Concert of chamber works

BRATTLEBORO- The Brattleboro Music Center, 72 Blanche Moyse Way, hosts a concert of chamber works by pianist, teacher, and composer Robert Merfeld in the center’s auditorium on Saturday, November 10, at 7:30 pm.
Merfeld has assembled a cast of distinguished musicians, many of whom are familiar to local BMC audiences. They will present a varied and unique program.
Performers include Bayla Keyes and Katie Lansdale, violin; Anya Shemetyeva, viola; Rhonda Rider and Paul Cohen, cello; Mary Cicconetti, oboe; Jayne West, soprano and narrator; and Merfeld, who will play piano on three of his pieces.
The concert will be preceded by a talk from 5 to 6 pm by the performers and the composer, who will discuss what they do as teachers and what students hope to glean from teaching.
The first piece on the program, “String Quartet,” was composed by Merfeld when he was 9 years old, four years after beginning his piano studies. The inspiration for Merfeld to revive his composing career came in 2008 when he was working with the Word Song Project in Boston. Participants were each asked to set music to the William Blake poem “The Tyger.” Merfeld’s composition was written for soprano and piano, and he will perform this piece with Jayne West.
Also on the program is “Cricket and Piglet- A Fable,”  a story Merfeld wrote and  put to music for violin, viola, and narrator. Another animal-oriented piece is “Animal Miniatures,” commissioned by Michelle LaCourse, head of the string department at Boston University, where Merfeld teaches. He will be playing this composition with his wife, Anya Shemetyeva.
The final piece of the evening will be Merfeld’s 2017 “Intervals for String Quartet,” which was commissioned by the Muir Quartet and premiered in June at Tanglewood. Each piece utilizes one interval progressing from unison to octave. Some have tension, some are open, and some are more relaxed.
Tickets are $20 and  $10 for students, and can be purchased at the door, at www.bmcvt.org or by calling (802) 257-4523.