By Khalida Sarwari
The Cal Arte Ensemble will present some of the grandest works in the chamber music repertoire this summer at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Saratoga.
The concert series kicked off this month with piano quintet masterpieces by Beethoven, Dvorak and Shostakovich and will continue this summer, with the next one scheduled for July 23.
“It’s a big group effort pulling together some of the top players from different local orchestras,” said Julian Brown, concertmaster of the Palo Alto Philharmonic and Cambrian Symphony.
A consortium of orchestras–the Nova Vista Symphony, Cambrian Symphony, Palo Alto Philharmonic and Redwood Symphony–make up the Cal Arte Ensemble, the official ensemble-in-residence at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara.
The group includes a compilation of principal musicians from the ensembles, such as acclaimed pianist Tamami Honma, Cambrian Symphony conductor and cellist Scott Krijnen, violinist Julian Brown and Palo Alto Philharmonic conductor and cellist Thomas Shoebotham.
Honma, who resides in Saratoga and also serves as president of the Saratoga Education Foundation, has just finished performing all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in a series of concerts in Cupertino.
Krijnen, who leads the orchestras at Redwood and Castillero middle schools, is also enjoying some recent accolades. He won a teacher of the year award at Castillero and received a commendation from the city of San Jose.
Though he earned his master’s degree from the Conservatory of Music in San Francisco, it’s the South Bay that Krijnen calls home. He lives in South San Jose and has devoted the last four years to the Cambrian Symphony and 12 years to Redwood and Castillero. He laments that the South Bay has lagged in the arts scene compared to cities such as San Francisco, where art and classical music, in particular, have always thrived.
“We’re trying to get as much art and music in society and have it be as much accessible as possible,” Krijnen said. “The idea is to get as many new listeners to classical music as possible and keep enriching the arts culture of the South Bay.”
That’s what Krijnen and his fellow musicians will attempt to do this summer.
The July 23 concert will feature Beethoven’s Piano Quartet in E-flat major No. 1, Op. 36 and Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34. The third and final concert takes place Aug. 27 and will feature Beethoven’s Piano Quartet in D major No. 2, Op. 36, Franck’s Piano Quintet in F minor and Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44.
Both concerts take place 7:30 p.m at 13601 Saratoga Ave. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted.
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The Cal Arte Ensemble presents the classics in summer series
