Violist Scott Woolweaver, founding member of the award-winning Boston Composers String Quartet, and clarinetist Kelli O’Connor, founding member of the Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston, will join Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society’s artistic director, pianist Delores Stevens, in the society’s annual Spring Concert on Sunday, May 24. The program will be the society’s salute to National Chamber Music Month, and will be onstage at 3 pm in Edgartown’s classic Old Whaling Church. Adult tickets will be available at the door for $20, and students will be admitted free.
According to a press release, the Sunday-afternoon celebration of chamber music will include the “Sonata in F minor for viola and piano” by Johannes Brahms and the “Sonata for clarinet and piano” by Leonard Bernstein. Both will showcase the two guest artists from Boston. Rounding out the afternoon, all three will join for “Four Pieces for clarinet, viola and piano” by Max Bruch, and a trio by Julius Rontgen.
Violist Scott Woolweaver graduated with distinction from the University of Michigan School of Music before moving to Boston for graduate work with violist Walter Trampler. He was a founding member of the Boston Composers String Quartet, which won the silver medal at the String Quartet and Chamber Music Festa in Osaka, Japan, and went on to tour the United States and Europe with the quartet. He is violist of the award-winning New England Piano Quartette, Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, and spends summers at the Rocky Ridge Music Center in Estes Park, Colo., at Adult Chamber Music Seminars at the Interlochen Arts Camp, and at Kneisel Hall in Blue Hill, Maine.
A soloist, educator, chamber and orchestral musician, clarinetist Kelli O’Connor earned praise recently as “an individualistic player with plenty of head and heart … the star of the evening … gorgeous tone and liquid line,” according to the New London Day. Ms. O’Connor is a founding member of the Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston and the Radiance Woodwind Quintet, principal clarinet of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, and appears frequently with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. She previously served as principal clarinet with the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra.
In its 45th consecutive season, MVCMS has drawn outstanding artists from around the globe, and commissioned more than a dozen new works from contemporary composers in the U.S. and abroad. In addition, the society sponsors a multifaceted education program for island youth, including an annual high school scholarship, private music lessons, and a string instrument loan program. For information regarding MVCMS concerts and community programs, call 508-696-8055 or visit mvcms.org.