Musicians of the Clinton Symphony Orchestra and their friends will perform a concert of chamber music on Sunday afternoon [11/4] at Zion Lutheran Church, 439 3rd Avenue South, in Clinton. Concert time is 3 p.m.
Chamber music is compositions written for a small group of musicians and performed for their friends. The four ensembles on Sunday’s concert range from two to five musicians.
The program opens with a trio for two violins and a viola written by Guiseppi Maria Cambini. The three musicians are Ann Duchow and Hana Velde, violins, and Becca Payne, viola. The three are from Dubuque, and the two violinists are regular musicians of the Clinton orchestra.
A piano trio (piano, violin, and cello) by Franz Schubert is next, with Nadia Wirchnianski of Lanark, piano, Asa Church of Sterling, violin, and Robert Whipple, also of Sterling, cello. Whipple is one of the longest-term musicians of the Symphony, and this is Church’s first season with the orchestra. Wirchnianski is the Symphony’s pianist.
Brothers Andrew and Peter Calhoun, both Clinton natives, will perform a Mozart duo for violin and viola. Both have earned college performance degrees, and were first invited to perform in the Symphony during their student days at Clinton High School.
The final selections on the program will be performed by a brass quintet of Ben and Brooke Logan of Clinton, trumpets, Vanessa Leavitt of Bettendorf, horn, Joe Titus of Savanna, trombone, and Lee Stofer of Camanche, tuba. They will play three selections arranged for brass quintet.
Brass quintets are relative latecomers to the chamber music genre, according to Whipple, who is executive director of the Symphony. It was not until the middle of the 20th century that this particular combination of instruments was common, so most of the music for the ensemble has been arranged from music intended for other instrumentation. For example a Mozart piece the ensemble will play was originally written for two clarinets and three basset horns, a now nearly extinct member of the clarinet family. Brass quintet music to be performed on Sunday includes arrangements made for the Empire Brass Quintet, the Atlanta Brass Ensemble, and Touch of Brass.
Full program notes by William H. Driver on the origin of the music to be performed are available on the Symphony’s website, www.clintonsymphony.org
Tickets for Sunday’s concert will be available at the door of the concert for $20. All students are admitted free of charge for Clinton Symphony events, and a student attending the concert may sponsor one adult for a ticket at half-price.
Season tickets for the remaining concerts of the Symphony’s 65th season will also be available at the door of the concert.
Concert tickets in advance of Sunday are available at Tegeler Music in Clinton, Fitzgerald Pharmacy in Morrison, and Grummert’s Hardware in Sterling.