A Special Chamber Music Event

Summer Chamber Music Festival
July 8 & 9, 2023 • Gualala Arts, Coleman Hall

Tickets available now at EventBrite.Com.

The Summer Chamber Music Festival returns to Gualala Arts Saturday and Sunday, July 8 & 9. Performances begin at 4:00 p.m. Tickets are $40 for each day’s performance, and are available at Gualala Arts, Dolphin Gallery, and online at EventBrite.com. In 2021, Roy Bogas passed the baton to cellist Peter Wyrick and we know you will enjoy performances this year which will feature familiar artists who have delighted us for many years at our mid-summer musical weekend.

Peter Wyrick, has served as Associate Principal Cello of the San Francisco Symphony, holding the Peter & Jacqueline Hoefer Chair, since 1999. He was previously principal cello of the Mostly Mozart Orchestra and associate principal cello of the New York City Opera. In chamber music, Mr. Wyrick has collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Yefim Bronfman, Lynn Harrell, Jeremy Denk, Julia Fischer, and Edgar Meyer, among others. As a member of the Ridge String Quartet, Mr. Wyrick recorded Dvořák’s piano quintets with pianist Rudolf Firkušný on an RCA recording that received the Diapason d’Or and a Grammy nomination. Born in New York to a musical family, he began studies at the Juilliard School at age eight and made his solo debut at age twelve.

Violinist Amy Hiraga, who is currently a member of the San Francisco Symphony, was also a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra from 1991 to 1999.   A student of Emanuel Zetlin in Seattle, Washington and Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School in New York, she has performed and recorded with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the New York Chamber Orchestra and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and others.

Violinist Cordula Merks is the Concertmaster of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. Previous positions include First Assistant concertmaster of the Seattle Symphony and concertmaster of Germany’s Essen Philharmonic, Bochum Symphony and Bergische Symphony. Merks, who was born in Germany and spent her childhood in Holland, started playing the violin at the age of 6 and was accepted to study at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague at the age of 12. She holds degrees from the Amsterdam Conservatory and Northern Illinois University. Merks has won prizes at all Dutch national competitions, at various concerto competitions and at several international competitions, including the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Austria.

Violinist Mayumi Hiraga Wyrick is currently a student of Nicholas Kitchen at the New England Conservatory of Music.  Before moving to Boston, she studied with Axel Strauss at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and was a member of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra as well as the San Domenico Orchestra da Camera with whom she has performed Saint-Saëns Concerto No.3 and the Brahms Double Concerto.  

New to the Summer Chamber Weekend is pianist Markus Pawlik. Pawlik is well respected as an immensely talented pianist who manages “to combine sensitivity and expressiveness together with a phenomenal virtuoso technique.”  The German-born musician’s talent was recognized early. By the time he reached his teens he was performing in many European venues, winning praise and awards (including 1982’s Eurovision’s Grand Prize as in the “Eurovision Young Musician of the Year” competition. Since then he has performed throughout Europe, North America and Asia in cities as diverse as Munich, Prague, Dublin, San Francisco, New York, Tokyo, Bangkok and many others.

The scheduled program for both Saturday and Sunday can be found below.

Program for Saturday, July 8, 2023:

   Cordula Merks, Mayumi Hiraga Wyrick, violins
Amy Hiraga, viola
Peter Wyrick, cello
Markus Pawlik, piano

Ludwig Van Beethoven

• Sonata for Cello & Piano, Op. 69
  • Allegro ma non tanto
  • Scherzo – Allegro molto
  • Adagio Cantabile, Allegro Vivace

Felix Mendelssohn

• String Quartet in D Major, Opus 44, No. 1
  • Molto Allegro Vivace
  • Menuetto – Un poco Allegretto
  • Andante espressivo ma con moto
  • Presto con brio

Ludwig Van Beethoven

• Piano Trio in B-flat, Op. 97 (“Archduke”)
  • Allegro Moderato
  • Scherzo (Allegro)
  • Andante cantabile, ma però con moto
  • Allegro Moderato

Program for Sunday, July 9, 2023:

   Cordula Merks, Mayumi Hiraga Wyrick, violins
Amy Hiraga, viola
Peter Wyrick, cello
Markus Pawlik, piano

Ludwig Van Beethoven

• Sonata for Violin & Piano, Op. 24 (“Spring”)
  • Allegro
  • Adagio molto espressivo
  • Scherzo: Allegro molto
  • Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo

Maurice Ravel

• String Quartet in F Major
  • Allegro moderato – très doux
  • Assez vif – très rythmé
  • Très lent
  • Vif et agité

Robert Schumann

• Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44
• • Allegro brilliante
  • In modo d’una marcia. Un poco largamente
  • Scherzo: Molto vivace
  • Allegro ma non troppo