Boston Chamber Music Society at MIT: Fauré Centennial

As part of the MIT Artfinity Arts Festival and the inaugural season in the Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building at MIT, BCMS performs two early works by Fauré—the Violin Sonata No. 1 in A Major and the Piano Quartet No. 1 in C Minor—marking the centenary of his death, alongside Loeffler's evocative Two Rhapsodies of 1898.

Program

Gabriel FAURÉ: Sonata No. 1 in A Major for Violin and Piano, Op. 13

Charles Martin LOEFFLER: Two Rhapsodies for Oboe, Viola, and Piano (1898)

Gabriel FAURÉ: Piano Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 15

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Featured musicians

Peggy Pearson, oboe; Jennifer Frautschi, violin; Marcus Thompson, viola; Raman Ramakrishnan, violoncello; Max Levinson, piano

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Fauré's Violin Sonata No. 1 premiered successfully in 1877, earning praise from his mentor Saint-Saëns: "In this sonata you can find everything to tempt a gourmet: new forms, excellent modulations, unusual tone colors, and the use of unexpected rhythms... a magic floats above everything."

In the Two Rhapsodies, dedicated to two Boston Symphony Orchestra wind players, Loeffler reimagined his earlier settings of Maurice Rollinat's symbolist poetry.

Fauré's Piano Quartet in C Minor features a Brahmsian Allegro, followed by a vibrant Scherzo with string pizzicato highlighting the piano. The melancholic Adagio brightens occasionally before a spirited finale that recalls earlier themes.

This concert is presented by the Office of the Arts at MIT and MTA as part of Artfinity: A celebration of creativity and community at MIT.

Boston Chamber Music Society

Marcus A. Thompson, Artistic Director

The Boston Chamber Music Society, BCMS, is an ensemble of superb musicians who come together in different combinations to prepare and perform chamber music. Since its founding in 1982, BCMS has built a reputation for impassioned performances, ripened over time by the long personal and professional histories of its member musicians. BCMS invites guest artists, chosen for their particular affinity for the works they will play, to join its members, expanding the artistic possibilities to virtually all works in the chamber music repertoire.

BCMS’s mission is to provide the public with exceptional performances of chamber music repertoire from the Baroque era to the present day while fostering understanding and appreciation of the art form, making it more accessible to all.

BCMS presents the longest-running chamber music series and is distinguished for its enduring performance standards in Boston’s musically fertile region. In addition to its monthly concerts at Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre, BCMS has performed in multiple neighborhood venues in the greater Boston area, toured nationally and internationally, and issued critically acclaimed recordings under its own label.

Beyond the concert stage, BCMS musicians offer open rehearsals and masterclasses to students from educational institutions at various levels, and coach participants of all ages in the annual chamber music workshop to deepen their enthusiasm for the genre. Its hybrid fellowship program in cooperation with the New England Conservatory’s Entrepreneurial Musicianship department engages young musicians to serve as interns in the office to learn the basic inner workings of running an ensemble or concert series and to perform with the ensemble in concerts and community events. The BCMS Teaching Artist Program at the Somerville High School provides the SHS String Orchestra students weekly coaching as well as free access to its concerts.

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