Past Seasons: 2023-2024
It is our pleasure to welcome you to Chameleon Arts Ensemble’s 26th concert season. In seven vibrant, unforgettable programs, we continue Chameleon’s unmatched legacy of the most adventurous concerts in Boston.
Among the many highlights of this year’s chamber music series are Rachmaninoff’s soul-searching, elegiac piano trio; electrifying quintets by Brahms, Shostakovich, and Schubert; new and neglected works by Rebecca Clarke, Hanns Eisler, and Charlotte Bray; and Sebastian Currier’s mercurial and chameleonic setting (and resetting) of the great poet Wallace Stevens. Our popular Up Close recital series returns with piano trios of elegance and majesty, and gutsy, gripping works for violin and piano by Bartók, Beethoven, and Saariaho.
Witty, sublime, new, and beloved… We hope you agree that we have an exciting year ahead. We look forward to seeing you at the concerts!
Please note that masks are now optional at Chameleon events.
Chamber Series 1: La Belle Époque
- Saturday, October 14, 2023, 8 PM, First Church in Boston
- Sunday, October 15, 2023, 4 PM, First Church in Boston
- Lili Boulanger, Nocturne et cortège for violin & piano
- Eric Moe, Frozen Hours Melt Melodiously into the Past for flute, clarinet, string trio & piano
- Zoltán Kodály, Duo for violin & cello, Op. 7
- Claude Debussy, Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé for soprano & piano
- Ernest Chausson, Piano Quartet in A Major, Op. 30
On the Road 1: @ The Art Complex Museum
- Sunday, November 5, 2023, 4 PM, The Art Complex Museum
- Claude Debussy, Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune for flute & piano
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Quartet No. 3 in C Major for flute & strings, K. 285b
- Olivier Messiaen, Quatuor pour la fin du temps for clarinet, violin, cello & piano
Chamber Series 2: As near as memory –
- Saturday, November 18, 2023, 8 PM, First Church in Boston
- Sunday, November 19, 2023, 4 PM, First Church in Boston
- Giacomo Puccini, Crisantemi for string quartet
- Charlotte Bray, Fire Burning in Snow for soprano, oboe, clarinet, violin & cello – US premiere
- Gordon Jacob, Sextet in B-flat Major for piano & winds, Op. 6
- Sergei Rachmaninoff, Trio élégiaque No. 2 in d minor, Op. 9
Chamber Series 3: Seeking Syllables
- Saturday, February 24, 2024, 8 PM, First Church in Boston
- Sunday, February 25, 2024, 4 PM, First Church in Boston
- Felix Mendelssohn, Lieder ohne Worte for cello & piano, Op. 109
- Sebastian Currier, Vocalissimus for soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano & percussion
- Johannes Brahms, Piano Quintet in f minor, Op. 34
Up Close 1: Big Sky
- Sunday, March 17, 2024, 4 PM, Goethe-Institut, Boston
- Clara Schumann, Piano Trio in g minor, Op. 17
- Joan Tower, Big Sky
- Franz Schubert, Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 100, D. 929
Up Close 2: Pioneers and Pathmakers
- Sunday, April 7, 2024, 4 PM, Goethe-Institut, Boston
- Ludwig van Beethoven, Violin Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96
- Kaija Saariaho, Tocar for violin & piano
- Béla Bartók, Sonata No. 1 for violin & piano, Sz. 75, BB. 84
Chamber Series 4: Shadows, Canons, Veils
- Saturday, April 20, 2024, 8 PM, First Church in Boston
- Sunday, April 21, 2024, 4 PM, First Church in Boston
- Rebecca Clarke, Midsummer Moon for violin & piano (1926)
- Serge Arcuri, Les furieuses enluminures for flute, clarinet, piano & string quartet
- Ludwig van Beethoven, Quintet in E-flat Major for piano & winds, Op. 16
- Thomas Adès, Les baricades mistérieuses for clarinet, bass clarinet, viola, cello & double bass
- Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano Quintet in g minor, Op. 57
Chamber Series 5: Water, water, every where
- Saturday, May 18, 2024, 8 PM, First Church in Boston
- Sunday, May 19, 2024, 4 PM, First Church in Boston
- Guy Ropartz, Prélude, Marine et Chansons for flute, violin, viola, cello & harp (1928)
- Hanns Eisler, Fourteen Ways to Describe the Rain for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello & piano (1941)
- David Bruce, The Consolation of Rain for oboe, cello, percussion & harp
- Franz Schubert, Quintet in A Major for piano & strings, D. 667, “Trout”
Free Family Concerts: Tunes, Tales & Tricksters
- Saturday, June 1, 2024, 11 AM, Hyde Park Branch Library
- Richard Strauss, Til Eulenspiegel einmal anders! for violin, bass, clarinet, bassoon & horn
- Carl Nielsen, Serenata en vano for clarinet, bassoon, horn, viola & bass
- Valerie Naranjo/Kakraba Lobi, Lo Ben Doma for solo marimba
- Peter Sculthorpe, Sonata for viola & percussion
- Mark O’Connor, Appalachia Waltz for violin, viola, double bass
- Astor Piazzolla, 1900 from Histoire du Tango for violin & marimba
- Gernot Wolfgang, Uncle Bebop from Three Short Stories for clarinet & bassoon
- Florence Price, Adoration for French horn & ensemble arr. Hans Spencer