The Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival concluded it’s summer 2018 program with perhaps its most ambitious work this past weekend. Their performance of works by Piotr Szewczyk, Jacques Ibert, John Addison and Franz Schubert at the Helen K. Persson Recital Hall in West Palm Beach proved to be a decisive and eclectic culmination to this musical foray. With a core of chamber musicians including Karen Fuller on the flute, Michael Forte on clarinet, Michael Ellert on bassoon, Dina Kostic on violin, Mei Mei Luo on violin, Renee Reder on viola, and Susan Bergeron on cello the Palm Beach Chamber Music orchestra also features an array of visiting artists including Eva Conti on the horn .
For the evenings performance of 3 Summer Sketches by Szewczyk the audience was treated to a particularly lively violin by Ms. Luo. The Mr. Ibert’s Deux Interludes was also among the most refreshing of the four pieces played. The exquisite rendition of Schubert’s Quintent in A Major, Opus 114, D. 667 was for this reviewer, the highlight of the evening and an auspicious way to end the show. The range of emotions and the degree of elegance and wit displayed by the players, motably Ms. Reder and Ms. Clippard, was memorable indeed and will stay with me long after I have enjoyed my last peach and Aperol Spritz in the month of July.
It is with great pleasure that a reviewer can witness a concert of such range and such joy as was demonstrated by this group. The Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival is enjoying its 37th seasons of performances in the long, sultry summer months of Palm Beach County. Since most of the South Florida cultural offerings are tipped in favor of the winter months, it is a pleasure to come across an enlightened and committed music festival such as this one.
