The Mallarmé Chamber Players are proud to announce their 30th season of performances with an remarkable offering of baroque through contemporary repertoire, selected to represent the variety of outstanding chamber music for their 2013-14 Concert Series.
Cabaret singer Ellen Ciompi will sing American art songs from the 1930s and will help Mallarmé kick off its 30th with a champagne toast and birthday cake. Home-grown and internationally known violinist Jennifer Curtis and guitarist Matthew Slotkin, will perform virtuosic works in String Jam.
Partnerships with two choral groups, the Choral Society of Durham and the North Carolina Master Chorale, will offer two very different chamber choir masterpieces: Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore and a concert version Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas.
A collaboration with Helen Simoneau Danse will bring to the stage a new dance with contemporary choreography juxtaposed with a baroque sonata. Mallarmé will again present a concert on period instruments which includes baroque works and a première of a new chamber concerto written for period instruments by composer Stephen Jaffe. All performances will be skillfully presented by our flexible ensemble of the finest musicians North Carolina has to offer.
Mallarmé’s Gala House Concert will honor the memory of composer Dr. Robert Ward, who passed away last April. The performance will present works Mallarmé has commissioned over the last thirty years, including Dr. Ward’s 1991 work, Serenade for Mallarmé for flute, viola, cello and piano. The concert will be held at the Larson House in Durham, designed by architect Jon Condoret, with a living area specifically designed for chamber music presentations.
Mallarmé will present the second year of its new family concert series in partnership with Sarah P. Duke Gardens. Geared towards children ages 4-12 and their families, the two weekend concerts will be presented in coordination with other events at Duke Gardens to make for a multi-faceted family outing.
The North Carolina Historically Informed Performance (HIP) Music Festival will return, bigger and better in 2014. The festival will be expanded to almost three weeks, running from January 21 – February 7, with performances by Mallarmé, Aliénor, Baroque and Beyond, Duke Vespers Ensemble, Ensemble Vermillian and The Vivaldi Project and will include concerts in collaboration with Carolina Performing Arts and Duke Performances. A recorder workshop as well as a master class by baroque trumpeter John Thiessen will be offered. More information about the NC HIP Music Festival will be available in November.
As always, each concert takes place at a different venue around Durham, appropriate to the particular program, including Durham’s Casbah, the Front Room at the Cookery and the newly renovated Baldwin Auditorium.
Individual tickets and season subscription flex packages are on sale now. Flex packages will be made available until Sunday, September 15; individual tickets for all 2013-14 series concerts are available throughout the season by either calling the Mallarmé office at 919/560-2788 or ordering online at www.mallarmemusic.org/concerts.html. Full details for ordering tickets can be found on Mallarmé Chamber Players’ website: www.mallarmemusic.org.
MALLARMÉ CHAMBER PLAYERS 30TH SEASON – Co-produced by George Chandler
Sunday, September 15, 2013 at 3:00 PM | WEILL AND WILDER SONGBOOK
The Front Room at the Cookery – 1011 West Chapel Hill Street, Durham
$25 in advance, $30 at the door | $20 K-12 Educators | $10 Students
PROGRAM
Songs by Kurt Weill & Alec Wilder
Ray Jessell – “That Old Kurt Weill Song”
Alec Wilder – Clarinet Sonata
ARTISTS
Ellen Ciompi – soprano, Glenn Mehrbach – piano, Robbie Link – bass, Fred Jacobowitz – clarinet
TICKETS: www.mallarmemusic.org/concerts.html or 919/560-2788
Saturday, October 12, 2013 at 8:00 PM | STRING JAM
Casbah – 1007 West Main Street, Durham
$20 in advance, $25 at the door | $15 K-12 Educators | $5 Students
PROGRAM
Niccolò Paganini – Guitar Quartet No. 8 in A major
Radamés Gnattali – Sonata for Cello and Guitar
Mark O’Connor – Strings and Threads Suite
Jam session with Dex Romweber and Jennifer Curtis
ARTISTS
Jennifer Curtis – violin, Matthew Slotkin and Dex Romweber – guitar, Suzanne Rousso – viola
Nathan Leyland – cello
TICKETS: www.mallarmemusic.org/concerts.html or 919/560-2788
Sunday, February 2, 2014 at 3:00 PM | BAROQUE HIPSTERS
First Presbyterian Church – 305 East Main Street, Durham
$20 in advance, $25 at the door | $15 K-12 Educators | $5 Students
Mallarmé’s annual performance on period instruments presenting the music of J.S. Bach and other composers. Part of the North Carolina Historically Informed Performance (HIP) Music Festival.
