Coming up in Philly music: A midsummer chamberfest

For me, the biggest attraction at the next Curtis Summerfest faculty concert will be Brahms’s haunting trio for horn, violin, and piano. Brahms invented a new instrumental combination when he composed the trio and created a unique emotional landscape. The trio receives its distinctive color and aura from the horn, but it contains some of Brahms’s best writing for the violin. The violinist will be Rebecca Harris, a familiar figure to Philadelphians who follow Tempesta di Mare and Choral Arts Philadelphia. The horn will be played by Gabriel Kovach, a 1999 Curtis grad who is currently the principal horn of the Phoenix Symphony.

The Brahms is just one item in a program that should appeal to anyone familiar with the chamber-music repertoire. Flutist Mimi Stillman will join one of her regular Dolce Suono partners, Bridget Kibbey, in a flute-and-harp arrangement of Saint-Saëns’s A Major Fantasie for violin and harp. Summerfest’s director, Amy J. Wang, will preside over the piano in Mendelssohn’s second piano trio.

The contemporary scene will be represented by a string quartet playing Dmitri Tymoczko’s This Picture Seems to Move. Tymoczko is an American composer and musical theorist whose publications include the first article on music theory published in Science, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Summerfest is an intensive program designed for two types of students: young people ages 14 to 22 who are considering careers in music, and older musicians (professional and amateur) who want to upgrade their skills. Its faculty are all musicians with thriving careers, and their concerts have become a major addition to the city’s summer attractions.

Curtis Summerfest will present Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns, Brahms, and Tymoczko on Friday, July 27, at 7pm at Curtis’s Field Concert Hall (1726 Locust Street, Philadelphia). Tickets ($28) are available online and at the door.

Above: Students of Curtis's Young Artist Summer Program practice. (Photo courtesy of the Curtis Institute.)