Among the many Bay Area summer chamber music festivals, one of my favorites more than a decade ago was the Green Music Festival in Sonoma State University's Evert B. Person Theater. Beginning in 1999, Jeffrey Kahane — music director of the Santa Rosa Symphony from 1995 through 2006 — headed an exciting series of concerts there.
The festival eventually came to an end, but now Kahane is back in Sonoma and "Green" is again in the name because of the Green Music Center, still under construction back then. (The name in both cases is of Donald and Maureen Green, benefactors for the arts in the county.)
Beginning June 24, Kahane will curate the inaugural Green Music Center ChamberFest, which will consist of eight concerts in 240-seat Schroeder Hall and the finale on June 28 in the 1,400-seat Weill Hall.
Schroeder Hall — named by philanthropist Jean Schulz in recognition of her late husband, cartoonist Charles Schulz, for the Peanuts' miniature Beethoven-worshipping pianist — opened a year ago. It's the right venue for chamber music with a rare feature for such small hall: the 1,248-pipe Brombaugh organ.
In his 18th season as music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Kahane performs as a piano soloist and conducts orchestras in many venues, but he has maintained his Santa Rosa residence. He says of ChamberFest:
It brings together a truly extraordinary cast of some of America's most gifted chamber musicians, including several distinguished soloists as well as members of several of California’s leading orchestras, for a true musical feast: a joyous celebration of the legacy of three of music’s greatest titans — Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms.While the association of these three great masters is a familiar one, I have assembled a series of nine fascinating programs, to be performed over a period of five days in the magical acoustical spaces of Schroeder and Weill Halls, which will allow audiences to hear some of these composers’ greatest masterpieces from fresh and unusual perspectives. The festival will culminate in a rare opportunity to hear all six of Bach's beloved Brandenburg Concertos, played by a dazzling assemblage of virtuosos.
Besides musicians of the San Francisco, Santa Rosa, San Diego, and California symphonies; the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; Los Angeles Philharmonic; and the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, participants include violinists Jennifer Koh and Benjamin Beilman, pianist Natasha Paremski, organist Malcolm Matthews and the Miró Quartet.
The inaugural concert, on June 24, opens with Bach's "O Lamm Gottes unschuldig," in Kurtág's transcription for duo piano; Beethoven's Cello Sonata in F Major, and Brahms' Piano Quartet in G minor.
The Miró will perform two of Beethoven's Rasumovsky Quartets, No. 7 in F Major and No. 8 in E Minor at 3 p.m. on June 27. An extensive program that evening, beginning at 7, includes works by Brahms and the Beethoven Septet.