A concert series closes with a flourish

Vashon Allied Arts’ Chamber Music Series will close its 2011-2012 season this weekend with three concerts.

Vashon Allied Arts’ Chamber Music Series will close its 2011-2012 season this weekend with three concerts.

It’s one more show than was originally planned, but a Sunday evening program was added after tickets moved briskly for the Friday and Saturday concerts and all of the visiting musicians agreed to stay in town for one more night.

Each of the three concerts will be different.

On Friday night, Trio Pardalote, an ensemble comprised of violinist Victoria Parker, violist Heather Bentley and cellist Rowena Hammill, will play repertoire that includes Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Trio in G, op. 9, no. 1, and “Fantasia for String Trio” by Frank Campo. Guest pianist Dmitry Rachmanov, whose resume includes performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, will join the ensemble.

On Saturday, Rachmanov will be back to perform again, this time with Leonid Keylin, violinist from the Seattle Symphony, and cellist Douglas Davis. The repertoire will include music by Johannes Brahams, Paul Hindemith and Erwin Schulhoff.

According to Janice Randall, director of performing arts at Vashon Allied Arts, the repertoire for Sunday night’s concert hasn’t been set, but all the same players will take part in the concert.

“It will all be music from the previous two nights, and we will announce as we go,” Randall said. “It will be relaxed and fun, and we’ll keep our audience guessing.”

Randall added that the entire series has been a huge success, with sell-out crowds responding enthusiastically to all seven concerts in the series. She had high praise in particular for Doug and Rowena Hammill, the artistic directors of the series.

“Rowena has introduced the Island to some obscure classical music and then also mixed it up with contemporary composers and the favorites — Bach, Brahms, Schumann and the big pieces,” she said.

Not only have the concerts been entertaining, she said, but they have also been educational.

“I haven’t gone to one of these programs that I haven’t loved,” she said. “I’ve learned so much about classical music and the lives of the composers.”

 

The final concerts of Vashon Allied Arts’ chamber music series will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, at the Blue Heron. Tickets, $18 and $21, are on sale at www.brownpapertickets.com, the Blue Heron, Heron’s Nest, Vashon Bookshop, and by calling 463-5131.