Arizona Friends of Chamber Music will host its 25th Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival beginning this weekend.
When you reach that sort of milestone, you pull out the stops, lay down the red carpet and let the party begin.
For Arizona Friends, that means bringing in three diverse ensembles — Germany’s Morgenstern Trio, the young Chicago-based Dover Quartet and Spain’s renowned Romero Guitar Quartet — to anchor a lineup of pretty impressive chamber musicians that includes the young South Korean violinist Yura Lee, who also plays viola; French-Canadian clarinetist Romie de Guise-Langlois, who has made a name for herself as a soloist with orchestras and chamber festivals around North America; and classical guitarist Celino Romero, the third generation of Spain’s famous guitar dynasty to enter the family business.
The festival also will include a pair of world premieres of works the Friends commissioned: a piano trio by Pennsylvania composer David Ludwig on March 9 and a quartet from the young Minnesota composer Michael Djupstrom to close out the festival March 11.
Here’s the 411 on the 25th festival:
When: Sunday, March 4, through Sunday, March 11.
Where: All performances are at downtown’s Leo Rich Theater, 260 S. Church Ave.
Tickets: $30 for adults, $10 for students with ID at the door or in advance at arizonachambermusic.org, where you also can get a festival pass for $120 that covers all five concerts. Tickets to the annual festival gala dinner/concert at Arizona Inn on March 10 are $160 per person through arizonachambermusic.org
Musicians: Pianist Bernadette Harvey, the Romero Guitar Quartet, clarinetist Romie de Guise-Langlois, violinist Yura Lee, the Dover Quartet, cellist Emanuel Wehse, the Morgenstern Trio, classical guitarists Pepe Romero and Celino Romero.
Schedule:
- Opening concert, 3 p.m. Sunday, March 4. Program includes Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Guitars with the Romero Guitar Quartet and Jalbert’s Piano Trio No. 2 with the Morgenstern Trio.
- Concert 2, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 6. Program includes Piazzolla’s “History of the Tango” for guitar and clarinet, with Pepe Romero and Romie de Guise-Langlois.
- Concert 3, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 7. Highlights include Messiaen’s ethereal and haunting Quartet for the End of Time and the Dover Quartet performing Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in F minor.
- Concert 4, 7:30 p.m. March 9. Celino Romero will perform Vivaldi’s Guitar Concerto in D and Yura Lee will perform Ravel’s Violin Sonata No. 2. Clarinet takes the spotlight to close out the concert with Brahms Clarinet Quintet in B minor.
- Festival finale, 3 p.m. March 11. All three ensembles opened the festival and they reunite to close it with a program that includes works by Stravinski, Chausson and festival musician Pepe Romero.
Sneak a peek: Rehearsals featuring all of the festival musicians will be held from 9 a.m. to noon on March 6, 7, 9 and 11 at the Leo Rich. It’s your chance to see these world-class musicians in their street clothes playing through the programs, in some cases for the first time together. Admission is free and the rehearsals are open to the public.
