The newly renamed East Aurora Chamber Music Festival (EACMF) has begun its traditional series of four concerts, as in the past at St. Matthias’ Episcopal Church (kitty corner across Main from the Roycroft campus) and as usual each of the four nights featured and will feature a variety of ensembles performing for the most part “Classical Top 40” chamber works. That is, music for small groups, performed in an intimate setting, one player to a part, trios, quartets, quintets. And it’s often the “one player to a part” aspect that attracts both audiences and performers whose “day job” is often in a large orchestra.
Friday June 6th, the concert titled “Short Stories” opened with a recent discovery of a work by a teenaged Mozart that was “lost” for about 250 years – his “Ganz Kleine Nachtmusik” (”Quite a little night music”). Not the more famous “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” this “Ganz” has seven miniature movements, lasting about 12 minutes in all. It was found in 2024 in the Leipzig municipal libraries and the first public performance was just this last September. Unknown Mozart! You don’t get that everyday.
The work begins with a charming March, and the rapid second movement sounded a bit like Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C, no surprise since the older Haydn and the younger Mozart were friends who often played string quartets together. Haydn’s influence on Mozart’s string writing was profound; later Mozart dedicated a set of quartets to him; and Haydn wrote to Mozart’s father: “I tell you before God, and as an honest man, that your son is the greatest composer known to me in person or by name.” Programming this work to kick off the four evening series was a class act.
The musicians, each of whom you’ve seen on stage at Kleinhans performing with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra were the BPO’s new Assistant Concertmaster Anton Shelepov, with violinist Amy Licata, and cellist Eva Herer (also co-artistic director of the EACMF), all three expert and lifelong performers of chamber music.
Having the world-class Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra provides a number of local chamber music series with a solid core of musical talent. Throughout the year, in addition to this East Aurora series, you’ll also hear these folks play with the Camerata di Sant’Antonio at St. Anthony’s Church, the Friends of Vienna at Unity Church, or the Buffalo Chamber Players at the church now called Asbury Hall (a.k.a. “Babeville”). Mentioning the BCP, founded by BPO violist Janz Castelo de Armas, brings us to the second work on the opening concert, featuring five players you’ll often hear at Asbury Hall.
The celebrated English Hornist with the BPO, Anna Mattix, got back to her original instrument for the Oboe Quintet by turn of the 20th century British composer Arnold Bax. Usually, with wind instruments, the word quintet means a wind instrument plus a string quartet, and here that included violinists Loren Silvertrust and Shieh-Jian Tsai violins, violist Castelo, and cellist Herer. At Kleinhans, you might not notice Silvertrust and Tsai who sit towards the back of their respective sections quietly doing their jobs. But, let the light shine on them in a chamber music concert, and OMG! It’s a revelation.
Before the piece, Mattix told the audience that when she started learning the oboe at age 10, a big treat was to go to Borders Books, back to the CD racks, to look through their oboe music section (yes, she said, they did have a separate oboe section) where she discovered, among other musical delights, the Bax Oboe Quintet, so it was sort of a “bucket list” item for her to play this at a concert. The oboe’s haunting voice was perfect for this particularly modern piece by the composer of the mystical magical “Tintagel” if you know that work.
The third and final piece on the opening concert was an arrangement by Roland Kato, principal viola of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, of Maurice Ravel’s ever popular “Mother Goose Suite” for a Schubert Trout-Quintet-styled group: Amy Licata, violin; Bob Donowick, viola; Sarah Markle (originally from East Aurora), cello; Taddes Korris, double bass; and Mariko Kaneda, piano (also co-artistic director of the East Aurora Chamber Music Festival). It was a fun performance, including bassist Korris reaching over and hitting the open strings of the piano, for a bizarre percussion effect.
I have written before that the BPO is a gift that keeps on giving, and it keeps on giving us many wonderful musicians who like to moonlight playing chamber music. Yes, for them it’s a paying gig, but playing chamber music is also a labor of love, where each voice is exposed and you’re always on your toes. I imagine some people like to free climb up a rock wall; some like to race motorcycles; some like to do woodworking with power tools; all activities where a momentary lapse in concentration can mean disaster. As Karl Wallenda, the legendary high-wire artist, famously said: “Life is on the wire, the rest is just waiting.”
And you, dear reader, won’t have long to wait for the second concert, performed this Sunday, June 8th at 7:30 pm entitled “Highs and Lows,” which will include 3 pieces: Rossini’s “Sonata for Strings No. 3 in C Major,” Jean Cras’ exuberant “Suite en Duo for Flute and Harp” (featuring Natalie Scanio and Madeline Olson both recently seen at Friends of Vienna), and Arensky’s haunting “String Quartet in A minor, Op. 35” (a beautiful elegiac work in memory of Tchaikovsky).
The third concert, Friday, June 13 at 7:30 pm, entitled “Vive La France,” will include Faure’s passionate Piano Quartet No. 2, op. 45 in G minor and Saint-Saens’ delightful Septet Op. 65 for Trumpet, Piano and Strings, featuring my favorite trumpeter, Geoff Hardcastle. These are, in my opinion, “Classical Top 40” can’t miss pieces.
And the final concert Saturday, Jun 14 at 7:30 pm, titled “in the Middle of the Harmony” will be totally devoted to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, and will feature Brandenburg No. 6, BWV 1051, the concerto for Two Violins BWV 1043 and his Keyboard Concerto in F minor BWV 1056. We hear a lot of Bach on the radio, but this is a rare chance to hear it the way it was intended…live!
There’s also a concert for younger audiences (with cookies!) at the East Aurora Public Library on Main Street, Thursday, June 12 at 6:00 pm. And speaking of young people, each of the four regular concert nights, at 7:00 there are pre-concert performances by students from area high schools with each group mentored by an EACMF musician. These are the professional performers of tomorrow. June 6th had a charming flute quartet (in this case four flutes) from East Aurora High School taught by Paula O’Connor and mentored by Anna Mattix playing music by Holst. Sunday June 8 at 7pm will feature students from Iroquois High School taught by Lucyanne Gordon, mentored by Amy Glidden, with music from Dvorak’s Quartet #12 (the “American” Quartet). Friday June 13 will have students from Orchard Park High School, taught by Alex Safford, mentored by Loren Silvertrust, with the “Allegro Comodo” rondo by Beethoven (piano music arranged by F. Hermann). And the final concert will begin with students from East Aurora High School, taught by Alissa Iorio, mentored by Eva Herer, in the finale to Haydn’s String Quartet, Op. 33 “The Bird” a light and humorous work.
All East Aurora Chamber Music Festival concerts will be at East Aurora’s historic St. Matthias’ Episcopal Church 341 Main Street, East Aurora NY 14052 at the corner of Main and Maple Streets in East Aurora. After the student performance at 7:00 all concerts will begin at 7:30 pm and will run without intermission for about an hour and a half. Tickets are available at The Roycroft Inn, The Powerhouse (on the Roycroft Campus), Elm Street Bakery and Tops, E. Aurora, or by mail or at the door. Advance Sale $15, At the Door $20, Student (with ID) $10. Download the combo brochure/mail-in ticket order form to purchase tickets by check or credit card.