Community Chamber Music Concert Celebrates Mendelssohn, Plays Beethoven’s Early Hit

After four previous successful concerts since 2007, the Community Chamber Music series continues with the Meadowood Quartet, Quartet Arioso and the Hidden Valley Chamber Players performing Mendelssohn, Beethoven and other composers on Saturday, March 14 in the Fulkerson Recital Hall at HSU.

Each concert in the series features a combination of independent ensembles. The players come from various North Coast communities, with several also performing for the Eureka Symphony.

"Our players are ‘101 Flyers,’” said Val Phillips, coordinator for the series and HSU Music professor emeritus. “ They meet in someone’s home every week to play, just as chamber music groups did in Mozart’s time.”

For this concert, the Eureka-based Meadowood Quartet celebrates the bicentennial of early 19th century German composer Felix Mendelssohn’s birth by performing his Quartet No. 3 in D. “Mendelssohn was a prolific and influential composer who wrote for many instrumental and choral combinations,” Val Phillips commented. “He was masterful in his writing for string instruments. His quartets are remarkable for their elegant expressiveness and scintillating figuration.”

The Meadowood Quartet is Betty Bliss (Redway) and Marilyn Page (Arcata) on violin, Stephan Vaughan (Eureka) on viola and Eric Jones (McKinleyville) on cello. Bliss, Page and Vaughan also play in the Eureka Symphony.

Quartet Arioso, based in Fortuna, will play Quartet in G by 16th century Italian composer Tommaso Giordani and Seven Pieces by contemporary English composer John Kember. Performers Judy Scott (flute), Sherry Hanson (violin) and Ruth McClimon (piano) all live in Fortuna, while Patty Larson (cello) makes the trip from McKinleyville. Hanson teaches at Fortuna Middle School, McClimon teaches piano, while Larson works for the Arcata Children’s Center and Scott volunteers in Fortuna community centers as a musician.

The largest group on the program is the Bayside-based Hidden Valley Chamber Players, who will perform Beethoven’s Septet, one of his early hits. “It was immediately popular in Vienna,” Val Phillips said. “It was a substantial step in Beethoven’s rise to fame as a composer.”

This composition will be played using its original combination of instruments, with Allen Lesser (Fortuna) on violin, Aryay Kalaki (Bayside) on viola, Helen Ann Reid (Eureka) on cello, Shao Way Wu (Arcata) on bass, Virginia Ryder (McKinleyville) on clarinet, Val Philips (McKinleyville) on horn, and Justin Sousa (Fortuna) on bassoon. Reid, Ryder, Philips and Sousa also play in the Eureka Symphony.

The fifth Community Chamber Music performance is Saturday, March 14 at 8 pm in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. The concert is produced by the HSU Department of Music.

Media: North Coast Journal, Arcata Eye, Eureka Times Standard, Humboldt State Now.