12th International Musical Arts Institute Chamber Music Festival

Aspiring, seasoned artists to come together

FRYEBURG – The first Music for Summer Evenings concert of the 12th International Musical Arts Institute Chamber Music Festival will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 10, at Fryeburg Academy.

Music for Summer Evenings performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 11-12, with Music for Sunday Afternoons beginning at 2 p.m. on July 13. Festival concerts will continue every Wednesday evening through Sunday afternoon through Saturday, Aug. 2.

Since its first season in 1997, IMAI has matched young aspiring musicians on the brink of their careers with seasoned artists of international reputation, all of whom have come from 30 nations on five continents. They attend this annual summer residency program for intensive study, artistic development and the joy of music-making, which they share with concert audiences.

Fifty-four resident artist/musicians will perform in this season’s series of 18 classical chamber music concerts.

The July 10 Music for Summer Evenings program will include Prokofieff’s Sonata in C Major for cello and piano, Op. 119 (1949), performed by cellist Alexei Gonzales and pianist Eliko Akahori; the Oboe Quintet (1922) by English composer Arnold Bax with oboist Mie Shiraishi joining violinists Lino Tanaka and Marcio Candido, violist Ofer Tomer and cellist Jinkyoung Chung. The program will conclude with Mendelssohn’s Sextet in D Major for Piano and Strings, Op. 110 with Candido and Akahori joined by violists Hella Frank and Daniel Brye, cellist Hyunsoo Joo and string bassist Justin McCarty.

The July 11 program will include Haydn’s London Trio London Trio III in G major with violinists Joon Won Park and Michael Winer and cellist Lynn Nowels; and Schumann’s Piano Trio No. 2 in F Major, Op. 80 with violinist Frederic Bedarz, cellist Kangho Lee and Akahori, pianist. The program will conclude with “Quartuor pour la fin du temps,” the great 20th century work by Olivier Messiaen performed by violinist Monica Pegis, clarinetist Ben Seltzer, Gonzales and pianist Heng-Jin Park.

Saturday evening’s International Night will open with the Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra in D minor, BWV 1043 by J. S. Bach. Violinists Li-Ling Liao and Guan Ting Liao will be joined by an ensemble of fellow IMAI musicians. The program continues with violinist Xin Ding and violist Kazuko Matsusaka, both members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, performing Mozart’s Duo for Violin and Viola No. 1 in G major, K. 423. The evening will conclude with violinist and IMAI Artistic Director Eric Rosenblith and cellist Kango Lee joining Ding and Matsusaka in Debussy’s String Quartet in g minor.

Audience members will have a chance to win a 2008 multiadmission ticket, and all are invited to the dessert reception in the lobby following the concert.

Music for Sunday Afternoon will begin at 2 o’clock July 13 with Mozart’s String Quartet in Eb Major, K. 428, Brahms’ Piano Trio in c minor, Op. 101 and Elgar’s Piano Quintet in a minor, Op. 84. Performing will be violinists Asuka Usui, Shan-Ken Chien, Li-Ling Liao and Michael Winer; violists Daneil Brye and Jason Fisher; cellists Hyunsoo Joo and Lynn Nowels; and pianists Natsuki Hiratsuka and Lolita Lisoskaya.

All concerts take place at the Bion Cram Library on the campus of Fryeburg Academy. Admission is $12 for adults, $6 for seniors and students. Sunday afternoon concerts are free to seniors and to those with mobility limitations. For more information, call (603) 367 8661 or log on to www.home.earthlink.net/~imaifryeburg.