The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to premiere British composer's work at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts April 28 | Press Releases

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will appear in this season's final concert at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts on Saturday, April 28 at 8 p.m. The program includes the Connecticut premiere of a CMS commissioned string work. Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's cellist, Fred Sherry will lead a pre-concert Art-to-Heart discussion from 7-7:40 pm.

Nicholas Maw, one of the leading British post-war composers and a pivotal figure in the neo-Romantic Revival is well loved by CMS audiences. At this performance, the audience will enjoy the opportunity to hear the Connecticut premiere of his much-anticipated String Sextet. The evening's program was designed to be a logical prelude to the Maw sextet and, as such, features the work of composers who have influenced Maw's work.

Another beloved string sextet, the opening music from Richard Strauss' opera "Capriccio," makes a fitting partner to the new work.

From Schumann and Britten come works spotlighting a wind instrument, in this case the plangent oboe. Maw's fellow countryman Britten contributes a "Phantasy Quartet," a further entry into the English Phantasy catalogue. This piece of music was the first to gain him international attention when it was performed at a 1934 concert of the International Society for Contemporary Music in Florence.

Also on the program is a string quintet by Anton Bruckner. Known principally for his massive symphonies and his sacred music, Bruckner seems, at first glance, not to be a "chamber music kind of composer." He added very little to the chamber repertoire, but his one major exception, the String Quintet of 1878-79, is an important piece. The quintet's Adagio movement is so luminous and soulful that it is occasionally extracted as a standalone item, as it is here.

It is not possible for CMS to let a season go by without a visit from Haydn. Franz Joseph Haydn's Piano Trio in A major, Hob. XV: 18 dates from 1794, the year of his second visit to London. The writing is said to capitalize on the sound of English pianos of the time, which were more robust than the ones Haydn was accustomed to back home in Vienna.

Among the artists performing in the program are violinists Lily Francis, a native of West Hartford, Conn., Ida Kavafian of New Fairfield, Conn. and Joseph Silverstein; violists Beth Guterman, Teng Li and Paul Neubauer; cellists Priscilla Lee and Fred Sherry; Stephen Taylor plays oboe and Anne-Marie McDermott is the pianist.

Since 2004, CMS' artistic directors, Wu Han, also an accomplished pianist, and David Finckel, a member of the esteemed Emerson String Quartet, have embraced their roles as co-artistic directors with a united vision that focuses on communities' shared musical enthusiasm.

Tickets are $30 and are available online at www.quickcenter.com or call the Quick Center Box Office at (203) 254-4010. The toll free number is 1-877-ARTS-396. For more information, please visit the website, www.quickcenter.com.