FARMINGTON – On Friday, June 2, the Arts Institute of Western Maine is sponsoring a Maine Mountain Chamber Music concert featuring John Boden, recently retired Principal Horn of the Portland Symphony Orchestra, and the current PSO Concertmaster, violinist Charles Dimmick. They are joined by Maine Mountain Chamber Music co-directors Laurie Kennedy, viola, and Yuri Funahashi, piano. The program includes works by Rossini, Mozart, Stravinsky and Brahms. The concert will be held in Nordica Auditorium at the University of Maine at Farmington, starting at 7:30 p.m.
Boden will open the program with an unaccompanied horn call by Rossini. Then Charles Dimmick and Laurie Kennedy join forces for Mozart’s Duo in G Major. “The generous spirit of Mozart’s Duo begins with its inception: Michael Haydn (brother of the esteemed Joseph Haydn) had been commissioned to write a set of six duos for an archbishop, but fell ill and risked losing payment for the set. Mozart wrote two duos to complete the group, and all six duos were published under Michael Haydn’s name – and Mr. Haydn’s day was saved.” [Tim Summers]
Dimmick and Funahashi complete the first half of the concert with Igor Stravinsky’s Suite italienne. “Charming and witty to its core, Stravinsky’s Suite italienne is the composer’s adaptation of themes from his neoclassical ballet Pulcinella, premiered in 1919 and considered a watershed work in Stravinsky’s evolution. In it, the violin takes on the sung arias, as well as instrumental numbers, from the ballet, including a raucous tarantella and a graceful minuet.” [program notes from the Chamber Music Northwest]
The Brahms trio, one of the greatest works ever composed for French horn, provides a rousing conclusion to the celebration. Brahms composed his Horn Trio in the spring of 1865, shortly after the death of his mother, and may have intended it, at least in part, as a wordless requiem. “By turns pastoral, majestic, dashing on a sylvan hunt and heartbreaking, the trio is perfectly suited to the characteristic and elegant evocations of the horn, while also reflecting Brahms’s surroundings in a place and time, colored by a poignant milestone in his life.” [Earsense.org]
John C. Boden, for many years the principal horn of the Portland Symphony Orchestra, has worked with virtually all of the professional orchestras in New England. He was a member of the Block Ensemble, is a long time member of the Portland Brass Quintet and has performed in chamber music settings at the Sebago Long-Lake Chamber Music Festival, the Bennington Chamber Music Conference and at the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival. Violinist Charles Dimmick, praised by the Boston Globe for his “cool clarity of expression,” enjoys a varied and distinguished career as concertmaster, soloist, and chamber musician. As one of New England’s most sought after orchestral musicians, he is concertmaster of the Portland Symphony and the Rhode Island Philharmonic. A frequent soloist, Charles has garnered praise, packed houses, and received standing ovations for what the Portland Press Herald has called his “luxurious and stellar performances” and his “technical and artistic virtuosity.”
Since 2002, Laurie Kennedy and Yuri Funahashi, the founders and co-directors of Maine Mountain Chamber Music, have been providing the community and the Arts Institute with the very best of chamber music. Their collaborations with the outstanding professional guest musicians are viewed by many as the highlights of each season. Laurie Kennedy has been Principal Violist and concerto soloist with the Portland Symphony Orchestra since 1981 and has performed at chamber music festivals throughout the Northeast. She received her Masters and the Performers Certificate from Indiana University School of Music. Yuri Funahashi has performed in Japan, Australia, Canada, throughout Europe and in many of the major halls in the U.S. She is a performing member of the Festival Chamber Music Society in New York City and has collaborated with the Verdehr Trio, the Brentano, and Cassatt String Quartets. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School.
Sponsored by the Arts Institute of Western Maine, an affiliate of the University of Maine at Farmington $12 / free for 18 & under and for students with ID. For more info: 207-778-5074
