Ann Hobson Pilot
Feb 17, 2018
The Ritz Chamber Players are the United States’ first chamber
ensemble made up of professional musicians “spanning the African
diaspora,” as their introductory materials put it.
The almost 20
players who come together according to their schedules and repertoire
made their St. Louis debut on Friday night at the newly improved E.
Desmond Lee Concert Hall at Washington University’s 560 Music Center.
The
five performing were Ann Hobson Pilot, the distinguished harpist who
retired in 2009 as principal harp of the Boston Symphony Orchestra after
40 years; flutist Demarre McGill; cellist Tahirah Whittington;
Washington University faculty member (and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
regular) Kyle Lombard on violin and violist Orlando Wells.
The
program was varied, ranging from classical to tango. It opened with
Mozart’s Flute Quartet No. 1 in D major, showing off McGill’s fluid
playing and golden tone as well as fine ensemble work from the quartet,
and set the tone for the rest of the evening with first-rate
music-making throughout.
Lombard, Wells and Whittington returned
for the next piece, the fragmentary String Trio of African-American
composer Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004). The piece, which was Perkinson’s last composition, creates a melancholy mood in its brief span. It received a solid reading.
The
“Fantaisie” for Violin and Harp by Saint-Saëns introduced Pilot, a
living legend of the harp and one of the first African-American
musicians hired by American symphony orchestras in the 1960s. She’s a
commanding figure on stage. The “Fantaisie” is a pure Romantic work, and
Lombard and Pilot imbued it with heartfelt virtuoso playing.
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