PORT TOWNSEND — Some of the world’s most promising classical musicians will arrive in Port Townsend on Sunday, say organizers of the Chamber Music Workshop at Centrum, and audiences will have the opportunity to observe them several times next week.
The public is invited to a master class free of charge from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Wheeler Theater in Fort Worden.
The award-winning Miró Quartet will coach two quartets and two pianists during a weeklong workshop. Then, chamber music-lovers can attend two student showcase concerts Thursday and June 9, both at 7:30 p.m. in the Wheeler Theater, for $10 each.
The Miró Quartet will perform in the same theater at 7:30 p.m. June 10. Tickets are $34 to $40. Those 18 and younger will be admitted free but still require reservations. Ticket information can be found at www.centrum.org/tickets.
The 10 musicians, ages 21-29, each received the opportunity to train with pros on full scholarship thanks to local sponsors Nelly and Jim Tretter, Anne and Dick Schneider, Renate Wheeler, Leah Mitchell and Nancy McLachlan, Gay and Gary Eisenberger, The Peach Foundation, the Congdon-Hanson family and Cindy Thayer.
“We’re all so thrilled to see the growing demand for Centrum’s chamber music workshop,” said Rob Birman, executive director of Centrum.
“Applications have increased by 300 percent since our first year in 2014. Our artistic director’s notoriety and ability to recruit top-notch quartets has put this workshop on the national map.”
Lucinda Carver, chamber music artistic director at Centrum and a classical pianist, agreed that the workshop is an important resource for the rising stars of chamber music and rare in its accessibility to the public.
“The opportunity to hear these young musicians play in concert and see the work in progress at the master class is something very special,” Carver said.
“The interaction between faculty and students in the master class setting is fascinating to watch — and to hear,” Carver added.
“Often only a small comment or metaphor will drastically change the sound of the ensemble. It is a very powerful connection.”
Centrum’s Gregg Miller, program manager, emphasized the caliber of instruction that happens during the upcoming week.
“They get the chance to study with renowned faculty who have the kind of careers they are aspiring to,” Miller said.
“One of the things that sets this week apart from other workshops is the repertoire they focus on. Two string quartets are paired with two pianists to delve into a piano quintet, a genre which has inspired composers to produce some of their best work, and their most challenging.”
Student musicians are arriving from as far away as Germany.
For one violinist who now lives in Miami Beach, Fla., this journey will be a homecoming. Maya Cohon, 23, grew up in Phinney Ridge outside Seattle and graduated from the Northwest School in 2011.
“I play in an orchestra throughout the year and do not have many opportunities to play chamber music, which for me is one of the most rewarding and enriching ways to collaborate with other musicians,” Cohon said.
“I am incredibly excited to be a part of the upcoming workshop.
“We are so lucky to have the chance to work with the Miró Quartet, and as an established and experienced chamber group, I know they will have so much to offer us.”
Other participants in the 2017 Chamber Music Workshop at Centrum are the Belka Quartet; Beatrice Hsieh, violin, Ohio; Charles Gleason, violin, Ohio; John Grigsby III, viola, Texas; Daniel Blumhard, cello, Maryland; Gloria Engle, piano, New York; Carissa Kim, piano, California; Rose Quartet; Hanna Rose Nicholas, viola, Colorado; Freya Rose Creech, violin, Germany; and Austin Barker Fisher, cello, Colorado.
