Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center players return

Six musicians representing the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center play music by Bruch, Brahms and Dohnányi starting at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6.

Admission is $15 / $10, available at batestickets.com. Free tickets are available for the first 100 seniors or students. To reserve, please email olinarts@bates.edu.

The Olin Arts Center is located at 75 Russell St. For more information about concerts at Bates, please contact 207-786-6135.

One of America’s most compelling pianists, Jeremy Denk is among the six CMS players in the Oct. 6 Olin Arts Alive performance. Joining him are Erin Keefe, violinist; Paul Neubauer, violist; Nicholas Canellakis, cellist, Jose Franch-Ballester, clarinetist; and horn player John Zirbel.

Their program consists of Bruch’s Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola (or Cello) and Piano, Op. 83; Brahms’ Trio in E-flat major for Horn, Violin and Piano, Op. 40; and Dohnányi’s Sextet in C major for Clarinet, Horn, Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano, Op. 37. Learn more: www.chambermusicsociety.org

The New York Times has described Canellakis’ playing as “impassioned” with “the audience seduced by [his] rich, alluring tone.” He was a founding member of the Vertigo String Quartet, which received First Prize in the Musicatri International Competition in Italy in 2006, and has been principal cellist of the New York String Orchestra and the Haddonfield Symphony.

Denk has steadily built a reputation as one of today’s most compelling and persuasive artists with an unusually broad repertoire. He has appeared as soloist with many major orchestras, and during the 2011-12 season, he was the featured artist for the Ives Project, a three-day exploration and celebration of the quintessential New England composer at Maryland’s Strathmore Hall.

His widely read blog, “Think Denk,” is highly praised and frequently referenced by many in the music press and industry.

Franch-Ballester is a captivating performer of “poetic eloquence” (The New York Sun) and “technical wizardry” (The New York Times). As a soloist, he has appeared with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Santa Barbara Orchestra and numerous Spanish orchestras. He was born in Moncofa, Spain, into a family of clarinetists and Zarzuela singers.

Recently named concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra, Keefe has established a reputation as a compelling artist who combines exhilarating temperament and fierce integrity. She has been featured on “Live From Lincoln Center” three times with CMS, performing works by Brahms, Schoenberg, Bach and Corelli. In 2010, she released her first solo CD, recorded with pianist Anna Polonsky.

Neubauer‘s exceptional musicality and effortless playing distinguish him as one of this generation’s quintessential artists. Appointed principal violist of the New York Philharmonic at age 21, he is the chamber music director of the OK Mozart Festival in Oklahoma. His recording of Joan Tower’s “Purple Rhapsody,” commissioned for him by seven orchestras and the Koussevitsky Foundation, was recently released by Summit Records. He is a two-time Grammy nominee and has been an Artist of the Chamber Music Society since 1989.

Zirbel has been principal horn of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal since 1979. Before taking the position in Montréal, Zirbel was a member of the Denver Symphony for two seasons. As a horn soloist, he was a prize winner at the 1981 Grand Concours international de Cor in Liège and has performed all the major horn concerti with the Montréal and San Francisco orchestras. In 2001, he gave the premiere of Sérénade héroïque, a horn concerto written for him by Québec composer Jacques Hétu.