Lenape opens 38th season

BUCKS COUNTY

Alineup of distinguished artists will perform works by Brahms, Beethoven, and the French composer Olivier Messiaen at the Lenape Chamber Ensemble’s opening concerts on Friday, October 12th at 8:15 P.M. at Upper Black Eddy’s historic Upper Tinicum Lutheran Church, and on Sunday, Oct.14 at 3 p.m. at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown.

Beethoven’s String nuartet Opus 74, “The Harp”, was composed during the summer of 1809, when Napoleon’s attack RQ 9LHQQD FDXVHG BHHWKRYHQ WR flHH WR Hungary. The nuartet will be performed by Timothy Fain, violinist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, along with Cyrus Beroukhim, Concertmaster of the New York Symphonic Ensemble; Catherine Beeson, the Colorado Symphony’s Associate Principal violist; and Arash Amini, cellist with the Mark O’Connor Trio.

Pianist Marcantonio Barone, a longtime Lenape favorite and Steinway Artist, is featured in Brahms’ Piano nuartet in C minor, Opus 60, a piece that Brahms began in 1854, worked on for many years, and did not publish until 1875. He was fond of the work, according to reports, and revised it several times, changing the key from its original C sharp minor to C minor, and adding a scherzo.

The Fantaisie for Violin and Piano by Olivier Messiaen is interpreted by Cyrus Beroukhim and Marcantonio Barone. Messiaen, born in Avignon, France in 1908, was a noted organist as well as an ornithologist. He made an intensive study of bird calls, whose melodies were sometimes incorporated into his music. He is considered to EH DPRQg WKH VWURQgHVW LQflXHQFHV LQ 20WK century music, and was professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire until his retirement in 1978.

Tickets at $18 for adults, $15 for seniors and students, and $5 for children, will be available at the door, or by calling (610) 294-9361. These concerts supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts, are held at the Upper Tinicum Lutheran Church off Route 32, two miles north of the Frenchtown Bridge and at Delaware Valley College on Route 202 South near the Route 611 bypass in Doylestown. Members of the audience may enjoy refreshments and meet the musicians at the receptions following the concerts.