In the Press
“The past year I have listened to music, almost nonstop, on CD or on YouTube, rarely venturing out to hear it live. Unsurprisingly, I have been stunned yet again at how much more live music has affected me. Sunday’s concert of the Concord Chamber Music Society, brilliantly headed for 25 years by the venerable BSO violinist Wendy Putnam, had journeyed over the river and through the woods to the warm, curvaceous, and embracing Meadow Hall at Groton Hill’s gorgeous Music Center. It amply rewarded the nearly 40-mile trek, reminding me of the power of chamber music played live by excellent players.
For this carefully curated concert, Putman invited the Amerigo Trio (violinist Glenn Dicterow, violist Karen Dreyfus, and cellist Inbal Negev) to play Beethoven, Dvořák, and Brahms in company with herself and BSO violist Steven Ansell.
I had, of course, known of Glenn Dicterow as the longest lasting concertmaster (34 years!) of the New York Philharmonic, but had never heard him in chamber music, and it was quite a revelation. He is a very powerful player, and although he did not list his violin’s provenance, it was absolutely striking. My ear gravitated to him the entire concert. This is a musician and an instrument you want to hear live. Wow. Tasking first chair in each piece, he commanded in an authoritative and stately manner.
His excellent trio mates were violist Karen Dreyfus (also his wife) who, like Steven Ansell, studied at Curtis. Their cellist is Israeli-born Inbal Negev who, at age 16, was one of the very fortunate musicians chosen by Isaac Stern to study in the U.S. She has been a prolific and successful composer since the pandemic.”
“The Sunday matinee concert journeyed from Ravel to striking examples of 21st-century Romanticism. BSO colleagues violinist Lucia Lin and cellist Christine Lee and CCMS friends Kim Kashkashian and Marc-André Hamelin joined violinist Wendy Putnam, the Society’s Artistic Director, in the all-star cast.
The spirit of Ravel’s farewell to his great precursor — more like time-to-turn-the-page than rest in peace — came across with unabashed eloquence.
Having thus landed in the world of 20th-century social Darwinism, we were ready for a change of pace, and that arrived with Yehudi Wyner’s Concordance, one of the fruits of ongoing productive collaboration between the composer and the Society, this one stemming from 2013... The arch of the narrative closed to spellbinding effect.
Marc-Andre Hamelin’s Piano Quintet, in its home turf premiere, brought a complete change of scene from the first half... Like probably most of our readers, I have had many chances over the years to hear Hamelin’s compositions.... Still, nothing had prepared me for the wave of joy rising up from the first shimmerings of the piano and the long Bohemian tunes in the strings, as the Moto Perpetuo first movement got underway.
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“Bodner, a violist, and Chong, a violinist, are members of the Grammy Award-winning, Boston-based Parker Quartet, whose numerous honors include winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition, the Grand Prix and Mozart Prize at France’s Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, and Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award.
Bodner and Chong are professors in Harvard’s Department of Music.
“Together, they will bring a wealth of experience, fresh perspectives, and an inspiring commitment to artistic excellence,” said Nancy Sokol, CCMS president.
The newly appointed directors acknowledged Putnam’s “remarkable vision and leadership” and said, “We cannot imagine a more fitting place to bring our passion for chamber music than this outstanding organization.””
“We’ve been developing programs as members of the Parker Quarter for — like you say, this is our 22nd season. We’ve had a lot of experience thinking about what might be effective, what might be a great way to communicate with audiences in many different kinds of situations.
But then, we’ve also had wonderful experiences meeting and playing with so many other musicians, going to plenty of concerts, becoming aware of so many exciting voices that are ready to be on the stage today.
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I think for the Quartet, having been in the Boston area for so long, we look forward to using those partnerships that we’ve built over this time and seeing what kind of creative possibilities they can bring to this series.”
“This writer, having relished the group’s concerts since its founding in 2001 at the New England Conservatory, has been pleased to publish 19 enthusiastic Jupiter reviews, and we agree with the New Yorker that, “The Jupiter String Quartet, an ensemble of eloquent intensity, has matured into one of the mainstays of the American chamber-music scene.””
“Chong and Bodner have served as founding members of the Parker Quartet since 2002. As part of the quartet and as individuals, both have made numerous performance appearances throughout the US and worldwide and received several awards and prizes, such as the Cleveland Quartet Award, plus top prizes at the Concert Artists Guild Competition and the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition.
The Parker Quartet has recorded for ECM Records, Zig-Zag Territoires, Naxos and Nimbus. The members serve as professors of the practice at Harvard University’s Department of Music in conjunction with the ensemble’s appointment as Blodgett quartet-in-residence.”
“CCMS recently announced the appointment of two new Co-Artistic Directors in the form of founding Parker Quartet players Jessica Bodner and Daniel Chong. The husband-and-wife duo will step into the role from the opening of the 2025/26 season.”
“This season marks the 25th anniversary of the Artistic Director Wendy Putnam’s founding of the Concord Chamber Music Society, and as usual, the society is presenting great and important visiting artists beginning with the Jupiter String Quartet on September 22nd, and ending with the legendary Juilliard String Quartet on April 13th. In between, various chamber configurations will involve local favorites including Marc-André Hamelin, and Putnam herself. ”
“This is the 25th anniversary season of CCMS and because this will be the final season for its founding director, violinist Wendy Putnam, you know it will be special. The opening concert will be a program of Beethoven, Schubert and Kati Agócs with the outstanding Jupiter String Quartet (Sept. 22). And the second program should be, if anything, even more special: Putnam herself and another outstanding violinist, Lucia Lin, celebrated violist Kim Kashkashian, cellist Christine Lee and breathtaking virtuoso pianist Marc-André Hamelin in Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello; “Nowhere Fast,” a Piano Quintet by Hamelin completed in 2019; and the marvelous piano quartet “Concordance” by Boston’s beloved Yehudi Wyner, commissioned by CCMS in 2012 (Nov. 17). ”