The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will play a varied program of Brahms, Franck and Poulenc in its first concert of the 2005-06 season at Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts on Saturday, Oct. 15, at 8 p.m. Journalist Robert Sherman, a classical music writer for The New York Times, will lead a pre-concert Art-to-Heart discussion from 7 to 7:40 p.m.

The Chamber Music Society, the resident company of Lincoln Center and one of the world's premier chamber ensembles, is known for its extraordinary repertoire of classics and commitment to the commission of new works. Its reputation precedes it wherever it goes. One critic dubbed the ensemble "the jewel in this nation's musical crown."

Though the Chamber Music Society includes many members, concerts can feature smaller ensembles, allowing for many musical possibilities. The musicians who will perform at the Quick Center are: Stephen Taylor, oboe; Frank Morelli, bassoon; Jennifer Frautschi, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola; Gary Hoffman, cello; and Gilbert Kalish, piano.

The Quick Center program features Poulenc's "Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano" and Franck's "Cello Sonata in A Major," and concludes with Brahms' "Piano Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op/ 26."

A member of the Chamber Music Society since 1991, Taylor is also co-principal oboe with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, principal oboe with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, and solo oboe for the American Composer's Orchestra. Widely recorded, he has debuted several oboe works and received a Grammy nomination for his recording of Elliot Carter's "Oboe Quartet."

Morelli is the first bassoonist to be awarded a docto rate by the Juilliard School, where he is currently on the faculty. He has made nine solo appearances at Carnegie Hall and is a member of the renowned quintet, Windscape, as well as the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, which won a 2001 Grammy Award for an album featuring his excellent musicianship.

Rapidly gaining acclaim for her adventurous takes on both standards and rarities, Frautschi has played her 1722 Strativarius with the Mostly Mozart Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She has also appeared at the esteemed Ravinia and Caramoor festivals and played many of the major concert halls of Europe, including London's Wigmore Hall, Salzburg Mozarteum, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna Konzerthaus and La Cité de la Musique in Paris.

A Society member since 1989, Neubauer was the youngest principal string player in the New York Philharmonic's history. He has appeared with more than 100 orchestras throughout the United States, Europe and Asia, including the Los Angeles, Helsinki, and Royal Liverpool philharmonics and the St. Louis, Detroit and Dallas symphonies. The winner of several prestigious competitions, he also teaches at Juilliard and the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.

Kalish was the pianist with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players for 30 years and was a founding member of the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble. His discography includes some 100 recordings, including his legendary collaborations with mezzo-soprano Jan De Gaetani. When not performing with symphonies and at festivals around the country, Kalish is a sought-after teacher, who has conducted master classes and workshops at The Banff Centre, the Steans Institute at Ravinia and the Marlboro Festival and is a professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Hoffman made his London recital debut at 15 and, in 1986, was the first American to win the Rostropovich International Competition. He has worked with major orchestras and festivals around the world. A guest artist with the Emerson and Tokyo quartets, he is a 1995 recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and has b een a Society member since 1993, a job he says he loves.

"Music at its best can accentuate, magnify and bring about the best things we are as human beings, and these are directly connected to our Creator," he said. "In playing and listening to music, I've actually felt a kind of connection to something greater than me and greater than the music - a part of something divine."

Tickets to the Quick Center concert are $30 with subscriptions available for all three Chamber Music Society concerts this season. For tickets, call the Quick Center box office at (203) 254-4010 or toll free at 1-877-ARTS-396. For more information, visit www.quickcenter.com.

Posted On: 09-15-2005 10:09 AM

Volume: 38 Number: 32