PORT LUDLOW — Cellist Pamela Roberts and pianist Michael Carroll will present a concert at the Port Ludlow Beach Club at 2 p.m. Saturday.
They will be joined by guest artist Howard Gilbert on snare drum at the concert at 121 Marina View Drive, Port Ludlow.
The concert is free and no tickets are required. Masks are recommended for audience members and there will be a short reception after the concert.
“We are thrilled to provide this local opportunity for community members to hear some of the greatest classical chamber music ever written,” Carroll said.
The concert features an interesting mix of inspirational works for cello and piano.
First on the program is Beethoven’s Cello Sonata in G minor (Op. 5, No. 2) written in 1796.
“The Op. 5 sonatas are the first examples of fully developed cello sonatas in the modern tradition,” organizers said.
After Beethoven debuted this sonata, the King of Prussia presented the composer with a golden snuff box full of 100 gold coins. The 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth was recently celebrated in 2020.
Featured next will be Rachmaninoff’s Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 19 – Andante, written in 1901.
“Exemplifying the best of the Russian Romantic era, this piece fully explores the cello’s deep capacity for intense, emotional expression,” organizers said.
“This sonata turned out to be the composer’s last chamber music work, marking an important end to his career.”
The following piece was started during and then completed after WWII.
“Orphaned as a teen, Francis Poulenc was a highly accomplished French pianist,” who completed his Sonate pour violoncelle et piano, FP 143 in 1948, organizers said.
Two movements are included in this concert — the Cavatine and the Allegro – Tempo di Marcia.
“The influence of Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky can be heard as Poulenc’s creative textures, colors and melodies are simultaneously playful and serious,” organizers said.
The program will end with three shorter melodic pieces.
“Lush Life” was written by Billy Strayhorn while still a teenager in the early 1930s.
“Its haunting melody and sophisticated lyrics highlight Strayhorn’s extremely precocious musical talents. Strayhorn was born in Dayton, Ohio and became a gifted jazz composer and arranger, who worked closely with Duke Ellington,” organizers said.
“Pure Imagination” is a song from the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (sung by Gene Wilder).
“Oblivion” is by Astor Piazzolla.
“Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneon player responsible for the development of nuevo tango which incorporated elements of jazz, classical counterpoint, varied instrumentation and extended compositional forms,” organizers said.
Biographers estimate he wrote 3,000 pieces and recorded 500.
Musicians
Roberts, who lives in Quilcene, was recognized as a national cello talent by age 11. Awarded the top music scholarship at the University of Washington for five years and a three-year fellowship to the Aspen Music Festival, she became faculty cellist at the University of Puget Sound.
She was principal cellist of the Tacoma Symphony and 5th Avenue Theatre Orchestra in Seattle.
s a soloist, Roberts performed with the Seattle Symphony, Bremerton WestSound Symphony, Aspen Music Festival and Port Townsend Symphony Orchestra, among others.
Her teachers included Eva Heinitz, Toby Saks, Daniel Lynch and Alan Harris.
Carroll, who lives in Port Ludow, began piano study at age 8 and studied with several teachers, most notably Robert Van Meter at Clarion State College in Pennsylvania.
Since moving to Seattle in 1990, he has played numerous recitals and chamber music performances and concertos by Haydn, Mozart, Poulenc and Bartok.
He performed with many Seattle ensembles and soloists and for 10 years was the staff pianist and program annotator for Seattle’s Thalia Symphony Orchestra.
Said Roberts: “Mike and I have worked hard for months to prepare this program and we are excited to bring people in the community together to enjoy this beautiful music. We hope you can also join us for a short reception after the concert.”
