Chamber Music Society Of Detroit Celebrates 75th Anniversary In 2018-2019

The Chamber Music Society of Detroit's 75th anniversary season will celebrate its history with special concerts in venues that were home to its series over the years, including Orchestra Hall and the DIA, while expanding its reach with a new Regional Partnership series offering four weekends of performances in Grosse Pointe, Canton and Rochester Hills. The stellar line-up of world renowned artists and ensembles across four series includes pianists Leon Fleisher, Olga Kern and Richard Goode, London's Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and the Juilliard, Pacifica, Dover and Miro Quartets, among others.

The 75th season comprises 25 concerts in eight venues across metropolitan Detroit - the most the organization has ever presented. CMSD's flagship Signature Series includes seven Saturday evening concerts at Seligman Performing Arts Center in Beverly Hills, a 75th anniversary season finale concert at Orchestra Hall, and a subscriber-only commemorative concert at the Lecture Hall of the DIA, which was home to the CMSD for its first fifteen seasons. new Regional Partner Series consists of four weekends of concerts, with performances each weekend at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial, the Village Theater at Cherry Hill in Canton and Varner Recital Hall at Oakland University in Rochester Hills. Rounding out the season are four additional concerts in Detroit featuring eclectic fare: two concerts of new and unusual repertoire at Wayne State University's Schaver Recital Hall with duo pianists Yuki and Tomoko Mack, the Juilliard Quartet and other special guests; and two performances of Jake Heggie's chamber opera, "Three Decembers" produced by Detroit's Opera MODO at the Jam Handy.

Tickets and information for all events are available by phone at 313-335-3300 or online at www.CMSDetroit.org. In addition to subscriptions and single tickets, the CMSD is offering for the first time "choose-your-own" four-pack and six-pack bundles at discounted prices. Also new this year are discounted single tickets to all concerts for seniors.

The Signature Series: Continuing a Legacy

The CMSD continues its tradition of presenting the world's great artists and ensembles on its Signature Series.

• The opening night concert, featuring the Montrose Trio, is rich in historic connections. Seventy-five years ago, the very first CMSD concert in 1945 featured a piano trio whose violinist, Joseph Gingold, was the concertmaster of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and who went on to become one of the most influential violin pedagogues in America. One of his students was Martin Beaver, the first violinist of the famed Tokyo Quartet who is now the violinist of the Montrose Trio. The Montrose will celebrate the CMSD's history by performing the same Tchaikovsky Piano Trio that was played on that first concert 75 years ago (September 15).
• London's famed Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble performs Schubert's rarely-heard late masterpiece, the Octet in F major (October 6)
• Russian-American pianist Olga Kern, gold medalist of the Van Cliburn Competition and well known to Detroit audiences through her concerto performances with the DSO, makes her Detroit recital debut with a bravura program that includes Balakirev's famously virtuosic work, Islamey (November 10)
• the New York-based Four Nations Ensemble brings an all-star cast of early music specialists to perform five of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and the Cantata No. 51 for soprano, trumpet and strings (December 1)
• the Montrose Trio's cellist, Clive Greensmith, returns to the series in February to join the Miro Quartet for a performance of Schubert's beloved Cello Quintet (February 9)
• pianist Richard Goode first worked with soprano Sarah Shafer several years ago when he was Artistic Director of the Marlboro Music Festival and she was a young participant in the program; she has become the only vocalist with whom Goode has continued to collaborate. The two will perform songs and piano works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Debussy and Faure (March 23)
• the Juilliard Quartet performs Dvorak's "American" String Quartet and introduces its newest member to Detroit audiences, first violinist Areta Zhulla (April 13)

Signature Series concerts are preceded by free pre-concert events from 7:00 - 7:30 PM, ranging from a 75th anniversary champagne toast on opening night to lectures, interviews with the artists and pre-concert recitals by young artists. For complete information, visit www.CMSDetroit.org.

Season Finale: Celebrating History, Looking Forward

The Chamber Music Society's 75th anniversary finale on Sunday, May 12 takes place at Orchestra Hall, which was home to its series for 21 years beginning in 1978. Four of America's "new generation" string quartets, the Attacca, Catalyst, Dover and Harlem Quartets, will be joined by master pianist and conductor Leon Fleisher. In a unique format, the quartets will form a string orchestra to perform Mozart's Piano Concerto in E major, K. 414 with Fleisher as soloist, and Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings conducted by Fleisher. The quartets will also perform Mendelssohn's Octet taking turns in different combinations for each movement in a "mix and match" fashion. Rounding out the program will be the world premiere of a new work for 16 strings by Jessie Montgomery, a violinist with the Catalyst Quartet, which the Chamber Music Society of Detroit has commissioned for the occasion.

In another nod to its history, the Chamber Music Society is raising the funds to pay for the commission with over 100 small donations from its audience members and donors. Sixty-five years ago, the CMSD's founder, Karl Haas, commissioned American composer Samuel Barber to write a new work for the Society's tenth anniversary and funded the commission in exactly the same way - marking the first time ever that a commission had been paid for by public subscription.

Inaugural Season: Regional Partnership Series

Broadening its outreach in southeast Michigan, the Chamber Music Society is launching two new concert series, one at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial in Grosse Pointe Farms, and another at the Village Theater at Cherry Hill in Canton. Combining these series with its sixth annual series at Oakland University's Varner Recital Hall, the CMSD will present 12 concerts over four weekends throughout the season:

• Opening weekend features the Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet performing quartets of Beethoven, Bartók and Mendelssohn.
• The series continues in October with the inaugural American tour of a new duo collaboration between Brazilian cellist Antonio Meneses and Scottish guitarist Paul Galbraith. Their innovative program includes the work that inspired their collaboration, Schubert's "Arpeggione" Sonata, paired with music by three Brazilian composers. One of these works, Mehmari's Brazilian Suite No. 2, was composed especially for this duo and is receiving its first U.S. performances on this tour.
• In January, the multiple award-winning Aeolus Quartet is joined by Franklin Cohen, principal clarinet emeritus of the Cleveland Orchestra, for Mozart's Clarinet Quintet as well as American composer Ben Johnston's String Quartet No. 4, Variations on "Amazing Grace."
• The first season concludes with the return of the young Canadian pianist Stewart Goodyear to the CMSD series, with a program that pairs a late Beethoven sonata with three colorful Ravel works and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

Detroit Concerts: Eclectic Programming

In recent seasons the Chamber Music Society has initiated an innovative "inDepth" concert format featuring a "deep dive" introduction to the works on the program and ending with a post-performance "talk back" session, giving audience members a chance to engage in discussion with the artists.

In 2018-19, two concerts at Schaver Music Recital Hall will utilize that format to help introduce audiences with new and unfamiliar repertoire. On October 12, the acclaimed Detroit-based duo piano team of Yuki and Tomoko Mack will perform Bartók's rarely heard Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion with percussionists Keith Claeys and John Dorsey. The all-Bartók program also includes the composer's Piano Sonata performed by Kazimierz Brozozowski. An April 12 program features the Juilliard Quartet and the current Juilliard graduate quartet in residence, the Argus Quartet, performing music of Bartók and Tan Dun.

In a new collaboration, the CMSD will partner with Detroit's innovative Opera MODO to present Jake Heggie's chamber opera "Three Decembers." A deeply personal journey, this viscerally emotional opera explores the struggles between family members and the restorative healing power of forgiveness (December 21 & 22).