The Frick Collection, celebrating its seventy-fifth anniversary this year, presents a new season of classical music concerts in the elegant setting of the Music Room. Built in 1935 as part of the transformation of the mansion into a museum and the setting for concerts since 1938, the Music Room conveys the atmosphere of a private salon. A New York Times critic describes the spectacular setting of the Music Room as "probably the best place in New York to hear chamber music. It is certainly the most authentic - where music of the repertory was written to be played."
During its distinguished history, the concert program has been host to major soloists and ensembles, such as the Budapest and Guarneri string quartets, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Wanda Landowska, Artur Schnabel, William Kapell, Jean-Pierre Rampal, András Schiff, Kiri Te Kanawa, Sir Peter Pears, Kathleen Battle, Mitsuko Uchida, and Jordi Savall. Among those who have made their New York recital debut are Wolfgang Holzmair, Ian Bostridge, Matthias Goerne, Kate Royal, Felicity Lott, Il Giardino Armonico and Nikolai Demidenko.
The 2010/2011 series showcases exceptional musical talent from all over the world. New York debuts this season's include internationally acclaimed artists Ensemble 415; award winning Argentinean pianist Nelson Goerner; Doric String Quartet (Great Britain), 2008 winners of the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan; internationally recognized Canadian tenor Colin Balzer; four time Diapason d'Or awards for recordings recipients, Diotima Quartet (France); and American artists Les Délices, named by Bernard Gordillo of NPR's Harmonica as "one of the top ten early music discoveries of 2009."
Critically acclaimed as a soloist, chamber musician and conductor, Austrian violinist Thomas Zehetmair, concludes the 2010/2011 season with a return engagement, twenty-one years after making his New York debut at the Frick.
In addition to the regular concert series, the Frick will this year present two special musical evenings in conjunction with Close Encounters with Music, based in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. These events will weave together exceptional performances with commentary relating to musical experiences in the mansion during Henry Clay Frick's lifetime.
2010/2011- Upcoming Performances
Sunday evenings at 5:00pm
2010
October 10 Ensemble 415, 2 violins, 2 violas, cello, harpsichord
Bach, Albinoni, Muffat, Sammartini, Albicastr
October 24 Nelson Goerner, piano
Chopin, Schubert, Schumann, Beethoven
November 14 Doric String Quartet
Haydn, Korngold, Schubert
December 12 Colin Balzer, tenor
Haydn, Schubert Britten
2011
January 16 Diotima Quartet
Onslow, Janá?ek, Ravel
February 20 Gören Söllscher, guitar
Bach, Weiss, Lennon-McCartney, Dowland
March 13 John O'Conor, piano
Haydn, Field, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Beethoven
April 3 Kandinsky Trio, violin, viola, cello
Krommer, Webern, Mozart
May 1 Les Délices, violin, baroque oboe, viola da gamba, harpsichord
In the Apartments of Louis XIV - Lully, Philidor, Marais, D'Anglebert
May 22 Thomas Zehetmair, violin (solo)
Bach, Hartmann
SPECIAL PERFORMANCES AT THE FRICK COLLECTION
Tickets are $50 each.
For tickets and information, please visit www.frick.org or call 212-547-0696.
A GILDED AGE EVENING IN NEW YORK
Tuesday, October 16, 2010, 7:30 p.m.
Lydia Artymiw, piano; Yehonatan Berick, violin; Yehuda Hanani, cello
Richard Chamberlain, special guest
Not only a great connoisseur of fine art, the industrialist Henry Clay Frick was a music enthusiast. He supported emerging enterprises (among them, the Pittsburgh Orchestra and New York's People's Symphony Concerts) and enjoyed warm relations with leading musical figures of his day such as Pablo Casals, Saint-Saëns, and Fritz Kreisler. With Dvo?ák's Dumky Trio, Saint-Saëns' Rondo Capriccioso, and music by Handel and Gounod, this program celebrates Frick's lesser known passion surrounded by his fabled art. Actor Richard Chamberlain helps recreate a Gilded Age evening with readings from Frick family diaries and period accounts.
CHOPIN IN PARIS
Tuesday, March 29, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Jeffrey Swann, piano; Jennifer Rivera, mezzo-soprano; Yehuda Hanani, cello
The European salon was alive and well as Henry Clay Frick and his family made frequent trips to Paris from the 1880's until the outbreak of World War I. With gusto and finesse, they re-created these intimate evenings of music and letters back home, entertaining statesmen and financiers as well as harpists, organists, and visiting soloists. This program is a toast to intimacy and to the salon with Chopin's Ballades, Waltzes and Polonaises, and the poignant cello sonata - framed by works of his contemporaries, including his friendly rival Franz Liszt. Jennifer Rivera brings her vocal luster to arias by Donizetti and Bellini, whose operas influenced Chopin's bel canto style, and to his rarely heard Polish songs.
