Event

Beethoven's Clarinet

What a delight! Popular clarinet virtuoso Thomas Carroll visits Seattle with his chalumeau, basset horn, and Stadler and Classical clarinets to perform works by Boismortier (Suite in G minor), Mozart (Duets, K. 487, and the Adagio from the Clarinet Concerto), and Beethoven (the Clarinet Trio, Op. 11) with violoncellist Page Smith and pianist Tamara Friedman (1805 Nannette Streicher fortepiano). Boccherini's lovely Sonata in G major for Violoncello and Continuo, G. 5, rounds out the program.

"Mr. Carroll's playing was entirely admirable, sweet and agile, dazzling." (New York Times)

The Herald-Times has characterized his tone as "beautifully warm."

All of the performers will be playing in historical instruments, using period bows and gut strings, creating the rich, warm sound that conveys these dynamic yet intimate musical works best. Thomas Carroll will be making new converts for the Baroque chalumeau, basset horn, basset clarinet, and Classical clarinet. (Mozart loved the basset horn and basset clarinet.)

THE MUSICIANS

With a sound described as beautifully warm (Herald Times) and sweet and agile (New York Times), period clarinetist and instrument builder THOMAS CARROLL performs extensively throughout North America and Europe on historical instruments. He holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, Indiana University, and The Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, where his major teacher on early clarinets and chalumeaux was Eric Hoeprich.

Internationally, Thomas has performed under such directors as Christophe Coin, Richard Egarr, Philippe Herreweghe, and Jos van Immerseel, and has played at numerous festivals as an orchestral and chamber musician, including Oude Muziek Utrecht, Muziekzomer Gelderland, Young Euro Classic, Festival de Saintes, and Musica Antiqua Brugge, in venues ranging from the Konzerthaus in Berlin to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He has been featured to critical acclaim as a concerto soloist with Mercury: The Orchestra Redefined, Lyra Baroque, Ensemble ad Libitum, and Grand Harmonie. In North America, Thomas is the principal clarinetist with Boston-based Grand Harmonie and Houston-based Mercury: The Orchestra Redefined, and he frequently collaborates with other early music specialists on the east coast, including the Clarion Music and Handel and Haydn Societies, and Boston Baroque. Thomas is currently on the faculty of the Brookline Music School and maintains a private studio.

An interest in instrument mechanics and acoustics led Thomas to a secondary career as an instrument builder and to undertake extensive research into 18th- and 19th-century wood treatment and seasoning. He studied woodworking and instrument construction with Linda Shortridge, Rob Turner, and Paul Beekhuizen, and builds chalumeaux, baroque, and classical clarinets, and basset instruments for use in historically informed performance ensembles.

Hear Thomas play at https:// http://www.carrollclarinet.com/media/

PAGE SMITH is principal cellist of the Pacific Northwest Ballet and was principal cellist of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra for twenty-five years and the Auburn Symphony for ten years, ensembles with which she frequently appeared as a soloist. Page has also been principal cellist of the Aspen Chamber Symphony and the New Jersey Symphony, and currently plays upon invitation with the Seattle Symphony and the Seattle Opera. She is one of this regions most beloved and trusted chamber musicians, performing with the Orcas Island Chamber Music Series, the Amadeus Chamber Music Festival, Music of Remembrance, Chamber Music Northwest, and the Mostly Nordic and Second City chamber music series. Page especially enjoys playing the uniquely beautiful repertoire combining chorus and solo cello with the Tudor Choir, Opus 7, Choral Arts Northwest, the St. Marks Cathedral Choir, Seattle Pro Musica, and the St. James Cathedral Choir.

Pianist TAMARA FRIEDMAN, praised for the depth, wit, and humor of her performances (Seattle Times), attended the Oberlin Conservatory and received her master's degree from the Mannes College of Music (NYC). She has collaborated with such artists as Stanley Ritchie, Jaap Schröder, and Max van Egmond, and appears with violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock as Duo Amadeus. In the Pacific Northwest she has performed on the Seattle Camerata, Allegro Baroque and Beyond, Belle Arte, Early Music Guild, Gallery Concerts, and Mostly Nordic series and for the Governors Chamber Music Festival. She has been the featured performer in early piano workshops for Pacific Lutheran University (Tacoma, WA) and the Western Early Keyboard Association, and maintains a private studio in Seattle, where she teaches modern piano and fortepiano on the collection of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century keyboard instruments on display at SEKC!the Seattle Early Keyboard Collection. Her summers are spent in Bath, Maine, where she also has a group of historic pianos.

Hear Tamara play at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iIrBWKV1nk