West Stockbridge — In a perfect world, every performance of your favorite piece of chamber music would be given by a group of musicians dedicated solely to that work. This may sound impractical, but it is what you actually get from Ensemble Chamarré every time they perform, because Olivier Messaien’s “Quatuor pour la fin du temps” (“Quartet for the End of Time”) is the only piece they play as a group. So it is the only work on the program when they perform at West Stockbridge Congregational Church on Saturday, September 14 at 7 p.m., in a concert to benefit the West Stockbridge Historical Society.
Messaien wrote the quartet while interned in the German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag VIII-A during the early days of World War II, and that is where the piece received its premiere performance. It is rooted in his Christian faith, specifically the New Testament Book of Revelation.
Chamarré formed for the sole purpose of performing that piece, and the players admired the composer so much that they named themselves in reference to his well-known use of color. (He was famously gifted with chromesthesia.)
Clarinetist Catherine Hudgins performs frequently as an extra player with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Boston and at Tanglewood, as well as on international tours and at Carnegie Hall. You can hear her on recordings with the BSO, including the Grammy Award-winning performance of Ravel’s “Daphnis and Chloe.” The E-flat clarinetist with the Portland (Maine) Symphony and principal clarinetist of the Plymouth Philharmonic, Ms. Hudgins has performed with such leading conductors as Pierre Boulez, Christoph von Dohnányi, Kurt Masur, James Levine, Alan Gilbert, Bernard Haitink, Andris Nelsons, and Seiji Ozawa. She founded and plays clarinet with the West Stockbridge Chamber Players. She studied clarinet with Robert Marcellus and lives in Boston with her husband, BSO principal clarinetist William Hudgins.
Violinist Katie Wolfe has more breadth of experience than your average orchestral section player, having worked in the Americas and internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral leader, and recording artist for Centaur and Albany Records, Newport Classics, and Kleos Classics. What makes her perfect for this group is her experience playing in such ensembles as the Wolfe/Nez Duo, which performs works written especially for them, as well as works written in the past 20 years and masterpieces of the 20th century. A former Tanglewood Music Center fellow, Katie studied violin with Sylvia Rosenberg and chamber music with Ani Kavafian and Peter Winograd of the American String Quartet. She holds a Master’s of Music in violin performance from the Manhattan School of Music.
Vytas Baksys is the guy you see at Tanglewood, on the far edge of the Shed stage, playing pieces with the BSO like “Petrushka” and making you wonder why they don’t place him center stage more often. (Baksys is one of the unsung keyboard heroes of the BSO whom I have written about before.) A quick look at his career credits leads one to conclude that Baksys can play anything written for piano.
Cellist and former Tanglewood Music Center fellow William Rounds has performed hundreds of concerts with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra; made recordings and TV tapings; been on 40 tours throughout the United States, Canada, and Asia; and played annually on live national television for the orchestra’s Fourth of July broadcast. As an extra with the Boston Symphony, Mr. Rounds has toured throughout the world, including Asia, with Seiji Ozawa and, most recently, Europe with Andris Nelsons. Mr. Rounds has appeared throughout the United States as a soloist, both in recital and with orchestras, and is in demand for giving clinics and master classes. He is on the faculty at the University of Southern Maine and has maintained a long affiliation with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras. He currently performs with the Orlando Chamber Soloists and the West Stockbridge Chamber Players.
Hear Ensemble Chamarré perform Olivier Messaien’s “Quartet for the End of Time” on Saturday, September 14, 7 p.m., at the West Stockbridge Congregational Church. You can find more information and tickets here.
