MARLBORO — The opening concert in Marlboro's Music for a Sunday Afternoon series for 2019-20 features acclaimed chamber musicians Paul Cohen (cello) and Sally Pinkas (piano) on Sunday, Sept. 15. The concert starts at 3 p.m. in Ragle Hall, Serkin Center for the Performing Arts, and is free and open to the public.
Cohen and Pinkas will present a program of Schumann, Rachmaninoff, and a J.S. Bach suite with Five Inserts for Solo Cello by Matan Rubinstein, Marlboro faculty member.
Rubinstein describes Five Inserts as both a disruption and a partner in dialogue with the Bach suite, like modern buildings between historic ones “forcing a dialogue with the old by virtue of their physical proximity.”
A member of the Samara Piano Quartet, Cohen has been playing cello professionally since 1982, including with the Atlanta Chamber Players, the Apple Hill Chamber Players, Camerata Pacifica, Pacific Serenades, and the Dunsmuir Quartet.
He was a founding member of the New Hollywood String Quartet and appeared with them at numerous festivals. Throughout his career, Cohen has appeared in numerous solo and collaborative recitals, including performances of the complete cycles of Beethoven's sonatas and the Bach cello suites.
Pinkas, an Israeli-born pianist, has been heard as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the world. Among her career highlights are performances with the Boston Pops, the Aspen Philharmonia and New York's Jupiter Symphony, and appearances at the festivals of Marlboro, Tanglewood, Aspen, and Rockport, as well as Kfar Blum in Israel, Officina Scotese in Italy, and Masters de Pontlevoy in France.
Praised for her radiant tone and driving energy, Pinkas commands a wide range of repertoire. She is a member of Ensemble Schumann, and collaborates frequently with the Adaskin String Trio, the Apple Hill String Quartet, and the UK-based Villiers Quartet.