Press
A compelling conversation, set in motion by Elliott Carter
By Mike Greenberg - Incident Light publish date April 6, 2011
Why do some musical works last while others fade? There are lots of reasons, of course, but one doesn’t get enough notice: Some pieces are just more fun to play than others, and most musicians prefer fun over tedium. And if the music is fun to play, there’s a good chance it also will be rewarding to hear.
The members of the Vancouver-based Lafayette String Quartet seemed to be having a ball with Elliott Carter’s String Quartet No. 2 (1958-59), the centerpiece of a San Antonio Chamber Music Society concert that opened with Samuel Barber’s Quartet in B and closed with P.I. Tchaikovsky’s Quartet No. 3 in E-flat. Temple Beth-El was the venue for the April 3 concert.
Yo-Yo Ma encourages students to express themselves
By Cary Clack - San Antonio Express-News publish date April 5, 2011
Sitting in Sul Ross Middle School's library Friday morning and gently caressing his violin, Rico Rodriguez was excited yet, he admitted, "A little nervous." But by the time Yo-Yo Ma, the world-famous cellist, began stomping around the library like a monster and pretending that he was from Mars, Rodriguez and the rest of his school's orchestra were at ease.
Overnight: Yo-Yo Ma
By David Hendricks - San Antonio Express-News publish date April 1, 2011
The audience attending the Silk Road Ensemble concert Thursday night might never again see musicians having so much fun together on stage. Famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma led the party, and the sellout crowd eagerly joined in by clapping along during the magical tour of culturally blended musical expression.
From Fauré, a quartet worthy of limelight
By Mike Greenberg - Incident Light publish date March 8, 2011
The Ysaÿe Quartet of France brought some of the plushest string-quartet playing we’ve heard in years to a program of first-class works by Mozart, Fauré and Brahms, March 6 in Temple Beth-El for the San Antonio Chamber Music Society.
Oh what a GREAT concert!
By Jack Fishman - San Antonio Express-News publish date March 6, 2011
What a concert! Bravo to the San Antonio Chamber Music Society for bringing in the Quatuor Ysäye for a concert of Mozart, Fauré and Brahms on Sunday. While I wasn’t totally thrilled with the programming, the performance was a good as I’ve ever experienced. I just loved it!
Flavors of France in S.A. :
Multiweek festival to include film, food, art and music.
By Deborah Martin - San Antonio Express-News publish date February 6, 2011
The San Antonio French Cultures Festival — a far-reaching affair that will include films, food, Champagne, impressionism and chamber music — began life as a simple film festival.
“I was approached by the French department at UTSA because they wanted to put on a French film festival, and they wanted my help and ideas,” said James G. Lifshutz, a developer who is also the honorary consul of France in San Antonio. “Very quickly, they decided and I decided that there were other possible events to tie in to it and make a proper festival of it — not a huge festival, but a proper festival.
Cypress String Quartet with Amit Peled: Three great near-death experiences
By Mike Greenberg - Incident Light publish date January 31, 2011
Israeli cellist Amit Peled and the Cypress String Quartet collaborated in a program of late-in-life masterworks by three master composers, Jan. 30 for the San Antonio Chamber Music Society in Temple Beth-El.
Beethoven was represented by his compact final statement for string quartet, the one in F, Op. 135. Franz Schubert’s magnificent Cello Quintet in C was the closer. Mr. Peled opened the concert on his own with a revelation, Benjamin Britten’s Suite No. 3 for solo cello.
Conversation with Amit Peled
By David Abrams - Internet Cello Society publish date January-February 2007, Vol 13, number 1
Israeli cellist Amit Peled is forging an international career of the highest caliber both as a soloist and as an enthusiastic teacher. The American Record Guide hails him as "having the flair of the young Rostropovich" and he is one of the youngest cello professors ever to be appointed to a major conservatory in the United States (Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University).
Imani Winds: A whole world of music
By Mike Greenberg - Incident Light publish date November 16, 2010
Not that there isn’t plenty of life in the old stories, but it’s good to hear some new ones now and then, from different climes, with different points of view, told with verve and skill.
Enter the Imani Winds. First heard locally a few years ago in a memorable Carver Center concert joined by Paquito D’Rivera, the New York-based woodwind quintet made a very welcome return visit to town on Nov. 14, this time on the San Antonio Chamber Music Society series at Temple Beth-El.
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center: Music for five, played winningly by six
By Mike Greenberg - Incident Light publish date October 12, 2010
The San Antonio Chamber Music Society opened its 68th season, Oct. 10 in Temple Beth-El, with a visit by members of that other Chamber Music Society, the one attached to Lincoln Center in New York.
The program held late-in-life quintets by W.A. Mozart and Johannes Brahms and a youthful but altogether masterful quintet by Felix Mendelssohn.
Concert: Albers Trio
By Deborah Martin - San Antonio Express-News publish date May 16, 2009
The San Antonio Chamber Music Society wraps up its current season with the Albers Trio. The trio consists of three sisters — cellist Julie Albers, violist Rebecca Albers and violinist Laura Albers — who each began studying at age 2 with their mother, Ellie LeRoux. They will be performing Mozart's Divertimento in E-flat, Phillip Magnuson's “Little Suite for String Trio” and Heitor Villa-Lobos' String Trio.
