Ensemble Aubade: The Genius of Madame Farrenc

Please join us in the Brubeck Room for another Sunday afternoon concert.  The centerpiece of this event is the spectacular Trio Opus 45 (1856), by the great 19th century composer Louise Farrenc.  Farrenc was the first female professor at the Paris Conservatory, where she taught from 1842 to 1873.  She was an esteemed composer, an acclaimed concert pianist, and a successful music publisher.  She has been recently rediscovered, and Aubade is pleased to shine a spotlight on this seldom-heard master. Also featured is Mozart’s exquisite Kegelstatt Trio, K.498 (1786). The clarinet part is transcribed beautifully for alto flute – an unusual and enthralling version of this beloved gem.  Bloom’s alto flute has been called “wonderfully smoky and mysterious” (EarRelevant). The concert finale is Seven Postcards to Old Friends (1966), an exhilarating chamber work by legendary Broadway arranger Robert Russell Bennett.  Quite possibly, Ensemble Aubade is the only group in the world that performs this piece.  The work is unpublished, and Aubade performs from Bennett’s handwritten manuscript, courtesy of the archives at Northwestern University.

Ensemble Aubade performs throughout the United States, with appearances for The Robert H. Wood Great Artists Series (NY), The Saint Louis Art Museum, Seacobeck Hall in Fredericksburg VA, Saugerties Pro Musica (NY), The Nielsen Series in Des Moines, James Blackstone Library in Branford CT,  Morton Arboretum Concert Series (Chicago), and the Ossining Library Sunday Concerts,  to name a few.

Peter H. Bloom, flute and alto flute,  whose playing has been called “brightly gorgeous” (Gapplegate Music Review), “breathtaking” (Ivan Rod Review, Denmark), and “a revelation for unforced sweetness and strength” (The Boston Globe), performs in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand; is featured on 49 recordings; is contributing editor for Noteworthy Sheet Music; and is a winner of the American Musicological Society’s Noah Greenberg Award.  Bloom has performed in London, Bangkok, Lisbon, Canberra, Ottawa, and other world capitals, and in hundreds of cities across 40 states and four continents.  He holds an MM with distinction in flute performance from New England Conservatory of Music, and a BA (philosophy) from Boston University.  

Francis Grimes, viola, has performed with the Boston Pops, Boston Opera, Boston Ballet, Masterworks Chorale, Sinfonova, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, and other distinguished ensembles, and regularly serves in the orchestras of the venerable Colonial and Schubert Theatres. He toured nationally with the Star Wars Orchestra and performed with choral groups in tours of Italy, England and the Czech Republic.  He attended Boston University’s School of Fine Arts and completed his BM at Indiana University as a student of William Primrose. 

Steven Sussman, piano, is acclaimed as a soloist, accompanist, chamber musician and orchestral member, performing classical music, jazz, and musical theater in New England and across the United States.  He is the director of Opera Presto, has served on the faculty at The Rivers Conservatory of Music for more than 30 years, teaches at the St. Marks School, toured previously with Brown Bag Opera, and was staff accompanist at Berklee College of Music. He earned a Master of Music in performance from Boston University, and a Bachelor of Music from Indiana University, where his principal teachers were Enrica Cavallo-Gulli and Jorge Bolet.

Registration suggested.