Chamber Project St. Louis’ next program is themed “Rediscovery,” though most local listeners will be making their first discovery of work by this diverse, under-programmed group of composers performed live.
On the program: “Clarinet Quintet” by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912), whose mother was English and father of African-American heritage; “Nonet in Eb major” by Louise Farrenc (1804-1875), a French woman composer propelled to fame by this work who fell back into obscurity after her death; and the world premiere of “Redescubrimiento: A Dominican in St. Louis” by Darwin Aquino, who is – you guessed it – a Hispanic composer from the Dominican Republic living in St. Louis.
“All of our concerts are themed,” said Dana Hotle, a clarinetist who cofounded Chamber Project St. Louis and serves as its executive director. “Sometimes we start with a piece or a composer, and from there we build a concert around a theme. ‘Rediscovery’ highlights music by two composers who were perhaps a little overlooked because of race or gender.”
That was Coleridge-Taylor and Farrenc.
“To build on that, we commissioned a new piece by Darwin Aquino, who recently moved to St. Louis from the Dominican Republican,” Hotle said. “We are going to perform a piece inspired by his experience of moving to St. Louis from the Dominican Republic and how it’s been for him to live in St. Louis.”
Aquino’s piece will be performed as a world premiere; the other compositions are new to Chamber Project St. Louis – and, possibly, to St. Louis, one of the nation’s strongest cities for classical music, though little work by women or composers of color is ever performed by, say, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
“We focus on the diversity of voices in classical music,” Hotle said. “Usually, classical music is music by dead white guys. We focus on diversifying the voices of who wrote the music and who is performing the music.”
One of the violinists on the “Rediscovery” program, Kyle Lombard, is African-American. Hotle will play clarinet, including the featured role on Coleridge-Taylor’s quintet. Hotle’s two cofounders who remain with the project, Jennifer Gartley (flute) and Laura Reycraft (viola), will perform. The other players are Xiomara Mass (oboe), Ellen Conners (bassoon), Trica Jostlein (horn), Jane Price (violin), Valentina Takova (cello) and Mary Reed (bass).
As for the commission, the Chamber Project St. Louis leaders met Aquino performing with Winter Opera St. Louis, where he serves as musical director. He also is musical director for the Música Sacra concert series in Santo Domingo, director of orchestral studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and the current conductor-in-residence for the Washington University Symphony Orchestra.
“He is a great, friendly guy,” Hotle said. “We have known him few years but we didn’t know he was a composer. When we found out he was a composer, we said, ‘We should commission you.’”
Chamber Project St. Louis will perform “Rediscovery” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, November 16 at the 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity Ave. in University City. Tickets are $5 for students (includes two soda) and $15 general admission (includes complimentary wine, beer and soda).
“We like a casual environment where you can get a drink,” Hotle said. “We get rid of the stuffy stuff that goes with classical music. We keep the parts we like and skip the parts we don’t like.”
For advance tickets, visit https://tinyurl.com/Chamber-Rediscovery. For more information, visit http://chamberprojectstl.org/.
