Gold Coast Chamber Players

Czech Marks

Concert

Jan. 26

Gold Coast Chamber Players

Jan. 26

at 4 pm

The award-winning Gold Coast Chamber Players celebrate 20 years of bringing the finest in chamber music to the Bay Area. The third concert this season, Czech Marks, with the music of Czech composers Dvořák, Novák and Janáček, will be held at the Piedmont Center for the Arts at 4 p.m. on Sunday, January 26.

Musicologist Kai Christiansen will provide a pre-concert talk 30 minutes prior to each performance. 

Czech Marks is a concert steeped in Czech and Moravian influences. Lesser-known works by these composers provide an unusual opportunity to explore this rich musical culture. 

Janáček’s Violin Sonata begins the program, followed by Dvořák’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 23. This piano quartet, while very popular during Dvořák’s lifetime, is often overlooked in favor of his second piano quartet. Vitezslav Novák, a student of Dvořák’s, is virtually unknown to American audiences. His Piano Quintet, Op. 12 finishes the program resplendent in all its Slavic romanticism. 

Violinist Axel Strauss leads an all-star ensemble of local Bay Area musicians when he returns to the Bay Area from his position at McGill University in Montreal.  The first German artist to ever win the international Naumburg Violin Award in New York, Strauss also won the silver medal at the Enescu Competition. For the January 26 concert, he will be joined by members of his San Francisco Piano Trio, cellist Jean-Michel Fonteneau and pianist Jeffrey Sykes, along with Gold Coast violist Pamela Freund-Striplen and violinist Liane Bérubé from the Delphi Trio.

Tickets are $45 for general admission, $40 for seniors and $15 for students. 

Tickets are also available by calling (925) 283-3728.