Rachel Podger, violin
Tuesday, November 8 at 8:00 pm 

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Rachel Podger is “the unsurpassed British glory of the baroque violin,” declares The Times (London). A charismatic musician known for her masterly interpretations and immaculate technique, Podger is a favorite partner for artists like Jordi Savall, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Ton Koopman and top early music ensembles including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. In this recital, a compendium of significant 17th- and 18th-century works, Podger demonstrates not only the gifts of a virtuoso but also the affinity for the music of J.S. Bach that brought her the Royal Academy of Music/Kohn Foundation Prize. She offers the listener a rare experience: to hear the great Bach D minor Toccata and fugue for organ on the violin. The arrangement is by Chad Kelly, who composed the Phantasia on this program for her, and created his Goldberg Variations Reimagined for her excellent ensemble, Brecon Baroque. Violin aficionados will enjoy hearing Podger playing the 1654 Nicolò Amati from the Library’s Musical Instrument Collection.

Preconcert Conversation with the Artist: 6:30pm, Whittall Pavilion

Smetana Trio
Wednesday, November 9 at 8:00 pm 

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Jan Talich, violin
Jan Pálenícek, cello  
Jitka Cechová, piano

Founded in 1934, the Smetana Trio is considered one of today’s leading Czech chamber ensembles, one with an illustrious history. Gramophone admires the “three formidably fine musicians” of the current incarnation—violinist Jan Talich, pianist Jitka Cechová and cellist Jan Pálenícek—whose playing exemplifies the warmth and expressiveness of the distinctive Czech chamber music tradition. Their energy, emotional range, and flawless technique “ensures that the listener is completely involved in the drama from first bar to last.” (BBC Music Magazine)

Preconcert Conversation with the Artist: 6:30pm, Whittall Pavilion

Emmanuel Pahud, flute & Alessio Bax, piano
Monday, November 14 at 8:00 pm

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In one of only two U.S. recitals this season, the eminent flutist Emmanuel Pahud performs with pianist Alessio Bax, a frequent chamber music partner. This distinguished duo will inaugurate the Elinor D. Sosne Fund, a new endowment created to support events with a flute focus—and to spotlight the nearly 1,700 flutes and other wind instruments in the Library’s unique Dayton C. Miller Collection. The longtime principal of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Franco-Swiss Pahud is famous for his “trademark golden flowing tone” (The Guardian). For this concert the artists play Pahud’s transcription of a Beethoven violin sonata, complementing works by Bach and Prokofiev, and a new Nicolas Bacri sonata that was dedicated to them, written to honor the centenary of French flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal.

Preconcert Conversation with the Artists: 6:30pm, Whittall Pavilion

Margaret Leng Tan, piano
Saturday, November 19 at 8:00 pm 

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The incomparable Margaret Leng Tan, champion of the American avant-garde and renowned for her advocacy of the music of John Cage and works for toy piano, offers a program of works new to the Coolidge stage. George Crumb wrote his first book of Metamorphoses for amplified piano for Tan, and she brings his recently completed second book of Metamorphoses to life here as the centerpiece of the program. We will also hear a revival of a rarely heard and unpublished work by Henry Cowell, as well as a classic work for bowed piano by Christopher Hopkins.

Preconcert Lecture by Steven Bruns, Trego Family Faculty Fellow in the College of Music at the University of Colorado, Boulder: 6:30pm, Whittall Pavilion

Please join us for a Nightcap conversation with Margaret Leng Tan following the performance.