The Athenaeum Chamber Concert Series was founded in 1990, and was
renamed the Barbara and William Karatz Chamber Concert Series in
2003. Held in the library’s intimate, 150-seat Joan &
Irwin Jacobs Music Room, the six-concert annual series features
internationally-recognized classical musicians and ensembles, restoring
the performance of the chamber repertoire to an authentic chamber
venue, followed by a private reception with the guest artists. 
Matt Haimovitz at a 2007 Athenaeum Chamber Concert
The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library is pleased to announce its 2008-09 Barbara and William Karatz Chamber Concert Series, the organization’s nineteenth season of chamber concerts. This season emphasizes young, edgy artists, all presented as chamber music was intended, in the intimacy of the Athenaeum’s Joan & Irwin Jacobs Music Room.
The season opens on November 11 with the La Catrina Quartet, a group of musicians performing new music as well as masterworks of the string quartet repertoire, and devoted to promoting Mexican and Latin American music. These four youthful men have played as soloists with a variety of orchestras in Mexico and the United States and given recitals in Japan, England, the United States, and Mexico.
La Catrina Quartet
On December 5, the Athenaeum presents pianist Kevin Kenner, the only American to have won the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw and the Bronze Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Other awards include the International Terence Judd Award, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and the Gina Bachauer International Competition. He has performed as a soloist with world-class orchestras including the Hallé Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic Brussels, the NHK Symphony of Japan, and with orchestras throughout the U.S. including the San Diego Symphony.
Kevin Kenner
The St. Lawrence String Quartet, one of the world-class chamber ensembles of its generation, will perform on January 23, 2009. In 2003, the quartet was nominated for two Grammy Awards, in the categories of Best Chamber Music and Best Classical Contemporary Composition, for its recording, Yiddishbbuk. They launched their career by winning both the Banff International String Quartet Competition and Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1992. Their most recent recording, of Shostakovich Quartets, was released in 2006. (Please note the price difference for this concert.)
St. Lawrence String Quartet
Grand Prize and Gold Medal winners of the prestigious 2007 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, The Prima Trio, will perform on February 6. The trio was formed in 2004 by three friends at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. The group distinguishes itself not only with its remarkable playing, but also through the repertoire it performs, from Khachaturian to Schickele, as well as works composed by its violinist, the award winning composer Farhad Hudiyev. The trio’s vivacious young members hail from Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Russia.
The Prima Trio
Grammy nominee Paul Galbraith, who performs on March 24, has been working since the 1980s towards expanding the technical limits of his instrument, besides augmenting the quantity and quality of its repertoire. These efforts have already resulted in a series of critically acclaimed recordings of works by Bach, Haydn and Brahms, along with his own arrangements of folk tunes from various countries, all of which demonstrate the originality of his musical personality. He helped develop the eight-string Brahms Guitar, the ideal instrument with which to interpret challenging classical transcriptions.
Paul Galbraith
eighth blackbird closes the season on April 19, promising a provocative and engaging performance. eighth blackbird, who won this year’s Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance for strange imaginary animals, is widely lauded for its performing style and its efforts to make new music accessible to wide audiences. The sextet has been the subject of profiles in the New York Times and on NPR’s All Things Considered. The ensemble is in residence at the University of Richmond in Virginia and at the University of Chicago.
eighth blackbird
Tickets for all concerts are available now by calling (858) 454-5872.
Martino and Barto
Former La Jollan Robert Barto, a world-renowned lutenist, will give a rare local performance, with violinist Victoria Martino, at the Athenaeum on August 11. They will perform Music of the German Baroque, featuring works by Bach, Weiss, and Hagen, for violin and lute, on original instruments.
After graduating from UCSD, the largely self-taught Barto went to study in Europe on a Fulbright Scholarship and has resided there ever since. In 1984 he was awarded first prize in the International Lute Competition in Toronto. Many of his recordings are included in the Athenaeum CD collection. He can be seen performing Weiss’ Overture in C Minor here:
Barto has recorded extensively, but does not often perform live. While he is spending a month in San Diego for a recording project with violinist Martino, the two musicians will make a special appearance at the Athenaeum, where Martino is an audience favorite. She recently played an eight-hour marathon of Mozart sonatas with pianist James Lent. She describes Barto as a musical genius and is enthusiastic to perform with him at the Athenaeum.
These concerts are made possible in part, thanks to funding
from the City of San Diego through a program managed by the Commission
for Arts and Culture and the County of San Diego.
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