The Onyx Chamber Players, a piano trio that brings fresh interpretations to the classical works of Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn and Brahms, will kick off this season’s Pilchuck Chamber Music Series.
The chamber series at Tazer Valley Farm, one of Snohomish County’s premier music venues, features professional chamber music ensembles from the Northwest on four Sundays this summer.
“Last summer’s series was so well received, we’ve added a fourth concert,” said Erich Schweiger, founder of the event.
Schweiger, a local violinist and violin maker, was inspired to share the beauty of chamber music in a convenient and affordable setting.
Now in its second year, the series presents chamber music as it was meant to be: in an informal, more intimate atmosphere. The audience also can meet and chat with the performers after the concert, Schweiger said.
The Onyx Chamber Players are known for bringing “new life to pieces that sometimes are played in a trite or regimented way,” Schweiger said.
And audiences get it, violinist Cecilia Archuleta said.
“Many comment how they have never experienced ‘pretty’ music in such an exciting, even visceral, way before,” she said.
The program will open with the unusual Mozart Trio in G in honor of the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. The program also includes Beethoven’s “Archduke” Trio op. 97 and Brahms Trio No. 2 in C, op. 87.
“We feel especially at home performing Beethoven,” pianist David White said. “He is in our bones, so to speak.”
Onyx members first played together five years ago at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Medina, where White was the music director. Individually, they bring many years of experience to chamber music.
White, a native of Chicago, is at home as a pianist, organist, composer and conductor. As a composer, he has written more than 150 works. He is currently working on a trio for Onyx and soon will begin composing his fourth opera.
Violinist Archuleta has performed internationally as an orchestral musician and soloist. She was twice invited to play before the president of Mexico at the invitation of the first lady of Mexico, and she has appeared as a soloist with the Mexico City Philharmonic.
Meg Brennand, a graduate of the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in New York, is known for her work on modern and baroque cello. She is on the faculty at Seattle Pacific University and is a member of the Pacific Northwest Ballet orchestra. She has recorded for National Public Radio, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Radio, Wild Boar and Centaur.
Visitors to Tazer Valley can bring a picnic basket. A local artist will present his or her work at each concert, and Brindles Market and Camano Island Coffee Roasting will offer a variety of refreshments for sale both at intermission and before and after the performance.
The complete concert series schedule is:
Sunday: Onyx Chamber Players, a piano trio hailed for its interpretations of classical-era composers, and guest artist John Muhler, who works with acrylics.
July 23: Pacific Brass Quintet, which has a large and varied repertoire, including Baroque and classical music and show tunes; guest artist is Molly LeMaster, who specializes in watercolors.
Aug. 13: Odeon String Quartet, an established Seattle string quartet committed to 20th-century music, and guest artist Edward Trobec, a bronze sculptor.
Aug. 27: Billet-Deux, an acoustic group that combines the best elements of American and Gypsy jazz; the guest artist is Jamila Schweiger, who works with watercolors.
The Onyx Chamber Players, David White, Meg Brennand and Cecilia Archuleta, will perform Sunday at Tazer Valley Farm.
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