Fine print: 3:15 p.m. Sunday, Temple Beth-El, 211 Belknap Place. $20. (210) 408-1558.
Concerts: San Antonio Chamber Music Society
By Ariel Barkhurst - San Antonio Express-News publish date March 11, 2009
The basics: The San Antonio Chamber Music Society strives to bring in musicians who are less well-known in the United States than Europe and elsewhere. Sunday, they'll do just that with Israel's Aviv String Quartet. Eileen Lundin, publicity chairwoman for the society, says that Aviv comes from a sound tradition of Russian Jewish music, so the sound should be lively and have a lot of soul. The ensemble will play pieces by Haydn, Beethoven and Shostakovich.
The fine print: Concert starts at 3:15 p.m. at Temple Beth-El, 211 Belknap Place. Tickets cost $20; students get in free; active-duty military, half-price. Call (210) 408-1558 or visit sacms.org.
Dear Editor
By Charles Malesky - San Antonio, Texas - January 20, 2009
Many thanks to the San Antonio Chamber Music Society for bringing the world acclaimed consort of violas “Fretwork” to San Antonio.
The concert last Sunday was a rare triple treat for classical music lovers. The all-baroque concert was rare because all-baroque concerts occur only once or twice a year in our city. Thus the all Purcell concert was even more rare because it is virtually impossible to hear any of Purcell’s music performed in San Antonio. And it was rare because a concert of consort of viola never occurs here.
It was a treat because the performance presented the concert at the highest level of professionalism and artistry. I hope that the Society will continue to bring such early music ensembles to our community.
Fretwork's viol concert to open chamber season
By Jennifer Roolf Laster - San Antonio Express-News publish date January 15, 2009
The San Antonio Chamber Music Society opens 2009 with a performance by Fretwork, a viol consort. And, no, you don't need to know what exactly a viol consort — or even a viol — is to enjoy the music. But we'll fill you in anyway.
Whimsy, sadness figure in quartet's musical lineup
By Jennifer Roolf Laster - San Antonio Express-News publish date November 11, 2008
Viola player Josef Kluson likens the longevity of the award-winning Prazak Quartet — which began in 1972 when its members were students at the Prague Conservatory — both to determination and the sheer realities of the passage of time.
Emerson Quartet concert, not surprisingly, world-class
By Jennifer Roolf Laster - San Antonio Express-News publish date September 29, 2008
When a group is as famous as The Emerson String Quartet, no one expects anything but a stellar performance. That’s just what they delivered at their Sunday afternoon concert in San Antonio. The quartet – violinists Philip Setzer and Eugene Drucker, violist Lawrence Dutton, and cellist David Finckel – offered up more than two hours of top-notch chamber music as the opening act of the San Antonio Chamber Music Society’s 66th season.
Busy quartet to perform in S.A.
By Jennifer Roolf Laster - San Antonio Express-News publish date September 26, 2008
In the world of classical music, it's hard to be bigger than the Emerson String Quartet. It's scored eight Grammys, maintained a 29-year residency at the Smithsonian Institution, released definitive recordings of quartet works by too many composers to list here and played to packed halls around the globe.
The string quartet and beyond
By Jennifer Roolf Laster - San Antonio Express-News publish date August 1, 2008
When the San Antonio Chamber Music Society first began bringing leading artists to the Alamo City for intimate concerts, the programming was pretty simple.
Chamber Music Society starts season with Enso quartet
San Antonio Express-News publish date Oct 4, 2007
San Antonio Symphony principal violist Allyson Dawkins was impressed when she heard the Enso String Quartet at Chamber Music America's annual conference in January in New York. "They blew everyone else out of the water," said Dawkins, also a member of the artist-selection committee for the San Antonio Chamber Music Society.
Concert Review: Ensemble smoothly delivers
San Antonio Express-News publish date March 19,2007
There is something to be said for sheer beauty of the sort the Borodin Quartet produced on Sunday for the San Antonio Chamber Music Society.
Concert Review: Norway quartet delivers beauty
By Mike Greenberg - San Antonio Express-News publish date Jan. 23, 2007
The excellent Vertavo String Quartet of Norway brought some old and new music from home, along with Franz Schubert's "Death and the Maiden," to the San Antonio Chamber Music Society on Sunday in Temple Beth-El.
Quartet: a thing of beauty
San Antonio Express-News publish date Nov. 17, 2006
"There's going to be beautiful music." That's what Jan Van den Hende, president of the San Antonio Chamber Music Society, predicts for Sunday's intimate concert with the venerable Vermeer String Quartet.
Top Ticket: Mendelssohn String Quartet w/Jonathan Biss
By Mike Greenberg - San Antonio Express-News publish date Nov. 21, 2004
If your head is big enough to hold your ears several miles apart, you can hear two promising concerts in stereo this afternoon. The San Antonio Chamber Music Society continues its season with the highly regarded Mendelssohn String Quartet and pianist Jonathan Biss - a pairing that also appeared recently at the prestigious Gilmore International Keyboard Competition in Michigan.
