Chamber Project Saint Louis

Chamber Project Saint Louis

March 2019 Concert

On March 9th our family ventured out to the Missouri History Museum to celebrate my husband’s 73rd birthday at an event of his choice intended to broaden the horizons of the grandchildren regarding chamber music. What we experienced was an amazing world premiere commissioned by Chamber Project Saint Louis and introduced by the composer, Stephanie Berg who described the piece Who We Are as an anthem to the struggle of women. In fact, the entire program presented women composers and was billed as #Times Up.

Highlighting the evening was Quintet in G (1929) composed by Florence Price (1887-1953). The piece was recently discovered in an attic box filled with unreleased compositions that Price, an African-American classical music composer, wrote while living and working as a single mother in Chicago. Price had also been enrolled at various times at the Chicago Musical College, and American Conservatory of Music. Our family found Quintet in G in two movements to be amazing and certain to breathe new life into the Chamber music scene. In fact, more of her compositions are tentatively scheduled for presentation in conjunction with the Missouri History Museum and Harris Stowe State College on March 27th. We were advised to check with the Missouri History Museum for more details.

This being a family outing with children 5 years of age through 12 years, a short lesson about refraining from clapping during the pause between movements was given. However, during the first movement of the Florence Price quintet, a lighting explosion interrupted with a loud bang and semi-darkness. To the astonishment of the audience, the musicians played on unaffected. As the first movement ended the musicians received a standing ovation and wild applause. This would probably have brought a smile to the face of Jeremy Reynolds of the Pittsburg Post-Gazette who wrote the June 9, 2018 article “Its OK to Clap Between Movements at the Symphony.” So much for my lesson on the no-clap policy that began in Germany in the early 1900’s and is widely practiced today.

Valentina Takova presented a cello solo In Manus Tuas (2009) by composer Caroline Shaw and the evening ended with Quintet (2011) in three movements composed by Ellen Taaffee Zwilich.

Musicians for the evening included Kyle Lombard, violin; Jane Price, violin; Laura Reycraft, viola; Valentina Takova, cello; Tim Weddle, bass; and Nina Ferrigno, piano.

The next Chamber Project Saint Louis concert will be Beloved on April 13th at 7:30 at 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63130.