The award winning Gold Coast Chamber Players bring the finest in chamber music to Lafayette and now to the city of Piedmont. Founded in 1987, GCCP distinguishes itself by its eclectic programming and by providing community access to leading musicians from throughout the world. The fourth of this season’s concerts, titled W.A.M.! (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), will be performed twice, first at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 16, 2019 at the Lafayette Library Community Hall, 3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd. in Lafayette, and then at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 17, 2019 at the Piedmont Center for the Arts, 801 Magnolia Ave. in Piedmont. Musicologist Kai Christiansen, provides a pre-concert talk 30 minutes prior to each performance.
With this program, the Gold Coast Chamber Players present three of Mozart’s very finest and cherished chamber music works highlighting both the clarinet and the viola, two of Mozart’s personal favorites. Husband and wife team, San Francisco Opera clarinetist Tony Striplen and violist Pamela Freund-Striplen bring three decades of experience to the ‘Kegelstatt’ Trio, K. 498 along with Bay Area favorite, pianist Jeffrey LaDeur.
The Alexander String Quartet joins the ensemble following the trio. The ASQ is a major artistic presence in its home base of San Francisco, serving since 1989 as Ensemble in Residence for San Francisco Performances and Directors of the the Morrison Chamber Music Center in the College of Liberal and Creative Arts at San Francisco State University. This esteemed local quartet brings nearly four decades of musical camaraderie to the program. Freund-Striplen joins ASQ for Mozart’s E-flat Viola Quintet, K. 614, which dates from the final year of his life, and was his last serious chamber work. Hunting calls and jovial themes, complete with a musical joke at the end, keeps the listener engaged and delighted. The Clarinet Quintet, K. 581, is one of Mozart’s most popular chamber works, and tops nearly ever “Top 10 Favorite Chamber Works” list. In a single work, Mozart combines his gifts for three genres in which he was supreme: opera, the concerto, and the string quartet.
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Tickets are $45/ $40 senior (65+)/ $15 students. Purchase online at www.gcplayers.org or by calling (925) 283-3728. Concerts sell out quickly. Reserve today.