Meeting House Chamber Music Festival, a Cape Cod Treasure, to Open Sunday, June 22

The outstanding Rumanian violinist Irina Muresanu was the featured soloist when the Meeting House Chamber Music Festival opened its forty-first season on Sunday, June 22, at Highfield Hall in Falmouth, MA.

The festival—one of the Cape’s traditional summer delights—will include a total of six captivating programs through the end of July. Its musical gems are mined from around the world, and across the ages, by the festival’s founder and resident pianist, Donald Enos. Mr. Enos is a highly distinguished musician in his own right, and holds the position of Wesley DeLacy Chair in Perpetuity with the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra.

The centerpiece of the opening concert was Irina Muresanu’s Four Strings around the World, a spellbinding musical tour of periods and styles. Playing in the fierce and mesmerizing style for which she is known, Muresanu served up a dazzling array of short works in quick succession, all the more impactful in the intimate chamber music setting. At one or the other opening performance, delightful surprises Muresanu includes works by Bach, Paganini, and other classical composers, Rumanian and Irish folk songs, Indian, Persian, and Chinese music, tangos, American country music and more.

The concert opened with a work by the minimalist composer Arvo Pärt, setting up a skillful contrast with the lush and energetic workthat follows. Pärt’s Mozart-Adagio Trio includes a transcription of the slow movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in F major (K 280). The brilliant twentieth-century composer Arvo Pärt studied music from the age of seven amidst oppression and artistic censorship in his native Estonia, the former Soviet republic, and rose to become one of the world’s foremost composers of classical and sacred music.

The concluding work of the concert was Beethoven’s Piano Trio in B-flat major, Op. 97 (“Archduke”).
Dedicated to Beethoven’s patron and student Archduke Rudolph of Austria, this work is considered by many scholars to be the greatest piano trio in the entire classical repertoire.

Mr. Enos and Ms. Muresanu were joined in this performance by cellist Karen Ouzounian. Ms. Ouzounian has performed as chamber musician, recitalist and soloist throughout North America and Europe. She has been described as a “radiant cellist” and praised in The New York Times for her “rich tone.”

The Meeting House Chamber Music Festival’s five additional concerts in July also bear the trademark of its founder’s artistic direction. “What distinguishes us,” explains Mr. Enos, “is that we create a moving, and often exciting, experience for our audiences--- not only for our long-time fans, but also for people experiencing chamber music for the first time. We find that they are surprised, and even thrilled, to see the full range of exposed emotion that is possible with chamber music.”

General admission is $20, and a six-concert season ticket is $90. Students under 18 are admitted free.

The Season Ahead

The five subsequent concerts in the series feature outstanding soloists from around the country, as well as several of the finest professional musicians from the region. Great works by such composers as Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Ravel, Debussy, and Rodrigo will be presented, with instruments ranging from violin, cello, and piano to French horn, viola, harp, and oboe. The concert on July 21 will include the Chatham Chorale Chamber Singers, Joseph Marchio, Director.

Concert programs and dates are:

Monday, June 30, 8 pm, Church of the Holy Spirit, Orleans, MA

"Harmonious Winds"

Rosetti – Concerto for Two Horns

Carl Nielsen – Two Fantasy Pieces

Trios by Mozart and Herzogenberg

Lee Wadenpfuhl – horn; Tiffany Damicone – horn; Elizabeth Doriss – oboe; Donald Enos – piano

Sunday, July 6, 8 pm, Church of the Holy Spirit, Orleans, MA

Handel – Concerto for Solo Harp

Diversions from France & Spain

Music of Ravel, Debussy, Caplet, Salzedo and Rodrigo

Elisabeth Remy Johnson – harp; Donald Enos – piano