Summer Concert I: From the Salon to the Stage

Vedrana Subotić, piano | Blanka Bednarz & Aubrey Woods, violins | Alex Woods, viola | Cheung Chau, cello | Andrew Keller, double bass

There is something immediately welcoming about a summer evening with a small ensemble, the sense that the music is meant for this room, this audience, right now. We open our anniversary season with exactly that feeling. Chopin conceived his Second Piano Concerto not as a showpiece but as a dialogue — the piano and ensemble in close, personal conversation (heard in chamber scale, with string quintet rather than full orchestra), that intimacy comes through with particular clarity. Dvořák's String Quintet with double bass opens the evening: warm, spirited, and full of the kind of shared melodic and rhythmic verve that reminds us why live music matters. The season’s theme of music born from human connection is present from the very first note. These performers share a history of close collaboration, and that familiarity comes through in every phrase.