Kloetzel Chapman Duo – The Women of Note Project
Jennifer Kloetzel, cello
Allegra Chapman, piano
Works by Hélène Liebmann, Luise Le Beau, Mel Bonis, and Leokadiya Kashperova
Women of Note is a multi-season project celebrating cello and piano repertoire by women. Through concerts, educational performances, and recordings, Jennifer Kloetzel and Allegra Chapman bring to life works that have been forgotten or overlooked. Thoughtfully curated programs demonstrate that this music belongs at the center of the cello and piano repertoire, not at its margins. Currently, the project spans almost 250 years from the early 1800s through today.
The duo came together in 2023 to record a new cello sonata composed for Kloetzel by Richard Aldag. They quickly found a shared mission: to bring to light the rich and largely overlooked repertoire of works for cello and piano written by women composers. That mission now drives their ongoing project, Women of Note, through which they are committed to performing and recording these deserving works for audiences who have rarely, if ever, had the chance to hear them.
Recently, the Kloetzel Chapman Duo has performed for Berkeley Chamber Performances, Noontime Concerts in San Francisco, and Point Reyes Chamber Concerts, and has been featured on KALW Radio’s On the Arts and KWMR Radio. Kloetzel and Chapman are both graduates of The Juilliard School.
Praised for her “ceaseless musicianship” (BBC Music Magazine) and “impressively passionate performances” (The Strad), cellist Jennifer Kloetzel has performed as soloist and chamber musician at Lincoln Center, the Ravinia Festival and San Francisco Performances. Her international credits include Harpa Concert Hall (Reykjavik), Izumi Hall (Osaka) and the Eroica-Saal (Vienna). Jennifer’s engaging programs offer audiences a surprising mix of repertoire by Shostakovich, Mel Bonis, Frank Bridge, John Williams, and Philippe Hersant. She has premiered over 80 solo and chamber works, including five concerti written specifically for her.
Fascinated with performance projects that create community, Jennifer’s Mission:Bach—A Pilgrimage of Sound tour has included nearly 60 concerts at all 21 California Missions, performing Bach’s Cello Suites and commissioned companion pieces. These concerts with conversation explore local history and musical connections across centuries. Her Inspired By America project brought a multi-media collaboration to large concert halls, exploring what it means to be an American through live chamber music combined with film.