At Centrum, creativity and learning are one.  The Centrum Port Townsend Chamber Music Series exists to showcase the brilliant talent of many of the world’s finest classical artists along with the top echelon of most promising young talents in the field today. The intimacy and warmth of the Joseph F. Wheeler Theater at Fort Worden State Park provides an ideal venue for our dynamic performances and master classes.

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Hermitage Piano Trio

“…three of Russia’s most spectacular young soloists…a performance of such power and sweeping passion that it left you nearly out of breath.”
– The Washington Post

Sunday, October 30, 2016
2pm, Joseph F. Wheeler Theater
Sponsored by Renate Wheeler

Suk – Elegie, Op. 23
Mendelssohn – Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66
Glinka – Trio Pathetique
Shostakovich – Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67

Descending from the great Russian musical tradition, the Hermitage Piano Trio is distinguished by its exuberant musicality, interpretative range, and sumptuous sound. A rarity in the chamber music world, this elite trio is comprised of three musicians who are noted soloists in their own right: violinist Misha Keylin, cellist Sergey Antonov, and pianist Ilya Kazantsev. Members of the Hermitage Piano Trio have taught at prestigious schools around the country and have recorded for Naxos and ALM Records. Cellist Sergey Antonov is the artistic director of the concert series for the Chamber Music Foundation of New England and gold prize winner at the VIII International Tchaikovsky Competition.

Based in the United States, the Trio excels at performing an enormous variety of music and has a wide repertoire ranging from Shostakovich, Arensky, Glinka, and Tchaikovsky to Haydn, Beethoven, Dvorak, and Brahms. In the same way that St. Petersburg’s venerable Hermitage State Museum both represents the very essence and history of Russia while also using its collection to embrace and promote cultures from around the world, the Hermitage Piano Trio embodies the majesty of its Russian lineage while at the same time including in its immense repertoire works from the great European tradition to contemporary American commissions.

The Trio has performed to similarly tremendous acclaim for audiences in Los Angeles, New York,  Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Florida, Alabama, Mexico, and Canada.

City of Angels Ensemble

A quintet of top Los Angeles-based musicians featuring Michelle Zukovsky (clarinet) with, left to right: Jennifer Johnson (oboe), Richard Todd (horn), Lucinda Carver (piano), and Rose Corrigan (bassoon)

Sunday, January 15, 2017
2pm, Joseph F. Wheeler Theater
Sponsored by Anne and Dick Schneider

Strauss – Andante in F for Horn and Piano (Op. Posth.)
Poulenc – Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano, Op. 43
Schumann – Fantasiestücke for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 73
Jacques Ibert – Cinq Pieces en Trio for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon
Gernot Wolfgang – Another Life (Part 2 of Trilogy) for Clarinet, Bassoon and Piano
Mozart – Quintet in E-flat for Piano and Winds, K. 452

Michele Zukovsky is an American clarinetist and longest serving member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, serving from 1961 at the age of 18 until her retirement on December 20, 2015. Born in Los Angeles, she played alongside and later succeeded her father, Kalman Bloch, as the principal clarinetist of the Phil. Ms. Zukovsky has been a guest soloist with orchestras throughout the world. She toured with Pinchas Zukerman in Australia and, in June 1991, she gave the world premiere of John Williams’ Clarinet Concerto with the Boston Pops.

Ms. Zukovsky performs regularly at the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Chamber Music Society concerts and she has participated in a number of premieres with the New Music Group series. She collaborates with a number of chamber ensembles, most notably the Angeles Quartet.  She has appeared at James Levine’s Ravinia Concerts in Alice Tully Hall, Concerts at the Y, at the Mostly Mozart Festival and with the Lincoln Center Chamber Players. Ms. Zukovsky serves as adjunct professor with the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, within the Division of Classical Music and Composition, Winds and Percussion.

Miró Quartet

Saturday, June 10, 2017
7:30pm, Joseph F. Wheeler Theater
Sponsored by Nelly and Jim Tretter

Haydn – Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 71, No. 3
Dvorák – Selections from “Cypresses,” B152
Dvorák – Piano Quintet in A major, Op. 81 (with Lucinda Carver)

Formed in 1995, the Miró Quartet is consistently praised for their deeply musical interpretations, exciting performances, and thoughtful programming. Each season, they perform throughout the world on the most important chamber music series and on the most prestigious concert stages, garnering accolades from critics and audiences alike. Based in Austin, TX, the Miró Quartet took its name from the Spanish artist, Joan Miró, whose surrealist works—with subject matter drawn from the realm of memory and imaginative fantasy—are some of the most original of the 20th century.

Concert highlights of recent seasons include a highly anticipated and sold out return to Carnegie Hall to perform Beethoven’s complete Opus 59 Quartets and collaborations with award-winning actor Stephen Dillane as part of Lincoln Center’s White Lights Festival. Miró Quartet took first prizes at several national and international competitions including the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Naumburg Chamber Music Competition. In 2005, the Miró Quartet became the first ensemble ever to be awarded the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Port Townsend Chamber Music Workshop

Following the huge success of our inaugural residencies with the Enso String Quartet in 2015 and Calder Quartet in 2016, Centrum is excited to welcome the Miró Quartet as “Ensemble in Residence” for our 2017 workshop week.

Two emerging pre-professional quartets and two accomplished pianists will be invited as participants for this unique and immersive experience. Audiences are encouraged to join us, meet the artists, and witness public master classes and student showcase recitals as an “up close and personal” glimpse into the training and preparation of concert-level performances.

Audiences are encouraged to join us for one free Masterclass and two general-admission recitals during the week for a special behind-the-scenes glimpse into the art of music making. Subscribers may reserve seats for all chamber music events via a “full subscription.”

2017 Workshop Events
Joseph F. Wheeler Theater

Tuesday, June 6, 7:30pm
Free Public Master Class (Quartets)

Thursday, June 8,  7:30pm
Student Showcase Concert (Quartet and Quintets)

Friday, June 9, 7:30 pm
Student Showcase Concert (Quartet and Quintets)

Saturday, June 10, 7:30 pm
Miró String Quartet Concert

Centrum gratefully acknowledges leadership support provided for this series by Nelly and Jim Tretter, Anne and Dick Schneider, Renate Wheeler, Leah Mitchell and Nancy McLachlan, The Peach Foundation, The Congdon-Hanson Family, Gay and Gary Eisenberger, Valerie Payne, Cindy Thayer, and Marsha Wiener.