David Coucheron
The Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival is a testament to the belief that music, like life, only gets better when we make it together.
As happens at every session of the festival when we (the audience) get to share in the exhilaration and power of music performed by artists so close at hand.
August 11 marks a return to the annual Gershon/Cohn Final Gala Concert and Dinner – when the festival concludes its regular season in glamorous style. In a perfect convergence of chamber music and gourmet dining, the festival brings the world’s leading ensembles and soloists to the Highlands Performing Arts Center, followed by dinner at Wildcat Cliffs Country Club.
The gala, titled “Invitation to the Dance,” opens with the piece that inspired its name, composed by Carl Maria von Weber, known as the father of the Romantic movement in music.
Renowned pianist Vijay Venkatesh, hailed by The Washington Post for his “transcendent technique, unbridled passion and irresistible charisma,” joins festival artistic director, master teacher, and acclaimed soloist William Ransom on dual pianos, promising an event a chamber music fan can simply not ignore.
Vijay Venkatesh
Following this classical gem, the session delves into a composition from the revered Baroque Master of Sacred Compositions, J. S. Bach, played on violin by international award winner Alice Hong. Venkatesh returns to dazzle with Frank Liszt’s virtuosic piano works before collaborating with esteemed cellist Grace Bahng Gavin in a composition from the Argentina composer celebrated for revolutionizing tango music, Astor Piazzolla.
Violinist and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra concertmaster, David Coucheron joins Venkatesh for Johannes Brahms’s exuberant, spirited piece, Hungarian Dance #5, followed by Tango for String Quartet, featuring Coucheron, Hong, Gavin and prize-winning violist Joseph Skerik.
The enchanting Waltz of the Flowers, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s iconic and beloved piece from The Nutcracker, performed by Venkatesh and the ensemble precedes a humorous piece from Camille Saint-Saëns’ The Elephant Waltz for Bass & Piano – interpreted by bassist Jonathan Colbert alongside Venkatesh.
The evening concludes with great flourish and in a thrilling finale with all performers uniting for George Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody #1 for Piano & String Quintet.
Dinner follows the concert at the Wildcat Cliffs Country Club. Call (828) 526-9060 or email hccmfnc@gmail.com for tickets.
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