Press Room
Chamber music from New York City’s Lincoln Center coming to Grand Rapids
Wednesday, February 01 2012
On Tuesday, St. Cecilia announced that David Finckel and Wu Han, co-directors of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, will organize St. Cecilia’s Chamber Music Series beginning this fall. “It’s going to put Grand Rapids on the world stage in music,” said St. Cecilia executive director Cathy Holbrook.
John von Rhein, classical music critic for the Chicago Tribune, last week referred to Finckel and Han, husband and wife, as “the busiest power couple in the chamber music world.” Finckel, a cellist, and Han, a pianist, together with violinist Phillip Setzer of the Emerson String Quartet, will appear Nov. 29 to open the 2012-13 St. Cecilia Chamber Series with piano trios by Johannes Brahms and Antonin Dvorak.
Next season’s three-concert series also will include an appearance by seven eminent musicians, including violinists Ani and Ida Kavafian, and pianists Gil Kalish and Anne-Marie McDermott in a wide-ranging program of music by Richard Strauss, Cesar Franck and Ned Rorem in February 2013. The third program, with musicians yet to be announced on April 11, will include such musical configurations as Dvorak’s Terzetto for Two Violins and Viola, Carl Maria von Weber’s Clarinet Quintet, and Ernst von Dohnayi’s Serenade in C major for Violin, Viola and Cello.
In a pre-recorded video, Finckel and Han said they feel a natural connection with St. Cecilia Music Center and its mission. “While many people in Grand Rapids have heard of Lincoln Center, not many of my musical colleagues have heard of St. Cecilia,” Finckel said. “This is an incredibly inspiring story of American culture.”
Finckel first appeared in St. Cecilia in 2008 with the Emerson String Quartet and was impressed by Royce Auditorium, the organization and the Grand Rapids audience.
He returned last April with Han during last season’s St. Cecilia Chamber Series. Afterward, the couple dropped hints they were interested in a longer relationship, Holbrook recalled. “David said to me, ‘I want you to think big. How can we help you?‘” she said.
Finckel and Han will plan programs tailored-made for Grand Rapids over a three-year relationship. Holbrook said St. Cecilia plans to keep ticket prices the same next year. But the organization will need to raise $120,000 over three years to underwrite the programs Finckel and Han will organize. Tapping into that network will make Grand Rapids better known in chamber music circles, Holbrook said. “I think it’s really going to elevate Grand Rapids as a cultural center,” she said.
Here’s a new video from The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center featuring David Finckel and Wu Han.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGYgCVcGEbU&feature=player_embedded
By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
