The Roosevelt Island Visual Art Association (RIVAA) broadened its horizons in the past year, hosting live jazz and join-in rock as well as poetry readings. Now, they’re stepping out further with a new series of chamber music in the gallery. You are all welcome to come in and enjoy.
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
RIVAA Gallery presents a new chamber music series which promises art and music lovers a feast for the eyes and ears. In the vibrant and inspiring setting of Roosevelt Island’s community art gallery, this musical series will be the only one of its kind offered to audiences in New York City with a specific focus on Baroque, Classical and Romantic chamber repertoire played on period instruments.
Baroque Chamber Music and Free Improvisation
From pieces for viola da gamba, to Baroque strings, to Mozartian and Schubert era early pianos, this series invites audiences into the arresting and authentic sound world of historical instruments. The sounds of 18th and 19th century strings and keyboards, played by leading musicians, challenge traditional and mainstream experiences of classical music and revive the excitement, creativity and chemistry of ensemble playing.
The series is directed by Roosevelt Island resident Yiheng Yang, who is faculty at The Juilliard School of Music and a leading historical keyboard player. Yang’s vision is for world-class music-making and creative collaboration between top historical performance artists, bringing the best of classical music to the Island.
The next concert “Baroque Chamber Music and Free Improvisation,” is on Sunday, March 10th at 3pm. It features sonatas and trios by JS Bach and Handel, interspersed with free improvisations by flugelhorn and cornetto player Matt Lambiase, in dialogue with Dongmyung Ahn, Baroque violin, Max Zeugner, bass, and Yiheng Yang, harpsichord. Come for the music and stay for the reception of the “Silent Planet” illustration exhibition on view at RIVAA from March 8 – 14. Entry is free, and the suggested donation is $25, $10 for students and seniors, to support the performing artists and RIVAA so we can continue to bring you these events and programs.
Up next in the chamber music series:
Later in the spring is a two-weekend festival of Romantic Era Music, with chamber masterpieces from the 19th century on period pianos and strings.
On Sunday, April 28th at 3pm, a program featuring Aisslinn Nosky, Concertmaster of the Handel and Haydn Society and celebrated violinist, Yiheng Yang, and Eleanor Legault on viola, will center around the music of the prolific and Brahms-era composer Emilie Mayer. The following weekend on May 5th, sensational period violinist Ravenna Lipchik and Yiheng Yang, fortepiano, perform a program of the wildly passionate violin sonatas of Robert Schumann, in anticipation of the release of their album of Schumann Piano Trios (Trio Ilona, with Kate Wadsworth, cello).
A summer concert on June 29th will be curated and performed by leading gambist and cellist Arnie Tanimoto and Baroque flute player David Ross, both Roosevelt Island residents.
Next season, Fall 2024 – Spring 2025
This series’ highlights include the Berwick Fiddle Consort, a solo recital by award-winning fortepianist Hilda Huang, a concert by Nuovo Practica, a New York-based ensemble which plays their own, new compositions written in early music styles, and a Beethoven violin sonata program by European early music luminaries Shunske Sato, Baroque violin, and Shuann Chai, fortepiano.
Again, entry is free, and the suggested donation is $25, $10 for students and seniors. Seating is limited. Follow RIVAA Gallery on Instagram @rivaagallery or visit http://www.rivaagallery.org for the latest announcements and concert information.
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