Chamber Music tickets now available, By John S. Brook June 16, 2006, Jazz series offers up cool, classic, latin and funk

Season tickets are now available for the Festival de Música de Cámara's innovative 28th season, which leads off with a concert by the Turtle Island String Quartet-perhaps the most exciting alternative chamber music group performing today-and concludes two weeks later with an astonishing gala performance:

the internationally celebrated St. Petersburg String Quartet joining with the Vega String Quartet and violinist Tim Fain in a performance of Mozart's seldom-played Symphonie Concertante.

The season runs from Saturday, July 29, through Saturday, August 12, and will include 11 paid concerts at the Teatro Ángela Peralta, a memorial concert in honor of the late Bill Porter at Las Monjas and two free concerts at locations to be announced.

"This is absolutely the most exciting season we have ever programmed," says board president Ed Clancy. "Our quartets are pairing up in all kinds of ways to play octets you seldom get a chance to hear. Olga Kern, our pianist, won the Van Cliburn competition-the first woman in over 30 years. Two of our quartets, the Turtle Island and the Ying, just received a Grammy for Best Classical Crossover Album for their recording titled 4 + Four. And perhaps most exciting of all, these two quartets will appear in a joint concert of numbers from their acclaimed album on Sunday, July 30, the second day of our festival."

All four string quartets performing this season come to San Miguel with distinguished track records. The Turtle Island was described by the Sacramento Bee as "group string jazz at its finest, not only brilliantly conceived but brilliantly played as well...." The St. Petersburg has built a worldwide reputation with international prizes, a Grammy nomination and "Best Record" honors from Stereo Review and Gramophone.

The Los Angeles Times critic considered the Ying "as close to the ideal as possible," showing "astonishing, refreshing exaltation and exhilaration." And the New York Times described a recent Vega performance as "playing that had a kind of clean intoxication to it … the musicians took real risks in their music making."

New to the Festival is Russian pianist Olga Kern, winner of the Eleventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2001. "Playing this pure and unaffected," said the Los Angeles Times, "comes only from the most evolved and selfless musicians."

Also performing a solo concert is violinist Tim Fain, who appeared at the Festival last year as first violinist of the Rossetti Quartet. Symphony magazine recently selected Fain as one of its featured "Up-and-Coming" young musicians in 2006, and The Boston Globe called him "a charismatic young violinist with a matinee idol profile, strong musical instincts and first rate chops."

Even though this season's schedule consists of 11 concerts, as compared to 10 last year, the Festival is holding to last year's season ticket price: US $240 (2,640 pesos) for orchestra and US $315 (3,500 pesos) for box seats.

Performances, unless indicated otherwise, are at San Miguel's newly renovated Teatro Ángela Peralta at 7:30pm Monday through Saturday and 5:30pm Sunday.

As it has since its inception, the Festival will offer its annual workshop for advanced Mexican music students, who attend two weeks of master classes taught by the musicians performing in Festival concerts. Workshop participants will present free concerts at Bellas Artes, the Biblioteca Pública and other venues around town.

Season tickets are available at the Festival Office, Bellas Artes, Hernández Macías 75, from 10am to 2pm, or call 154-8722 or email info@chambermusicfestival.com.
For more information, you can contact the Festival office or visit the Festival website at www.chambermusicfestival.com.

Jazz series offers up cool, classic, latin and funk

For three days the Angela Peralta Theater features a series of jazz concerts at 8pm that will add even more texture to San Miguel's rich musical offerings. On Thursday, June 22, special guest Rodrigo Castelan will join other musicians for an evening of cool, Latin and funky jazz.

The following night, June 23, Castelan, on bass, will be joined by Gabriel Hernández on piano and Victor Monterubio on drums for a night of jazz trio tunes. The series wraps up on June 24 with Veronica Ituarte, a scat jazz singer, and a trio playing classic jazz.

Tickets are on sale at the Angela Peralta Theater, located on the corner of calles Mesones and Hernández Macías. Cost is 120 pesos for the shows on June 22 and 23 and 150 pesos on June 24.