Piedmont Chamber Music Festival | July 24 – 28

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The Formosa Quartet. The Piedmont Chamber Music Festival celebrates its 4th year, as international musicians are in weeklong residency at PCA.
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Violinist Zachary DePue

SURPRISE! Violinist Zachary DePue joins our 2019 lineup!

We are thrilled to welcome Zachary DePue to PCMF! Zach became one of the youngest concertmasters in the country when he was appointed to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in 2007, and he rose to international prominence as a founding member of the category-defying trio Time for Three, with whom he performed for 15 years.

Zach replaces Charles Yang (his successor in Time for Three) on our Friday and Sunday concerts. Charles will be flying to Chicago immediately after he performs on Wednesday night to make his debut with the Chicago Symphony!!

Read more about Zach here, and get your tickets below to see him live in Piedmont.

Celebrating the fourth year of the Piedmont Chamber Music Festival, founders Wayne Lee and his wife Juliana Han have scheduled an exciting program of music in three major concerts at the Piedmont Center for the Arts from July 24 to July 28 this summer. 

The festival is the only weeklong residency chamber music festival in the East Bay.

TICKETS

Ticket sales are heating up — Grab your seats now!BUY TICKETS online HERE.

Individual and season pass tickets are now available on the festival’s website, piedmontcmf.org.

CONCERT SCHEDULE

WEDNESDAY EVENING, July 24, 7:30 p.m.
Classical
We think of Mozart as “Mister Classical,” the composer who embodies the balance, poise, and grace of the Classical period. But we also know about his impish, irreverent side, which provided the magic for his works. On PCMF 2019’s opening concert, we couple Mozart’s radiant Grande Sestetto Concertante with Francis Poulenc’s neo-classical Violin Sonata, as well as Behzad Ranjbaran’s poetic Shiraz, a piece inspired by classical Persian culture, for a classical journey that will expand and challenge what you know about classical music.

Program & musicians

  • Francis Poulenc’s Violin Sonata: Charles Yang, violin and Juliana Han, piano.
  • Behzad Ranjbaran’s Shiraz will be performed by Yang, Han and cellist Clancy Newman.
  • Arranged for string sextet, Mozart’s Grande Sestetto Concertante in E-flat major, K. 364, will feature the Formosa Quartet, with Newman on cello and Nicholas Cords on viola.

FRIDAY EVENING, July 26, 7:30 p.m.
Not Classical

What we think of today as “classical music” is a tradition that originated in Western Europe, but later practitioners drew inspiration from outside of that cultural sphere. This concert highlights some of those influences, whether they are the flash of Mongolian horse hooves in Lei Liang’s Gobi Gloria, or the distinctly Andalusian sounds of Joaquín Turina’s lush Piano Quartet.

The second half of the program presents gems in the Western tradition from outside the Classical period. Orlando Gibbons’ beautiful madrigals are exemplars of Renaissance polyphony. Some 250 years later we meet Brahms in the Romantic period, where he is labeled a conservative for holding fast to classical principles while his contemporaries sought to break down traditions in form and harmony.

Program & musicians

  • Gobi Gloria by Lei Liang: Formosa Quartet
  • Joaquin Turina’s Piano Quartet in A minor, Op. 67: Charles Yang, violin; Nicholas Cords, viola; Clancy Newman, cello; and Juliana Han, piano.
  • Madrigals by Orlando Gibbons: Formosa Quartet with Nicholas Cords, viola
  • Brahms’ String Quintet in G major, Op. 111: Formosa Quartet with Nicholas Cords, viola

SUNDAY AFTERNOON, July 28, 4:00 p.m.
Pop

For PCMF 2019’s closing concert, the one-of-a-kind talents for which our guest artists are known are on full display, while our program cheekily explores the meanings of “pop” music.

  • The concert begins with a string quartet from the “pop” of the genre, Joseph Haydn, who first elevated the instrumentation into a refined art form. Hindemith’s emotionally soaring Viola Sonata is among the most popular works for viola and piano, and rightfully so. As a fitting conclusion, cellist Clancy Newman and violinist Charles Yang present the unique ways they have found to combine their classical training and popular mainstream influences.
  • The festival ends with a bang as Paul Schoenfield’s Cafe Music includes every popular music tradition, including jazz and klezmer.

Program & Musicians

  • Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 76 No. 6; Formosa Quartet
  • Viola Sonata, Op. 11 No. 4 by Paul Hindemuth; Nicholas Cords, viola and Juliana Han, piano.
  • Pop-Unpopped and other selections, with Clancy Newman, cello, and Charles Yang, violin
  • Cafe Music by Paul Schoenfield; Charles Yang, violin; Clancy Newman, cello; and Juliana Han, piano

TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW!

  • Tickets to all concerts are $30 General Admission and $15 for students. Tickets are available online at pcmf.org.
  • A season pass for all three concerts is $80, providing a $10 savings. 

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