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Clarinetist, Todd Palmer[/column]
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Pianist, Gail Niwa[/column]
When he was fourteen years old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart learned the Italian version of bowling or bocce, and it continued to be a favorite diversion for him until late in his life. He is said to have found musical inspiration in the clatter of the falling pins and wooden balls. It is believed by some that Mozart composed the Clarinet Trio in E-flat major “Kegelstatt” at an eighteen century version of the bowling alley or kegelstatt.
Mozart used his favorite musical instruments, the clarinet, viola and piano for the composition, so he was certainly more serious about the piece than he was about his bowling score on that day in August, 1786 when he wrote it.
On Sunday, March 26, Pianist, Gail Niwa, who has won high praise for her recent recitals in Orchestra Hall in Chicago, joins the Concordia Chamber Players for the first time this season. Todd Palmer, clarinetist, who thrilled the Concordia audience at the recent Mozart Birthday concert will perform the “Kegelstatt” with Niwa and popular violist, Dan Panner, Principal Violist for the New York City Opera.
Appropriately, Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in D major “the Lark” will open the concert on the first Sunday in spring. The lark theme and serenity of the melody is sure to usher in the season with a light-hearted and bouncy finale. Violinists, Peter Winograd, who recently recorded all of Mozart’s Quartets on the Musical Heritage Masters label with the American String Quartet and Caterina Szepes, first-prize winner of the Cleveland Institute of Music’s concerto composition, will be joined by Dan Panner, and Mark Kosower, cellist, winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant Award.
The program will conclude with Edward Elgar’s Piano Quintet in A minor. In this haunting, abstract composition, thought to be inspired by an early twentieth century occult novel, Niwa will be joined by Panner, Winograd, Szepes and Kosower.
The concert will begin at 3 PM in the Stephen Buck Theater at the New Hope-Solebury High School. Tickets are $20 and children under fifteen years of age are admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult.