Fine Arts Chamber Players announces Hallam Family Concert series dates, players, and repertoire
DALLAS (Sept 23, 2023) – Fine Arts Chamber Players (FACP) is pleased to announce the Hallam Family Concert series will be performed live Saturdays at 3:00pm at several Dallas venues. Finalized dates for 2023 are Sept 30th at Moody Performance Hall and November 4th at Wilshire Baptist Church. The Hallam Family Concert series includes 7 free chamber music concerts featuring many of Dallas’ top professional musicians. As always, FACP programs are free to enjoy with no ticket required for admission. The theme for HFC24 is “The Ties that Bind”
“In our season, each program centers on a different element that threads the music together. From societal restrictions to musical instrument families and the different forms of love, the concerts explore the many ways these important forces impact music making and artistic creativity” HFC Artistic Director Emily Levin said.
The program for the first Hallam Concert on Saturday, September 30th at Moody Performance Hall is Fanny Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in E-flat Major, performed by The PLUS Quartet - Aleksandr Snytkin and Filip Fenrych, violin; Matthew Sinno, viola; and Jeff Hood, cello. Stephanie Key on clarinet rounds out the players on Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Quintet in F-sharp Minor for Clarinet and Strings, Op. 10.
The November 4th concert at Wilshire Baptist Church features Violinist Maria Schleuning and Cellist Jolyon Pegis performing Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello, Rheinhold Glière’s Huit Morceaux, Op. 39, and Saint-Saëns’ La Muse et le Poète.
For the first HFC of the new year, FACP is at Central Commons on Saturday, January 27, 2024 with MAKE Trio - Grace Kang Wollett, violin; Danny Goldman, clarinet; and Mikhail Berestnev, piano. The trio will perform Alexander Arutiunian’s Suite, Robert Xavier Rodriguez’s Semi-Suite, Schoenfeld’s Trio, and FACP music education alumnae Quinn Mason’s Two Fleeting Daydreams.
On February 17, 2024 at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church, Hayley Grainger, flute, Bradley Hunter Welch, cello, and Emily Levin, harp, will perform Marcel Grandjany’s Aria in Classic Style, Joseph Bologne’s Sonata in E-flat Major for Flute and Harp, Jean-Michel Damase’s Sonata for Flute and Harp, and Gustav Mahler’s (arr. Dorfmüller) Adagietto from Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp Minor.
On March 16, 2024, at Central Commons, Julia Choi, violin, Christine Lamprea, cello, and Emily Levin, harp, will perform Renna Esmail’s Saans, Angélica Negrón’s Ave del paraiso, and Henriette Renié’s Trio for violin, cello, and harp.
On April 20, 2024 at Central Commons, in a special concert that invites children of all ages, a reading of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved children’s tale The Little Prince is intertwined with music by Amy Beach in this program designed for young listeners and those new to the world of classical music. Ebonee Thomas, flute; Eunice Keem and Hyorim Han, violin; Matthew Sinno, viola; Minji Kim, cello will perform Amy Beach’s Theme and Variations for Flute and String Quartet, Op. 80. FACP Executive Director Morgan Vaughan will narrate.
May 25, 2024 - Central Commons - The Charles Barr Memorial Concert - To Be Announced.
Concerts will be filmed as they have been the past several years. Videos are usually available for viewing about 3 weeks after the live performance on FACP’s YouTube channel.
This year’s concerts are sponsored by a designated gift from Fanchon and Howard Hallam. Additional designated funds and operational funds are thanks to The Arts Community Alliance (TACA), Texas Commission on the Arts (TCA) and The City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture, as well as numerous gifts from our individual patrons and collaboration from community partners including DART. FACP relies solely on grants and donations for its funding, as its mission is to provide absolutely free concerts and music education for all.
If you are interested in helping to sponsor any FACP concert or to support its Music Education in area schools, please contact Morgan Vaughan, morgan@fineartschambeplayers.org
The 7 distinct pieces of art used in FACP’s posters/social media are by Wasily Kandinsky.
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All event details will be shared on FACP’s website and social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Concerts are free and open to the public; no advance registration is required; seating is limited and is first-come, first-served. All are on Saturdays at 3pm.
SCHEDULE: Hallam Family Concerts - “The Ties that Bind”
Saturday, Sept 30th - Moody Performance Hall - Plus One
The Plus Quartet and clarinetist Stephanie Key kick off the 2023-2024 season with a program centered around Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s masterful Clarinet Quintet.
PLUS Quartet: Aleksandr Snytkin and Filip Fenrych, violin; Matthew Sinno, viola; and Jeff Hood, cello; with Stephanie Key on clarinet
Fanny Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in E-flat Major
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Quintet in F-Sharp Minor for Clarinet and Strings, Op. 10
Saturday, Nov 4th - Wilshire Baptist Church - Threads
Longtime friends and duo partners Maria Schleuning and Jolyon Pegis unite for a program of works for violin and cello, highlighting the interconnection of color, sound, and voice between the two instruments.
Maria Schleuning, violin and Jolyon Pegis, cello
Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello
Rheinhold Glière’s Huit Morceaux, Op. 39
Saint-Saëns’ La Muse et le Poète
Saturday, January 27, 2024 - Central Commons - Creation
The MAKE Trio returns to the FACP stage with another showstopping performance of works for violin, clarinet and piano.
MAKE Trio - Grace Kang Wollett, violin; Danny Goldman, clarinet; and Mikhail Berestnev, piano
Alexander Arutiunian’s Suite for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano
Robert Xavier Rodriguez’s Semi-Suite
Paul Schoenfeld’s Trio
Quinn Mason’s Two Fleeting Daydreams
February 17, 2024 - Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church - Within Worlds
Organist Bradley Hunter Welch and Flutist Hayley Grainger unite with HFC Artistic Director Emily Levin for a program that explores the infinite variations of love, including the heartbreaking Adagietto from Gustav Mahler’s 5th Symphony.
Hayley Grainger, flute, Bradley Hunter Welch, cello, and Emily Levin, harp
Marcel Grandjany’s Aria in Classic Style
Joseph Bologne’s Sonata in E-flat Major for Flute and Harp
Jean-Michel Damase’s Sonata for Flute and Harp
Gustav Mahler’s (arr. Dorfmüller) Adagietto from Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp Minor
March 16, 2024 - Central Commons - Mystique
Immediately following their album recording earlier in the week, musicians Julia Choi, Christine Lamprea and Emily Levin perform the groundbreaking Trio by French harpist Henrietté Renié, along with premiere performances of works by Angélica Negrón and Reena Esmail.
Julia Choi, violin, Christine Lamprea, cello, and Emily Levin, harp
Renna Esmail’s Saans
Angélica Negrón’s Ave del paraiso
Henriette Renié’s Trio
April 20, 2024 - Central Commons - Among the Stars
The reading of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved children’s tale The Little Prince is intertwined with music by Amy Beach in this program designed especially for young listeners and those new to the world of classical music. FACP Executive Director Morgan Vaughan will narrate.
Ebonee Thomas, flute; Eunice Keem and Hyorim Han, violin; Matthew Sinno, viola; Minji Kim, cello
Amy Beach’s Theme and Variations for Flute and String Quartet, Op. 80
May 25, 2024 - Central Commons - The Charles Barr Memorial Concert
The Charles Barr Memorial Concert celebrates the legacy of Dallas bassist Charles Barr and showcases the next generation of DFW musical talent.
Program to be announced.
OVERVIEW: Hallam Family Concert series ‘The Ties that Bind”
Saturday afternoons at 3pm - Sept 30, Nov 4, 2023 and Jan 27, Feb 17, March 16, April 20, and May 25, 2024
Each concert runs about 60 minutes
FREE; first-come, first-served
Hallam Family Concerts are possible thanks to a dedicated gift from Fanchon and Howard Hallam.
Essential general funding for FACP, and dedicated funding for HFC24, is from City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture (OAC), TACA - The Arts Community Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts (TCA), The National Endowment for the Arts, and generous support from its board of directors, donors, and people like you.
FACP is a member of Texans for the Arts
BIO - Artistic Director - Emily Levin
Praised for her “communicative, emotionally intense expression” (Jerusalem Post) and for “playing exquisitely” (Dallas Morning News), Emily Levin is the Principal Harpist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Bronze Medal Winner of the 9th USA International Harp Competition.
Since joining the DSO at age 24, Emily has also performed as Guest Principal Harp with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Houston Symphony, and regularly appears with the New York Philharmonic. As a soloist, she has performed throughout North America and Europe, in venues including Carnegie Hall (New York), the Kimmel Center (Philadelphia) and Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Rugen, Germany). Working with conductors such as Jaap van Zweden, John Adams, and Gemma New, her concerto appearances include the Ojai Music Festival, the Dallas Symphony, the Jerusalem, Colorado and West Virginia Symphony Orchestras, the Louisiana Philharmonic, and the Lakes Area Music Festival, among others. She is a laureate of Astral Artists. For her debut album, Something Borrowed, the Classical Recording Foundation named her their 2017 Young Artist of the Year.
In 2022 Emily launched GroundWork(s), a project commissioning American composers from each state for harp-centric works. Each piece premieres in the composer’s hometown, celebrating the communities that first supported them. Current projects include a solo harp piece by Michael Ippolito, and chamber works by Reena Esmail, Aaron Holloway Nahum, Angélica Negrón, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and Jerod Impichchaachaaha Tate.
In Dallas, Emily is Artistic Director of the Hallam Family Concert series for Fine Arts Chamber Players, a music series that presents chamber concerts free of charge to the general public. She is on faculty at Southern Methodist University and the Young Artist’s Harp Seminar, and in summer 2022 she joined the harp faculty at the Aspen Music Festival.
Emily received her Master of Music degree in 2015 at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Nancy Allen and she completed undergraduate degrees in Music and History at Indiana University with Susann McDonald. Her honors history thesis discussed the impact of war songs on the French Revolution. She lives in Dallas with her husband, composer Jon Cziner, and their two dogs Charlie and JoJo.
GLOSSARY & OVERVIEW - Fine Arts Chamber Players
“Chamber music is a type of music designed for small ensembles that can perform in a palace chamber, a residential parlor, or any small room. Chamber music ensembles typically include string quartets, piano trios, and wind instrument quartets.
The term ‘chamber music’ frequently describes classical music ensembles, but it can apply to any small group playing art music. Chamber ensembles almost always feature one player per instrument, which stands in contrast to orchestras that feature large sections for strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion.
Chamber music began in an era when people played music together as a social activity. By gathering as an impromptu instrumental ensemble, early chamber musicians received both personal and artistic fulfillment. This has led some to call chamber music ‘the music of friends.’” [source: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/chamber-music-guide]
Fine Arts Chamber Players is in its 43rd season of providing FREE world-class concerts and music education to Dallas residents. It is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization 100% funded by grants, foundations, and individual donations. To donate, please visit https://fineartschamberplayers.org/donate/ and consider FACP in you year-end giving!
Hallam Family Concerts: FREE monthly chamber music concert series on Saturday afternoons at 3pm, October (Sept in 2023) – May (excluding December); Artistic Director of the series is Emily Levin (pronounced luh-VEEN); Ms. Levin is also the Principal Harp of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
Basically Beethoven Festival: FREE weekly chamber music concerts on Sunday afternoons in July at Moody Performance Hall; 2:30pm; each week opens with a Rising Star Recital highlighting talented young/student musicians from the area, followed by the Feature Performance showcasing top-tier professional musicians from North Texas; Artistic Director of the Basically Beethoven Festival is Dr. Alex McDonald
Music Education Programs: FREE education programs including Musical Residencies at David W. Carter High School - Dallas ISD and at Uplift’s Atlas Preparatory Academy (formerly Peak Preparatory), an east Dallas charter school; FACP Teaching Artists lead individual and small group lessons in voice, piano, and violin to students with financial need; instruction provided at no cost to students and schools.
FACP Staff: Executive Director Morgan Vaughan; Artistic Director of the Hallam Family Concert series Emily Levin (pronounced luh-VEEN) is also Principal Harp of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra; Artistic Director of the Basically Beethoven Festival Dr. Alex McDonald is also a concert pianist and runs a private studio; Production & Education Manager Jeff Tullis. Full bios here: https://www.fineartschamberplayers.org/team
Mission Statement: To enrich and enhance the quality of life for North Texas-area residents, especially families and children, through free concerts of classical music and educational activities
Website: www.fineartschamberplayers.org
Linktr.ee: https://linktr.ee/fineartschamberplayers
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Email sign-up list: https://bit.ly/35ULvXU
General email queries: music@fineartschamberplayers.org
Media Contact: Morgan Vaughan - morgan@fineartchamberplayers.org