PROGRAM
J.S. Bach – Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047
Stephen Jaffe – Chamber Concerto No. 3 world première
OTHER WORKS TBA
ARTISTS
John Thiessen – baroque trumpet, Geoffrey Burgess – baroque oboe, Frances Blaker – recorder
Elaine Funaro – harpsichord, Martha Perry and Leah Peroutka – baroque violin
Suzanne Rousso – baroque viola, Stephanie Vial – baroque cello, Robbie Link – violone
TICKETS: www.mallarmemusic.org/concerts.html or 919/560-2788
Sunday, March 2, 2014 at 3:00PM | CURIOUS COMMISSIONS
Reynolds Theatre, Bryan Student Center, Duke West Campus, 125 Science Drive, Durham
$20 in advance, $25 at the door | $15 K-12 Educators | $5 Students
PROGRAM
Baroque Work TBD, choreographed by Helen Simoneau
Manuel de Falla – Concerto for Harpsichord, Violin, Cello, Flute, Oboe, and Clarinet
Gian Carlo Menotti – The Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore for chorus and nine instrumentalists
ARTISTS
Elaine Funaro – harpsichord, Jacqui Carrasco – violin, Carla Burns – flute, Bo Newsome – oboe
Kevin Streich – clarinet, Michael Burns – bassoon
TICKETS: http://www.mallarmemusic.org/concerts.html or 919/560-2788
Monday, May 19, 2014 at 7:30 PM | PARTYING WITH PURCELL
Baldwin Auditorium, Duke East Campus, 1336 Campus Drive, Durham
Tuesday, May 20, 2014 at 7:30 PM
Hayes Barton United Methodist Church, 2209 Fairview Road, Raleigh
$20 advance, $25 at the door | $15 K-12 Educators | $5 Students (tickets good for either performance)
PROGRAM
The music of Henry Purcell played on period instruments:
Gordian Knot Unty’d, “Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem”
Dido and Aeneas (concert version)
ARTISTS
North Carolina Master Chorale Chamber Choir, Alfred E. Sturgis – conductor
Elizabeth Field and Eric Pritchard – baroque violin, Suzanne Rousso – baroque viola
Stephanie Vial – baroque cello, Robbie Link – violone, William Thauer – baroque oboe
TICKETS: http://www.mallarmemusic.org/concerts.html or 919/560-2788
Saturday, April 5, 2014 at 7:30 PM | GALA HOUSE CONCERT – SERENADE FOR MALLARMÉ
Larson House, residence of Donald Beskind and Wendy Robineau in Durham
$75 (includes reception)
PROGRAM
Music commissioned by Mallarmé during their 30 year history including Dr. Robert Ward’s Serenade for Mallarmé from 1991.
TICKETS: http://www.mallarmemusic.org/concerts.html or 919/560-2788
FAMILY CONCERT SERIES @ DUKE GARDENS – Sponsored by Mark and Cindy Kuhn
Kirby Horton Hall, Sarah P. Duke Gardens, 420 Anderson Street, Durham
$5 for children 12 and under | $10 adults
- Saturday, October 5, 2013 at 12:30 pm | PINOCCHIO
- Sunday, April 6, 2014 at 12:30 pm | MEET THE COMPOSER
TICKETS: http://www.mallarmemusic.org/concerts.html or 919/560-2788
ABOUT MALLARMÉ CHAMBER PLAYERS
The Mallarmé Chamber Players are a flexible ensemble of professional musicians based in Durham, North Carolina, whose mission is to enrich the lives of their community through outstanding chamber music. The ensemble distinguishes itself by its innovative educational programs, its commitment to creative collaboration with other organizations, its creation of significant new work and its dedication to serve a diverse population.
Mallarmé annually presents a series of five concerts that features great, diverse, and multidisciplinary chamber music. Mallarmé performs everything from Bach with period instruments to brand new works. In this past year alone, Mallarmé has presented two world premières by composers Gwyneth Walker and Katrina Wreede. In 2010, Mallarmé released a cd on Albany/Videmus records of chamber music by African American composers to great acclaim.
Mallarmé is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization. The 2013-14 concert season is made possible in part by grants from the Durham Arts Council’s Annual Arts Fund, the North Carolina Arts Council and Target.