The Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival, one of the longest running chamber music festivals in the United States, presents it’s 43rd season. The five week festival will perform concerts in Swannanoa in Kittredge Theater on the Warren Wilson College campus on June 26, July 3, 10, 17 and 24, and at the Waynesville Performing Arts Center on June 24, July 1, 8, 15 and 22. All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m.

For the first concert we welcome back the Cleveland Quartet Prize winning Jasper String Quartet. The Jasper Quartet will be joined by Inessa Zaretsky on piano and William Hoyt on horn. After whetting the audience’s appetite with a delightful Haydn quartet we will hear the World Premier of Pianist/Composer Inessa Zaretsky’s Romance for Horn and Piano followed by the lovely Idyll for Horn and String Quartet by Glazunov. The quartet will then join Innesa with the dynamic Piano Quintet in F minor by Brahms.

For the second concert we welcome back flutist George Pope, oboist Cynthia Watson, clarinetist David Bell and bassoonist Lynn Hileman for a wide variety of mixed chamber music. We open with a lovely baroque work by Telemann followed by the Quintet for Piano and Winds by Beethoven. For the second half of the concert, the Jasper Quartet presents one of the greatest quartets written, Smetana’s “From My Life.”

The third concert will be an evening of French music. The Grammy winning Enso Quartet returns to offer to the audience the epitome of French music, the Quartet in G minor by Debussy. Preceding the Debussy the Swannanoa Chamber Players will perform music by Erik Satie, Albert Roussel, Vincent D’Indy, and Francis Poulenc. Ooo la la!

After an evening in France we travel to Italy for the fourth program. We open with a delightful Quartet for Winds by Rossini followed by some short string quartet pieces by Puccini. Next is the Suite from Pulcinella by Stravinsky arranged for woodwind quintet. What is a Russian composer doing in an Italian program you may ask? The answer is that Stravinsky used melodies form the Italian composer Pergolesi to compose this ballet. After a diva-like performance of the Sonata by Donizetti by our flutist, George Pope accompanied by Paul Nitsch on piano, the Enso Quartet will present the rarely heard Quartet by Giuseppi Verdi. Molto bene!

For the final program of the season we open with the Enso Quartet performing the rarely heard Quartet by Richard Strauss. This is an early work by Strauss and has an almost Mozart-like quality. To compliment this work Ricardo Almeida will join William Hoyt with members of the Enso Quartet to present a Mozart Divertimento for Two Horns and Strings. The season ends with the powerful and passionate Dumky Trio by Dvorák featuring Paul Nitsch on piano.

We’re proud to present the finest in chamber music to the audiences in Western North Carolina.

2012 Schedule

Program 1 – Music of Haydn, Zaretsky, Glazunov, and Brahms.

June 26-7:30 p.m. Kittredge Theater, Warren Wilson College

June 24-7:30 p.m. Waynesville Performing Arts Center

Program 2– Music of Telemann, Beethoven, and Smetana,

July 3-7:30 p.m. Kittredge Theater, Warren Wilson College

July 1-7:30 p.m. Waynesville Performing Arts Center

Program 3– Music of Satie, Roussel, D’Indy, Poulenc, and Debussy,

July 10-7:30 p.m. Kittredge Theater, Warren Wilson College

July 8-7:30 p.m. Waynesville Performing Arts Center

Program 4– Music of Rossini, Puccini, Stravinsky, Donizetti, and Verdi.

July 17-7:30 p.m. Kittredge Theater, Warren Wilson College

July 15-7:30 p.m. Waynesville Performing Arts Center

Program 5– Music of Strauss, Mozart, and Dvorák.

July 24-7:30 p.m. Kittredge Theater, Warren Wilson College

July 22-7:30 p.m. Waynesville Performing Arts Center

Single tickets $20; Season tickets $75. For more information call (828) 771-3050, e-mail chamber@warren-wilson.edu, or visit www.swannanoachambermusic.com.