A free concert featuring four soloists from the Annapolis Chamber Music Festival (ACMF) will premiere Sunday, November 15, at 3:00 p.m. as part of the Arts in the Woods concert series of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis (UUCA). Since its founding in 2016, ACMF has brought some of the most exciting musicians in the country to Annapolis in an annual series of eclectic and thought-provoking concerts—until Covid curtailed in-person appearances this season. Similarly, the long-running Arts in the Woods series at UUCA has moved to online programming for the remainder of its 2020 season. The program for November 15 will include solo works for cello, flute, violin, and bassoon that, despite being played in distant places, reflect the intentional eclecticism and personal touch that have become central to the ACMF concert experience. Following the program, the audience will have the opportunity to meet with the artists for conversation and Q&A. Free links to the virtual concert and the conversation will be at https://www.uuannapolis.org/arts-in-the-woods/ No tickets or reservations required.
Featured performers for ACMF include:
Cellist Madeline Fayette. Praised for her “charisma…lovely tone and phrasing,” she is part of a new generation of artist-teachers creating audiences through inventive community engagement and compelling performance. An in-demand collaborator in both standard and experimental repertoire, she performs with the New York Classical Players, the Metropolis Ensemble and with innovative genre-defying groups Cantata Profana and Ensemble Échappé. Ms. Fayette recently completed a two-year fellowship in Ensemble Connect, a post-graduate program of Carnegie Hall.
Flutist Isabel Lepanto Gleicher is a soloist, chamber musician, and educator. Enjoying an international career, Ms. Gleicher performs throughout Europe, China, Japan, Canada, and the United States. She is an artist member of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICEensemble), new music sinfonietta Ensemble Échappé, the Annapolis Chamber Music Festival, and hiphop band ShoutHouse. Her project Song Sessions, with clarinetist Eric Umble and composer Barry Sharp, received a 2019 New Music USA grant.
Matheus Souza is a Brazilian violinist, instructor, and conductor with an eclectic musical background that stems from his early interest in Choro, a form of Brazilian popular music. He received a master’s degree from the Yale School of Music and a doctorate from Stony Brook University. In addition to his frequent performing and recording, Souza has given workshops and masterclasses across the U.S., as well as in Japan and Brazil.
Bassoonist Rémy Taghavi is an active chamber and orchestral musician based in the Northeast. He is principal bassoon of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and is a member of the chamber nonet Frisson, with which he has performed in over 20 states and internationally. He is currently Assistant Professor of Bassoon at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and serves on the faculty of the Rocky Ridge Music Center’s Young Artist Seminar in Colorado. Taghavi is co-founder, along with Zachary Hobin and Annapolis native Mark Conrad, of ACMF.
Their program for November 15 includes selections spanning instrumentation, time periods, and geography, distilling the spirit of the festival into a concert of varied solo music that draws numerous connections between the works themselves, the composers, and the performers. Each piece reflects the artistic vision of the performer, including musical depictions of the legacy of Bach, music from violinist Matheus Souza’s home country of Brazil, and the world premiere of a new composition by flutist Isabel Gleicher.
Featured selections include: Marcos Reggio de Salles, Matinta e o Curupira–Lenda Amazônica for violin; Gordon Jacob, Partita for solo bassoon; J.S. Bach, Partita in A minor BWV 1013, I. Allemande; Gaspar Cassado, Suite for solo cello, III. Intermezzo e Danza Finale (a Jota); J.S. Bach, Suite no. 2 in D minor, BWV 1008, II. Sarabande; Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, “Sketch no. 1” for flute and electronics; and an archive edition of the full ensemble performing Jean Francaix, Dixtuor (Dectet), I. Larghetto tranquillo; Allegro, recorded live at the 2019 Annapolis Chamber Music Festival.
The concert is offered free of charge through the generosity of Arts in the Woods donors. Following the initial showing at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 15, the concert will continue to be available for future online viewing. However, the conversation with the artists is only available as part of the November 15 premiere. For more information, visit https://www.uuannapolis.org/arts-in-the-woods/ or call 410-266-8044.
