BRATTLEBORO — The Brattleboro Music Center's 2013-14 concert season opens with a performance of the complete cycle of Beethoven's sonatas and variations for piano and cello.
World-renowned musicians, the cellist Sharon Robinson and pianist Benjamin Hochman, will play Beethoven's complete works for cello and piano - five sonatas and three sets of variations - in two concerts on one day at Centre Congregational Church in Brattleboro.
Concertgoers are also invited to join the BMC for a special buffet dinner at Blue Moose Café between the concerts, which are Sunday, Sept. 29 at 3 and 7 p.m.
Cellist and Chamber Series Artistic Director Zon Eastes will speak about the sonatas during the dinner. Reservations are required at $30 per person (tax and tip included).
The performance of Beethoven's entire collection for cello and piano in sequence provides a unique journey through the master's life.
The five sonatas span Beethoven's three major creative periods: the first two were written in 1796 when he was producing his breakthrough early piano sonatas.
Sonata No. 3 in A was composed during his most productive compositional period in the middle of his career.
The last two sonatas date from the beginning of his mystical late period.
Winner of the Avery Fisher Recital Award, the Piatigorsky Memorial Award and the Pro Musicis Award, and a Grammy Award nominee, Robinson is hailed as a consummate artist and one of the most outstanding musicians of our time.
She divides her time among teaching, solo engagements, performing with her husband, the violinist and conductor Jaime Laredo, and touring with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio.
The Brattleboro Music Center's 2013-14 Chamber Music Series continues with violinist Bella Hristova on Dec. 14, pianist Jonathan Biss on Jan. 10, the Escher String Quartet on March 23, and Musicians from Marlboro on April 4.
Discounted series subscriptions are available prior to the first concert on Sept. 29. For details, visit bmcvt.org/chamber-music-series/concerts.
The BMC's Chamber Music Series is sponsored by Vermont Public Radio.