April 14, 2024
On Sunday, April 14, 2024, at Koerner Hall, Vancouver Academy of Music, the Friends of Chamber Music hosted the 69th annual Young Musicians Competition. Each competing group of three or more musicians played roughly ten minutes of music in a free public concert. The Competition helps young musicians gain appreciation and familiarity with the collaborative … Continue reading 69th Annual Young Musicians Competition Winners
April 9, 2024
Bennewitz Quartet with Arsentiy Kharitonov, Piano presented by Friends of Chamber Music Our 2023-2024 season of 10 concerts wrapped up in style on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, with a return engagement featuring the wonderful Bennewitz Quartet from Prague, who were joined after the intermission by the elegant pianist Arsentiy Kharitonov. We are grateful for the … Continue reading Bennewitz Quartet with Arsentiy Kharitonov
April 2, 2024
On Tuesday, April 2, 2024, the Signum Quartet played their first concert in Vancouver for Friends of Chamber Music. For the second Tuesday in a row, we were introduced to a German quartet playing for us for the first time. There are some intriguing elements to compare between the Signum string Quartet who played this … Continue reading Signum Quartet
March 26, 2024
The Fauré Quartett played their first concert in Vancouver for Friends of Chamber Music on Tuesday evening, March 26, 2024. This fine piano quartet from Germany chose a French composer’s name for their moniker. That choice is interesting in itself, and what we heard from the musicians demonstrated something of what may have motivated this … Continue reading Fauré Quartett
March 12, 2024
We were delighted to welcome back the Karol Szymanowski Quartet, with musicians from Poland and Ukraine, to play their 9th concert for us on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. Last in town in early 2018, they played W.A. Mozart’s 6 extraordinary string quintets (with extra violist Richard O’Neill, who has since joined the Takacs Quartet) spread … Continue reading Karol Szymanowski Quartet
February 6, 2024
On February 6, 2024, we enjoyed the 10th concert performed by the Han Finckel Setzer Trio for the Friends of Chamber Music. They brought us the same program they played for their first concert in Vancouver in 2011: Viennese composer Franz Schubert’s Opus 99 and 100 piano trios. These trios are mature works from a … Continue reading Han Finckel Setzer Trio
January 30, 2024
The Goldmund Quartet, a group of young musicians on tour from Munich, Germany, played their first concert in Vancouver for Friends of Chamber Music on Tuesday, January 30, 2024. This was the 12th and final concert of a 3-week first North American headlining tour. (A shorter previous Canadian visit had been to fill in at … Continue reading Goldmund Quartet
January 11, 2024
For the final Friends of Chamber Music performance this fall, we welcomed back the internationally acclaimed and locally beloved Takács Quartet. This was the group’s 27th appearance for us since their debut in Vancouver on November 9, 1982. While the musicians may have changed, except for founding cellist András Fejér, this string quartet has evolved … Continue reading Takács Quartet
November 7, 2023
For their Canadian debut, the musicians of the Busch Trio performed a one-off concert rather than the more usual tour. Pianist Omri Epstein and his brother, cellist Ori Epstein, were joined by their colleague, violinist Mathieu van Bellen, in flying from Amsterdam to Vancouver for Tuesday night’s concert, their first for Friends of Chamber Music. … Continue reading Busch Trio
October 29, 2023
Something remarkable happened in Vancouver this weekend! We enjoyed clear, bright, and chilly sunshine all weekend. But that wasn’t it. Due to slow international artists working visa processing (not by the Canadian government, but by another one) the Mandelring Quartett’s first violinist, Sebastian Schmidt, was stranded at home in Germany. But the Mandelring was to … Continue reading Mandelring Quartett – Concert Notes
