BSR Classical Music Interludes: October 15-30, 2022

Mendelssohn Chorus
Saturday, October 15

Reena Esmail and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia join this chorus (going strong for 149 years) for the Philadelphia premiere of Reena Esmail’s 2017 work This Love Between Us. The Indian American composer (who will be in attendance) spans Western and Indian classical music traditions. Artistic director Dominick DiOrio will also be joined by Philadelphia tabla player (and research scientist) Vikram Mukherjee and sitarist Snehesh Nag, who plays in classical Indian ensembles and crossover bands. Rounding out the musical riches, the program at Holy Trinity Rittenhouse also features J.S. Bach’s Magnificat.

Pyxis Piano Trio
October 16, 19, and 22

Founded in 2009 as a quartet at the Delaware Art Museum (and still in residence there), Pyxis now plays as a trio (Luigi Mazzocchi, Jie Jin, and Hiroko Yamazaki). They’re opening their 14th season with three regional concerts. On October 16, for the Artcinia series Music in Your Neighborhood, they’ll offer Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and More at Philadelphia’s Epiphany of Our Lord Parish. And they’ll play Debussy and Dvorak on October 19 (Mallery Concerts at Rutgers-Camden) and October 22 (Market Street Music’s Festival Concerts series in Wilmington).

ARTEK and Gotham Early Music Series
Friday, October 21

The noted Gotham Early Music Series brings this well-known NYC-based early music ensemble to Philadelphia’s St. Clement’s Church this month, and they come with Claudio Monteverdi. ARTEK singers and continuo will perform the complete ninth book of Monteverdi’s madrigals, published after his death in 1651. There’s a bevy of well-known regional and East Coast singers and instrumentalists, including Philadelphians Clara Rottsolk (soprano), Grant Herreid (lute), and ensemble director Gwendolyn Toth (harpsichord).

Copeland String Quartet
October 23 and 26

Composed of Delaware Symphony members and founded in 2003, this ensemble—Eliezer Gutman and Thomas Jackson (violins), Elizabeth Jaffe (viola), and Jennifer Jie Jin (cello)—is in residence at Wilmington’s historic Church of the Holy City, where they’ll play a free concert on October 23. On October 26, they’re at Rutgers-Camden’s Mallery Concerts series, and at both they’ll play Franz Schubert’s Rosamunde Quartet and Danzas de Panama by William Grant Still.

West Jersey Chamber Symphony
Sunday, October 30

The Sweetest of the Suites opens the West Jersey Chamber Music Society’s five-concert season at Moorestown’s First Presbyterian Church. With Edward Schultz (flute) and Vivian Barton Dozor (cello) under the direction of Joel Krott, the ensemble will feature three Baroque gems: Handel’s Flute Suite (from Water Music), Telemann’s Don Quixote Suite, and J.S. Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3, which includes the Air on a G String. For those unable to attend, the website will feature a live free broadcast.

Wister Quartet
Sunday, October 30

There’s chamber music everywhere on this end-of-October Sunday afternoon. At Philadelphia’s German Society, the venerable Wister Quartet (formed in 1987 and concertizing at the Society since 1991) kicks off the Society’s season with Mozart’s String Quartet No. 19 (called the Dissonant), Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 5, and something a little newer—the Quartet No. 3 of Lloyd Smith, former Philadelphia Orchestra cellist.