| | Published October 18th, 2017
| Second concert of the GCCP season: 'Wayfarers'
| | | Submitted by Pamela Freund-Striplen |  | | Mezzo-soprano Kindra Scharich with the Alexander String Quartet Photo provided |
The second of this season's Gold Coast Chamber Players' five concerts, titled "Wayfarers," will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28 at the Lafayette Library Community Hall in Lafayette. The concert features three song cycles by Gustav Mahler - Kindertotenlieder, the Rueckert-Lieder, and Lieder eines Fahrenden gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer) - transcribed for voice and string quartet by the Alexander String Quartet's first violinist, Zakarias Grafilo. Lieder are typically scored for a soloist and piano, or later, as the genre developed, for singer and orchestra; these beautiful transcriptions combine the lushness of the orchestral Lieder with the intimacy of chamber music, and the result is something completely new.
Founded in 1987, the award-winning GCCP, which brings the finest in chamber music to Lafayette and the surrounding areas, distinguishes itself by its eclectic programming and by providing community access to leading musicians from throughout the world. Mezzo-soprano Kindra Scharich has been praised by the San Francisco Chronicle for her "noble, vocally assured singing, with stately grace and deep-rooted pathos." A versatile musician, she has sung over 25 roles in the lyric mezzo repertoire, and is equally at home on the operatic or concert stage. This Mahler project represents Scharich's third appearance at Gold Coast concerts.
The Alexander String Quartet - comprising Zakarias Grafilo and Fred Lifsitz, violins; Paul Yarbrough, viola; and Sandy Wilson, cello - was formed in New York in 1981 and is widely acknowledged as one of the finest chamber music ensembles performing today. Three members of ASQ performed in September on the Gold Coast opening concert, but this concert represents the ASQ's formal debut at Gold Coast concerts. It is the first American quartet to win the London International String Quartet Competition in 1985, and has since then gained widespread admiration for its performances of standard repertoire and contemporary music at major halls throughout North America and Europe.
The quartet has collaborated with many outstanding artists, such as pianists Joyce Yang, Roger Woodward, Anne-Marie McDermott, Menachem Pressler, Marc-André Hamelin, and Jeremy Menuhin; clarinetists Joan Enric Lluna, David Shifrin, Richard Stoltzman, and Eli Eban; soprano Elly Ameling; mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato; violinist Midori; cellists Lynn Harrell, Sadao Harada, and David Requiro; and jazz greats Branford Marsalis, David Sanchez, and Andrew Speight.
The Gold Coast Chamber Players offer a pre-concert talk with musicologist Kai Christiansen at 7 p.m.; the concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Single tickets are $45 general admission, $40 senior (65+), and $15 for students. All tickets may be purchased online at www.gcplayers.org or by calling (925) 283-3728.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA