The Needham Concert Society will perform works widely acknowledged as masterpieces of the chamber music literature by Mozart and Brahms at a concert on November 22 at Needham’s Carter Memorial Church, 800 Highland Ave., at 3 p.m. When they composed their respective quintets, each for two violins, two violas, and cello, these composers were “mature and at the height of their powers,” said Ronald Lowry, Needham Concert Society artistic director and cellist.
Lucia Lin, who holds a permanently endowed chair in the Boston Symphony Orchestra, will be one of the concert’s violinists. Distinguished as a soloist and a chamber musician, she founded the Boston Trio and played with the famed Muir String Quartet. Fellow Muir Quartet member Peter Zazofsky will join her on the violin. A Boston native who frequently performs in Needham Concert Society programs, Zazofsky has been featured soloist with leading orchestras on five continents. Both Lin and Zazofsky teach violin and chamber music at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts.
Violist Cara Pogossian joins the ensemble on November 22. She is principal violist of the Portland Symphony Orchestra and has been invited to participate at Marlboro and other music festivals. She won first place in the New England Conservatory 2023–24 concerto competition. Wenting Kang, who performed earlier this season with the Concert Society, will join the group. A first-place winner in the Tokyo International Viola Competition, Kang currently divides her time between a faculty position at the New England Conservatory and Spain’s Madrid Soloist Chamber Orchestra, of which she is a founding member and artistic advisor.
Principal cellist of the Boston Ballet and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, Ronald Lowry crafts the Concert Society’s programs and assembles performing groups. “I really look forward to the rehearsal process,” he reflects. “We rehearse, we discuss, and that prepares us. But the concerts become a unique experience, and things happen spontaneously almost always for the better. That is the beauty of performing with wonderful colleagues. It’s a gift!”
Tickets may be purchased at the door or online at www.NeedhamConcertSociety.org.
General admission is $25; students are admitted free. The Needham Concert Society is a nonprofit organization that strives to present excellent live music to Needham audiences. Programs are supported in part by a grant from the Needham Council for Arts and Culture, a local agency which is supported by the Town of Needham and the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
