CommonsNews.org: Chamber Series concludes with Laredo, Robinson, Ngwenyama, and Hochman [Vermont premiere of Nokuthula's "Elegy"]

 Courtesy photo

Clockwise from left, Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Nokuthula Endo Ngwenyama, and Benjamin Hochman will be performing in the June 24 finale of the Brattleboro Music Center’s Chamber Series.

The Commons

June 22, 2022

BRATTLEBORO—The Brattleboro Music Center Chamber Series concludes with an evening of beloved piano quartets featuring Jaime Laredo (violin) Nokuthula Ngwenyama (viola), Sharon Robinson (cello), and Benjamin Hochman (piano).

Their performance will include the Vermont premiere of award-winning composer/violist Ngwenyama’s new piano quartet Elegy. This BMC co-commission was composed in response to the tragic events of spring 2020, including the killing of George Floyd.

Known for writing “music of bold, mesmerizing character” (Gramophone), Ngwenyama joins what The Washington Post calls “superstars of the chamber music world,” Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson, with Benjamin Hochman, for the finale concert of this season’s BMC Chamber Music Series.

Also on the program will be Mozart’s Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478, and Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G minor, two of the most-revered chamber music works in the canon.

BMC artistic advisor Jaime Laredo is regarded as one of the top violinists of the late 20th century, especially notable as part of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio.

He has also been active as a conductor and educator. Performing for over six decades before audiences across the globe, “he has excelled in the multiple roles of soloist, conductor, recitalist, pedagogue, and chamber musician,” notes a news release.

“Mother of Peace” and “Lion” in Zulu, Nokuthula Endo Ngwenyama’s performances as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician garner great attention.

Gramaphone proclaims her as “providing solidly shaped music of bold mesmerizing character.” As a composer, Uptown magazine featured her as “A Poet of Sound.”

As a performer, she gained international prominence by winning the Primrose International Viola Competition at age 16. The following year she won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, which led to debuts at the Kennedy Center and the 92nd Street Y. A recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, she has performed with orchestras and as a recitalist the world over.