BRATTLEBORO — On Sunday, Dec. 9, at 3 p.m., at Centre Congregational Church, the Brattleboro Music Center's Chamber Music Series presents renowned musicians Jamie Laredo, violin, Steven Tenenbom, viola, Sharon Robinson, cello, and Benjamin Hochman, piano.
The program includes Stravinsky's “Suite Italienne,” based on the 1920's ballet “Pulcinella”; Beethoven's “Sonata for Cello and Piano in A Major”; and Faure's “Piano Quartet in C Minor.”
Laredo and Robinson serve as the Brattleboro Music Center's artistic advisors and generously offer their performance as a benefit to support the BMC's work. On Monday, the day after the concert, the Vermont Arts Council will recognize Robinson with the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts.
Following the concert, at 5 p.m., the BMC invites everyone to stroll down Main Street and enjoy a special holiday celebration at the nearby Robert H. Gibson River Garden.
Festivities include live and silent auctions for your holiday gift giving, serious hors d'oeuvres for the gourmand, and seasonal libations to refresh. Proceeds benefit student financial aid and other BMC outreach and education programs.
Since his stunning orchestral debut at age 11 with the San Francisco Symphony, Jaime Laredo has won the admiration and respect of audiences, critics, and fellow musicians. His education and development were greatly influenced by his teachers Josef Gingold and Ivan Galamian, as well as by private coaching with Pablo Casals and George Szell.
In the 2012-2013 season, Laredo tours both as a soloist and as a member of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, including conducting engagements with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Westchester Philharmonic and appearances as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
In past seasons, Laredo has conducted and performed with the Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle, and St. Louis symphonies, and the Los Angeles and New York philharmonics.
Abroad, Laredo has performed with the BBC and London symphonies, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Academy of St. Martin-in the-Fields, the Royal Philharmonic, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
The 2011-12 season also marked the 35th anniversary of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. The Trio perform regularly at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y in New York, and the Kennedy Center, where it is the ensemble in residence, and have widely toured internationally.
For 15 years, Laredo was violist of the quartet including pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Isaac Stern, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Laredo has held teaching positions at the Curtis Institute and Indiana University, and has recently joined the faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Music Director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra since 1999, Laredo is also the Artistic Director of the Chamber Music at the Y series at the 92nd Street Y in New York. Additionally, he is conductor of the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.
Concert tickets are $30, $20, $10. This concert is generously sponsored by Against the Grain Gourmet. Reservations for the BMC's Holiday Celebration, at 5 p.m., at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden, are $25, with generous support from Park Place Financial Advisors and the Windham Foundation.
Tickets are available through the Brattleboro Music Center at 802-257-4523 and www.bmcvt.org.