The Port Townsend Chamber Music Festival’s Joseph F. Wheeler Celebration Series, presented by Centrum, opens on Sunday, October 23 at 2 p.m. with a performance in Wheeler Theater featuring members of the Rossetti String Quartet, joined by festival artistic director Lucinda Carver on piano. The program includes Haydn’s “Gypsy” Trio in G Major, Fauré’s Sonata in A Major for Violin and Piano, and the Brahms Op. 25 Piano Quartet in G Minor. Individual seats are available now, as well as subscription tickets to all three concerts in the series, which include preferred same seat selection and a 20% savings over individual tickets. Concertgoers are invited to meet the performers at a reception at Fort Worden’s USO building, immediately following the performance.
The Sunday, October 23 performance features members of the Rossetti String Quartet, including Henry Gronnier on violin, Thomas Diener on viola, and Eric Gaenslen on violoncello, joined by Lucinda Carver on piano. Gronnier performed the works of Schumann, Brahms, Schubert and Mozart with Lucinda Carver and soprano Camille King in June at the Wheeler Theater, as part of the festival preview performance for the 2011-2012 Port Townsend Chamber Music Festival.
The Rossetti String Quartet was co-founded in 1996 by Gronnier and Diener, and named after 19th century pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, whose artistic ideals about the use of color, poetry, and naturalism are embodied in the Quartet’s musicianship. Recent appearances include a tour in the Netherlands with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall during its inaugural season, and the University Musical Society at the University of Michigan.
The Port Townsend Chamber Music Festival’s Joseph F. Wheeler Series honors the late Joseph F. Wheeler, Founding Director of Centrum, and continues the tradition of chamber music in the shoulder season that was established by Wheeler and Centrum Board member Leah Hammer.
The October 23 performance is dedicated to the late Frank Dameron, longtime Centrum supporter, who passed away in December, 2010. “Frank was the epitome of graciousness and charm and will be missed by his many neighbors and friends here in Port Townsend and the region,” said Centrum Executive Director John MacElwee. “Frank loved chamber music, and this is a concert he would have enjoyed.”
Tickets are available now at the Centrum website at www.centrum.org, or by phone at 800.746.1982 between the hours of 9 AM and 4 PM, PST, Monday through Saturday, or between the hours of 6 AM and noon on Sunday (a processing fee applies).