A SECRET NO MORE
Have you ever been to a Chamber Concert in a grand venue such as Walt Disney Hall or Carnegie Hall but wished you could experience the program in the intimacy of a hostess’ living room? Many is the time after a concert that I have craved to mingle with the virtuosic performer I just witnessed while sipping champagne and nibbling on decadent food, chatting about our notions and impressions about the music.
Little did I know that a Chamber Music Concert Series just such as this exists already right here in Los Angeles. Unintentionally, it may have been the best-kept secret in town. Le Salon de Musiques, a compendium of LA’s most renowned chamber music performers now in its 3rd season, will be hosting their fourth of eight concerts on January 13, 2013, featuring Johann Sebastian Bach’s Viola da gamba Sonata No.2 in D, Robert Schumann’s Fantasy Op. 73 for Cello & Piano and the US Premiere of Philipp Scharwenka’s Piano Quintet Op. 118.
The event will be held on the fifth floor of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, where the music will be introduced by Julius Reeder Carlson. Following the program, you are encouraged to have informal conversations with the musicians while enjoying both a lovely buffet by Patina and French Champagne.
Created by French Pianist/Melodist François Chouchan, this imaginative idea makes chamber music even more accessible to music lovers, giving them the opportunity to be embraced by the music in a lovely, intimate setting. Not only is it a perfect way to become totally immersed in the experience, but it is chamber music executed the way composers of the Romantic and Neo-Romantic movements intended it to be heard. Naturally, there is limited seating to this stage-free event which removes the borders between the artists and listener, so RSVP ASAP.
With five United States premieres and a retinue of newly rediscovered composers, Le Salon also presents lesser known gems, such as the Scharwenka Quintet. Philipp Scharwenka was the brother of Xaver Scharwenka, both German composers and music teachers. Xaver founded the Scharwenka-Conservatory in Berlin, which Philipp eventually took control of and in 1893 merged with the Piano School of Karl Klindworth to form the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory. Otto Klemperer was one of his pupils and Philipp, best known for his chamber works, which are dreamlike with moody inflections, was one of the first to realize the great talent of Gustav Mahler.
The instrumentalists for this concert are a Who’s Who of the LA classical world: On viola is Helen S. Callus, venerated as “one of the world’s greatest violists” by American Record Guide and “one of the foremost violists of her generation” by 
Fanfare magazine. Violinist Guillaume Sutre, currently professor of violin at UCLA, was named Chevalier of the Order of Arts and the Letters by the French government. Cellist Antonio Lysy, who also teaches at UCLA, has performed as soloist worldwide, in major concert halls, appearing with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, Camerata Academica of Salzburg, Israel Sinfonietta, and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Violinist Searmi Park, member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra since 2001, also plays regularly with the LA Philharmonic, LA Opera Orchestra and Pacific Symphony. Finally, pianist Steven Vanhauwaert has performed with the Flemish Symphony and the Concord Jazz Ensemble, among others.
Now that the “secret” is out, tickets could be hard to come by, but chamber music lovers will have a place they can call home.
Le Salon de Musiques: Les Nouveaux Romantiques!
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion – Fifth Floor
Sunday January 13, 2013 at 4:00 pm
for tickets, visit http://www.lesalondemusiques.com/
future performances take place once a month through May, 2013
