Summerfest | Week Two: Equal P(l)ay

Our second concert celebrates the often-overlooked contribution of women and people of color to the art of chamber music. We begin with Forensis by Mary Mageau, a piece that takes Goethe’s famous statement that chamber music is a conversation among intelligent people literally. In the work, the four musicians play melodic lines that listen, reply, and even interweave like the best exchanges among dear friends. Germaine Tailleferre’s Piano Trio features a similar conversation, but this time with Ravel and Faure about what it means to be musically French. Her trio features the lush melodies we expect from French composers, but with a rhythmic vitality all her own. Finally, Samuel Coleridge Taylor’s Nonet lets us hear a young composer at the beginning of his career. Coleridge Taylor was in school when he wrote the work, and he poured all he knew of counterpoint, melodic grace, and instrumental colors into it. After this concert, you’ll clearly see why we need regularly to hear these underrepresented voices.