The chamber stages of downtown LA are alive midweek with the sounds of ivory. Pianists Norman Krieger and Robert Edward Thies join members of the LA Phil Tuesday night at Disney Hall, while across the street at the same hour, local pianist and champion of new music Vicki Ray teams up with the Eclipse Quartet. Wednesday night don’t miss hearing extraordinary French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard visiting Disney Hall performing his very informed Messiaen, along with Ravel and Chopin.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Chamber Music Concert
Pianists Norman Krieger and Robert Edward Thies join members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Tuesday evening on stage at Walt Disney Concert Hall for a performance of chamber music by Martinu, Nielsen, and Dvorák.
Carl Nielsen’s iconic wind quintet has no piano, but the suggestive, familiar sound is always comfortable, and you are sure to enjoy this distinctively Nielsen quintet.
Program: (artist biographies)
• Bohuslav Martinu: Trio for flute, cello and piano, with Catherine Karoly (flute), Jonathan Karoly (cello) and Norman Krieger (piano)
• Carl Nielsen: Wind Quintet in A Major, Op.43, with Sarah Jackson (flute), Anne Gabriele (oboe), Monica Kaenzig (clarinet), Shawn Mouser (bassoon), and Bruce Hudson (horn)
• Dvorák: Piano Trio in F Minor, Op.65, with Shelley Bovyer (violin), Barry Gold (cello), and Robert Edward Thies (piano)
Tuesday, Nov. 30, 8 p.m.
Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., LA
Tickets: $61.25, $41.75, $33. For information, call (323) 850-2000.
Piano Spheres
Also on Tuesday evening, and just across the street at the Zipper Concert Hall, find pianist Vicki Ray and the Eclipse Quartet playing Morton Feldman’s 1985 composition for Piano and String Quartet.
Vicky Ray is well known in Southern California as a member of Piano Spheres since 1994, and as a performer with the E.A.R. Unit and XTET. Sara Parker and Sarah Thornblade (violins), Alma Fernandez (viola), and Maggie Parkins (cello) are the members of the Eclipse Quartet, a new-music ensemble dedicated to performance of late-20th-century and present-day composers.
Tuesday, Nov. 30, 8 p.m.
Zipper Concert Hall at the Colburn School, 200 S. Grand Ave., LA
Tickets: $25 / $12 students
Los Angeles Philharmonic Colburn Celebrity Series
French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, visiting Disney Hall Wednesday evening, is expert with Messiaen’s work, having met him at age 12, and studied with his wife, Yvonne Loriod. After winning first prize at the Messiaen Competition, Pierre Boulez asked him to join his influential Ensemble InterContemporain. Aimard is noted for the breadth of his repertoire, and this program is a fine example, including Messiaen, Ravel, and Chopin.
• Messiaen: Preludes
• Ravel: Miroirs
• Chopin: Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Op.60
• Chopin: Scherzo No.2 B-flat Minor, Op.31
Wednesday, Dec. 1, 8 p.m
Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., LA
Tickets: $23.75 to $109
For an extensive calendar of chamber music happening all around Southern California, see Jim Eninger’s Clickable Chamber Music Newsletter.