BRATTLEBORO — Violinist and conductor Moby Pearson invites music lovers into his home this summer for a series of evening Summer Salons.
The sessions will explore music and musical perspectives and will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. The cost is $25 per session or $60 for three sessions. Call the Brattleboro Music Center at 802-257-4523 to sign up and get directions.
A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory, Pearson has performed with chamber ensembles and orchestras for over 45 years. He has toured Europe with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and coached student ensembles in the Middle East as a member of the Apple Hill Chamber Players.
A teacher, ensemble coach, and string orchestra conductor at the BMC, Pearson invites music lovers to stop by to listen to an array of musical treats and perhaps pick up a few new musical perspectives along the way.
Sessions include:
• Thursday, July 11: Beethoven's Harp Quartet. A walk through this aptly named string quartet written during Beethoven's “middle” period in 1809.
“Personally, it is my favorite Beethoven quartet; the unique plucking in the first movement, poignant and pleading tunes in the second, an explosive scherzo, and, to finish, a fascinating set of variations with a surprise ending,” Pearson says. The group will sample various recordings of the piece, always a fun exercise.
• Thursday, July 25: Instrumental Altos: The Viola and English Horn.
The session will explore these instruments' roles in the symphony orchestra, include chamber music and concerto excerpts, and look back at their ancestral cousins - the viola d'amore and oboe da caccia.
• Thursday, Aug. 8: The Art of a Great Conductor. Maestro George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra set a high standard for orchestral playing with energetic precision and a sound that was transparent yet dynamic.
Attendees will sample Szell's vast and diverse discography from Haydn and Beethoven to Prokofiev and Strauss.