandemic. The 2021-22 season was live and in-person and livestreamed with an emphasis on smaller venues and protocols that included social distancing.
Last season, WCMS was back at venues such as Mechanics Hall and some of the live in-person concerts were also livestreamed.
For 2023-24 there are no plans at present to livestream any of the concerts, Kraus said. "It's something we will add if people are nervous about going out or if there's a resurgence of COVID, but right now, no. It's expensive to do and only a handful of people signed up for this (last season), but if things shut down then we will."
Attendance at the concerts last season was slightly less than pre-pandemic, but Kraus said she feels the numbers are "rebounding."
Last season's audiences may have been spread out among different presenters because "there's more to see," Kraus noted.
"I'm feeling positive about our audiences this year. We did see a nice number of new audience members, which is very encouraging. A lot of people have moved to the city and we do hope they will come and find us and join us," Kraus said.
As for more young faces, "I would say it's been pretty steady over the years. I don't think the numbers are growing. We do offer free tickets for youth 17 and under. College students — it's tough to get college kids off the campus. I understand ... But we do get college student mentors for Neighborhood Strings."
WCMS gave its first concert in a basement performing space at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Worcester in 2006.
The ensemble's core group includes Kraus, Rohan Gregory (violin), Randall Hodgkinson (piano), Mark Berger (viola; resident composer), Krista Buckland Reisner (violin), Ariana Falk (cello; education director), Joshua Gordon (cello), David Russell (cello) and Peter Sulski (viola; educator Neighborhood Strings). All are acknowledged to be excellent musicians in their own right.
There is no artistic director or conductor, and decisions are made democratically. Guest artists are also regularly featured at concerts.
Some members, such as Kraus, also hold administrative positions at WCMS to help keep the ensemble functioning. WCMS has an office downtown at 323 Main St. next to Mechanics Hall and Music Worcester.
Kraus, Sulski and Berger have been with the ensemble from the start, but the others have also been involved now for a number of years.
"I never imagined we'd be here 18 years later," Kraus said. "I am really excited that as an organization we are in a healthy place with a wonderful core of musicians with us a long time. Our education programs continue to grow and get accolades, and we continue to get support from the Worcester community."
For more information and tickets to concerts visit www.worcesterchambermusic.org.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester Chamber Music Society extends its reach with concerts
