Rescheduled: Chamber music, an intimate musical conversation
An Afternoon of Chamber Music with Works by Beethoven and Brahms, originally scheduled for February was cancelled at the last minute due to performer illness.
The show, hosted by Purple Hills Arts and Heritage Society, has been rescheduled for Sunday, April 14. The concert begins at 2 p.m. at St. John’s United Church, 192 Mill St., Creemore. Tickets cost $30 and are available at www.phahs.ca.
Missing the days when Creemore was privileged to host chamber music performances, Saundra Reynolds has planned for a revival. A member of Purple Hills Arts and Heritage Society, Reynolds pitched it to her committee and was encouraged to proceed.
She reached out to the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Players’Association in search of a trio to play St. John’s United Church in Creemore in February.
The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony filed for bankruptcy in September after cancelling its 2023- 2024 season, which was a devastating shock to players and the community. Although the symphony ceased operations, the association ramped up operations. When the call went out for musicians to play Creemore in February, clarinetist Barbara Hankins and cellist Miriam Stewart-Kroeker answered. Hankins said they then called on pianist Charmaine Fopoussi to collaborate.
“Chamber music is very intimate experience,” said Hankins, who was a member of the Kitchener- Waterloo Symphony since 1980. “I love to perform chamber music because it’s like we are having musical conversations with our friends and the audience gets to eavesdrop… We have wonderful stories that we want to tell through our music.”
The performance will feature Beethoven’s Opus 11 Clarinet Trio in B-flat major, one of his earlier works, and Brahams’ Opus 114 Clarinet Trio in A minor, one of his later works. Hankins said the former is lively and the latter is more reflective and wistful.
“I love both of these trios, they are near and dear to my heart,” said Hankins.
The Beethoven piece, she said, is very accessible. Based on a familiar opera song at the time, it’s a playful interplay between the cello and clarinet, with plenty of limelight for the pianist.
The Brahams piece was inspired by clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld, who the composer heard while in his retirement and inspired him to compose two sonatas, a quintet and the trio that will be performed in Creemore.
“Each of the instruments gets to shine in their own way,” said Hankins. “The clarinet and the cello are considered darker instruments so the Brahamsian richness and darkness suit the instruments so well.”
The performance will also feature a clarinet solo Fantasia on Rossini’s Una voce poco fa from the The Barber of Seville, bycomposer Iwan Müller and a cello solo by contemporary Canadian composer Leonard Enns, Cello Sonata No.1. I. Andante.
An afternoon of chamber music with works by Beethoven and Brahms, hosted by Purple Hills Arts and Heritage Society, will begin at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 11 at St. John’s United Church, 192 Mill St., Creemore. Tickets cost $30 and are available at www.phahs.ca.
