Festival Chamber Players honor Schumann

Saturday marked the first performance of the Festival Chamber Players, a subset of the Chamber Music Series and of the IU Summer Music Festival.

The concert series celebrates the 200th anniversary of composer Robert Schumann’s birthday and commemorates composer Frederic Chopin.

Zoie Hightower was one of the about 200 people in attendance Saturday at Auer Hall. Hightower, a home-schooled 13-year-old from Bloomington, is attending the Jacobs School of Music Pre-College String Academy as a violinist.

“The festival is mandatory, but in my mind it’s really great and a privilege,” Hightower said. “It’s very good, everyone communicates so well, it’s well-prepared and the pieces themselves are great.”

Saturday’s event featured the Penderecki Quartet, as well as pianists Chih-Yi Chen and Cory Smythe, violinist Yoojin Cho, cellist Csaba Onczay and horn player Everett Burns.

The first three songs were Schumann chamber music, and the final two were pieces by Anton Webern and Erwin Schulhoff.

Mimi Zweig was in charge of organizing the Chamber Music Series during the Summer Music Festival. Her main goal was to feature Schumann, a German composer.

“He doesn’t have a connection to us, but we have a connection to him,” Zweig said. “He’s a very Romantic composer and also innovative, refined, and his music reflects the legacy of that time: self-examination, self-expression and freedom, of course.”

The Chamber Music Series has 11 performances scheduled for the remainder the festival, the majority of which will feature Schumann compositions.

First-time attendee Leslie Selden is in Bloomington to learn how to teach violin to beginning and advanced performers as part of Zweig’s retreat for string teachers.

Selden has always enjoyed Schumann’s work but has never focused on him as a performer, she said.

“Being able to attend these concerts while I’m training is icing on the cake,” Selden said.

Festival Chamber Players
WHEN 8 p.m. July 3, 8 and 14
WHERE Auer Hall
MORE INFO Tickets are $10 or $5 with student ID.