The Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle Presents "Whose Turn? Whose Tune"?

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle presents “Whose Turn? Whose Tune?” on Sunday, November 2, at 2:00 p.m. in Olin Hall on the Bard College campus. The family concert features Madalyn Parnas, violin; Cicely Parnas; cello, and Babette Hierholzer, piano. No reservations are necessary; seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

The “Whose Turn? Whose Tune?” program includes fiddle tunes and tangos by Astor Piazzolla; Franz Schubert’s “Arpeggione” Sonata; Antonín DvoÅ™ák’s “Dumky” piano trio; George Frideric Handel and Johan Halvorsen’s Passacaglia; Dmitri Kabalevsky’s Cello Concerto; and Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3. These excerpts provide a variety of melodies and harmonies from composers of diverse geographical and ethnic perspectives. The goal is to present a rich and interesting—and fun—array of generally classical music “tunes.”

About the Performers:

The Parnas Duo—17-year-old violinst Madalyn Parnas and her sister, 15-year-old cellist Cicely Parnas—was awarded first prize in the 2008 International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition at Weill Recital Hall, and has been featured in numerous national and regional magazines, and national and local radio broadcasts. This season, the duo will perform with distinguished pianist Peter Serkin in a program of piano trios, and in concert in the Grand Montgomery Chamber Music Series, Renaissance Musical Arts Chamber Series, and the Massry Center for the Arts, among others. Their performances include a wide range of double concerti with orchestra and an ever-expanding repertoire of duo literature, as well as piano and string trios, quartets, and more as they collaborate with other accomplished musicians. In early 2008, celebrating their tenth year of joint performance, the Parnas sisters released their debut CD, Parnas Double: Duos for Violin and Cello. Madalyn’s violin was created in Saluzzo in 1687 by luthier Gioffredo Cappa, and Cicely plays a violoncello crafted by William Forster in 1790.

Seven-time Steinway Piano Competition winner Babette Hierholzer made her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1978. Hierholzer has performed extensively as a chamber musician and in recital, as well as with orchestras in Europe, the United States, South America, and Africa. In 1986, she made her American debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony, playing the Liszt Piano Concerto No. l. Other engagements have included the Philharmonic Orchestra Kiel, Hamburg Symphonic Orchestra, Nordwest-deutschen Philharmonic, Orquestra Sinfonica Bilbao, Festival International de Bordeaux, Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile, among others. Hierholzer has made a number of recordings with Marus/EMI Electrola, performing works by Schumann, Couperin, Debussy, Mozart, and Scarlatti. Her most recent releases were a CD of posthumous works of Franz Schubert, and Schumann’s Kinderszenen. She performed the soundtrack and the double/stand-in role for Clara Wieck in Peter Schamoni’s movie Spring Symphony, about the life of Robert Schumann.

The Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle, an association of chamber music lovers that is celebrating its 58th season, was founded by Helen Huntington Hull and two friends from Staatsburg, New York. They enlisted the help of violinist Emil Hauser, then a member of the Bard College faculty and original first violinist of the Budapest Quartet, to invite the best musicians of the time to perform at the Mills and Vanderbilt Mansions. In 1979, the concert series became a program of The Bard Center. The HVCMC continues to attract many of the world’s preeminent chamber music artists. In 2000, Sharon Robinson and Jaime Laredo assumed artistic directorship of the chamber music series.

This event was last updated on 10-27-2008

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