In recent years, OPA’s Chamber Music Festival has featured an on-going partnership with Boston Chamber Music, which every year puts together a special ensemble for the Ogunquit concerts, unique to OPA.
The players this year include Omar Chen Guey, violin, Peter Sulski, violin, Noriko Futagami, viola, and David Russell, cello – three of whom have played for OPA before, with Ms. Futagami making her Ogunquit debut.
The Program:
Boston Chamber Music’s program this year will feature Haydn’s String Quartet No. 63 in B♭major, Op. 76, No. 4, (the Sunrise Quartet), a piece which evokes the rising of the sun and the stirring awakening of nature. It was selected by Boston Chamber Music as a fitting tribute to the Marginal Way Centennial, which this year marks 100 years since the deed of gift of the scenic cliff walk to the town of Ogunquit by Josiah Chase.
The Haydn quartet is nicknamed “Sunrise” due to the rising theme over sustained chords that begins the quartet, and is perhaps the most magical in all Haydn. Featuring rising themes throughout, it combines earthiness with sophisticated development, blending Hungarian or Balkan folk music with the composer’s natural elegance.
BCM’s program will also include Mozart’s Quartet in Eb Major, K. 171 (the Viennese). Written in 1773, the quartet represents a considerable advance from Mozart’s previous works and reflects the influence of Haydn.
Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums), a haunting lovely elegy written by Giacomo Puccini in 1890 in tribute to the late Amadeo I of Spain. Puccini later incorporated the beautiful, tragic melodies of this short piece into his first successful opera, Manon Lescaut.
Mendelssohn’s Quartet in Eb Major, Op. 12 concludes the program. This masterfully composed quartet of 1829, while still echoing the influence of Beethoven, features stylistic and lyrical departures from that influence as Mendelssohn continued to develop as a composer.
The Players:
Violinist Omar Chen Guey
Violinist Omar Chen Guey has performed as soloist, in recitals and chamber concerts throughout his native Brazil, the US, Europe, Asia and Africa. He is a prizewinner at both Tibor Varga and Lipizer International Violin Competitions. A faculty member of Dartmouth College, he is the assistant concertmaster of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, a member of the Boston Ballet and the New England Camerata Trio.
Violist Noriko Futagami
Violist Noriko Futagami performs with some of the area’s most celebrated ensembles. She is a member of the Radius Ensemble, as well as working with the Boston Musica Viva, Emmanuel Music, Cantata Singers, and Winsor Music on a regular basis. She holds permanent positions in the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and Rhode Island Philharmonic, and is principal violist for Albany Symphony.
Violinist Peter Sulski
Violinist Peter Sulski was a member of the London Symphony Orchestra for seven years. While in England, he served on the faculty of the Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music and Drama, as well as serving as Artistic Director of Chapel Royal Concerts which he founded in 1993. For seven years he gave the annual Viola Masterclass, as well as many performances at the Dartington International Summer School. He made his Carnegie Hall Debut in 1999.
Cellist David Russell
Cellist David Russell was hailed as a “superb cellist” in the Boston Globe, and maintains a vigorous schedule both as soloist and as collaborator in the U.S. and Europe. He was appointed to the teaching faculty of Wellesley College in 2005 and currently serves as Director of Chamber Music. He is a regular performer with several Boston-area ensembles such as Emmanuel Music and Cantata Singers and Ensemble, and served as Principal Cello with Opera Boston from 2005-2011.
Join us for this final chamber music concert of the season, as these wonderful artists bring this superlative program to Ogunquit audiences!