In a not-to-be-missed season premiere, Artistic Director Pamela Freund leads the Gold Coast Chamber Players in Gypsy, featuring violinist Geoff Nuttall, cellist Robert Howard, and pianist Jeffrey LaDeur. The concert will be held on Saturday, September 26, 2015 at 7:30 PM at the Lafayette Library Community Hall, 3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd. in Lafayette. A pre-concert talk will start the evening at 7:00 PM.
The program includes works by Ravel, Bartok, Brahms, and Haydn, spanning several centuries of music inspired by Gypsy exoticism. Hungarian folk music will be a recurring theme, as well as German and French influences.
A co-founder and violinist in the award-winning St. Lawrence String Quartet, Geoff Nuttall has performed well over 1,500 concerts throughout North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The St. Lawrence String Quartet has been ensemble-in-residence at Stanford University since 1999, where Nutall is on faculty. Nuttall directs the chamber music series at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina. The New York Times describes him as “The Jon Stewart of Chamber Music” for his fun and inventive approach to performing: “Like that television comedian, Mr. Nuttall is a creatively daring, physically talented performer who can go goofball in a nanosecond, maintaining a veneer of entertainment while educating his base about serious matters.” Nuttall will present Maurice Ravel’s Tzigane, a virtuoso showcase for violin and piano in the style of a Hungarian rhapsody.
Jeffrey LaDeur is an active soloist, chamber musician, and educator. He has been hailed by Derek Bermel of the American Composer’s Orchestra as “a pianist extraordinary sensitivity, intelligence, and breadth of dramatic expression.” Local engagements include concerto performances with Oakland East Bay Symphony and the San Jose Chamber Orchestra; in addition, LaDeur is an artist-in-residence at University of California, Santa Cruz.
Rounding out the ensemble for Gypsy are violist and Artistic Director Pamela Freund, who is recipient of the 2015 Arts Recognition Award by the Contra Costa County Arts and Culture Commission and cellist Robert Howard. Howard will be highlighted in Bela Bartok’s Rhapsody No. 1 for cello and piano. Musicologist Peter Laki explains, “Bartok’s objective was to transplant the entire style of Eastern-European fiddle playing into the Western concert context.” Franz Joseph Haydn’s Piano Trio No. 39, “Gypsy”, is one of the most popular of his many chamber works. Its dramatic, exciting third movement finale contains a sprightly folk-like melody complete with syncopations and off-beat accents. The First Piano Quartet by Johannes Brahms bears the Hungarian and Gypsy influences that unites this program. The quartet is widely performed, and was so well regarded by Arnold Schoenberg that he arranged its third movement, “Gypsy Rondo” for full orchestra. Pianist William Murdoch states that the quartet owes its popularity to the “boldness of the themes in the first movement, the charm and delicacy of the Intermezzo and trio, the majestic grandeur of the Andante with its powerful climax, and the Hungarian dash of the Finale.”
The Gold Coast Chamber Players are known for their engaging and vibrant performances. Audiences have been responding with such enthusiasm that tickets are in great demand.
Ticket price includes complimentary champagne, a pre-concert talk at 7 p.m., and a reception with the musicians following the performance. Tickets are available at www.gcplayers.org and by phone at (925) 283-3728. Limited seating, please reserve early.
Cost: $15 student, $32.50 senior, $37.50 general