St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble Begins 2011/2012 Chamber Series

Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) marks the beginning of the 2011/2012 season of its celebrated chamber music series with Kindred Spirits, a program of three Romantic trios that will be presented at Brooklyn Museum (Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 2PM) and The Morgan Library & Museum (Wednesday, October 19, 2011 and Friday, October 21, 2011 at 7:30PM).

Now in its 37th season, St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble will perform Johannes Brahms' Piano Trio No. 1, the first chamber work championed by Brahms' friend and elder Robert Schumann, and Märchenerzählungen ("Fairy Tales"), Schumann's final chamber piece, which was inspired by the music of young Brahms. To open the program, St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble will perform Beethoven's "Gassenhauer" trio as it was conceived for the composer's friend, clarinetist Joseph Beer.

St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble consists of 22 virtuoso artists who form the artistic core of OSL. This fascinating chamber program showcases the talents of the Ensemble's outstanding clarinetist and string players, and features guest pianist Benjamin Hochman-a recent recipient of a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant who made his debut with St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble last spring.

St. Luke's 2011/2012 chamber music series will continue with a program of Baroque music that reflects the influences and consequences of the music of J.S. Bach entitled Circling Bach (February 25, 29 and March 2, 2012). The final program of the series, Life Stories (April 28, May 2 and 4, 2012), will explore the inner worlds of two very different composers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ingram Marshall, through music that was inspired by friends and family.