1. 8/18/2016 Halcyon Days: Concert series draws chamber music virtuosos to Seacoast - Gate House
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By Nora Fenton
July 07. 2016 6:21AM
Halcyon Days: Concert series draws chamber music virtuosos to Seacoast
Wendy Warner
The Seacoast­based Halcyon Music Festival will be celebrating its third season this July with a series of seven concerts
featuring world­renowned chamber music virtuosos.
Each season Halcyon aims to bring the chamber music world to a broader audience. The festival looks to cultivate new
and inspired relationships between the musicians performing and audience members alike.
“Chamber music is unique because you can hear individual voices within the group, but you create this other being,
entity from these voices interacting with each other. It's very much like human relationships and conversations. You
have to learn to work fluidly with your fellow performer's approach,” said Halcyon’s founder and Artistic Director,
Heng­Jin Park.
The performance repertoire consists of both classic chamber music pieces such as Debussy’s String Quartet, Mozart’s
String Quintet in C Major, and Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings, as well as more contemporary pieces like Bolcom's
Three Rags for String Quartet, Schoenfield's Café Music for Piano Trio, and Barber's Adagio.
Four out of the seven performances will take place at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth with the remaining
three taking place in Exeter, Durham and Rye.
The concerts will open with “Bohemian Rhapsody” on Wednesday, July 20th at Phillips Exeter Academy at 7 p.m. This initial performance is a part of the
Phillips Exeter Academy Library Summer Concert Series, and is free to the public.
A Boston­based pianist, Park is the pianist and founder of the Boston Trio, and is currently a piano instructor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
She has been a featured soloist with the Boston Pops, Boston Classical Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic, New England Philharmonic and the L'Orchestre
Symphonique Française.
Park has participated in countless music festivals and events throughout her life­long involvement with chamber music, but Halcyon is her own personal
vision and contribution to the chamber music world.
“I wanted a festival where musicians hailing from all different heritages of playing and styles came together and created a close community,” said Park.
“Portsmouth is a vibrant city, it has urban edge, but is small and intimate, very European. — I had a feeling that we would be welcome. Over the past seasons,
the audience has been so supportive, saying there was nothing like Halcyon in the Seacoast. This confirmed for me that I had made the right decision by
bringing the festival to this area.”
One of the major proponents of Halcyon’s success is Park’s thoughtful selection of musicians. She assembles a diverse, but complementary group of
professional artists.
“I invite musicians who are not only talented, but flexible, nice people, open to seeing new points of view because, in the end, we need to sound like one
cohesive group,” said Park. “This is most of all a collaborative effort of highly trained, professional musicians. I look to create a musical oasis where performers
can have fun, work together, and share their artistry with the public.”
Halcyon is an immersive two­week commitment for the 21 musicians involved. For these two weeks, the musicians eat and sleep at the University of New
Hampshire and rehearse at surrounding venues. They are even encouraged to bring their families to stay with them. They come to work in and create an
environment that is the “sum of all of its parts.”
This year’s festival features violinists Miki­Sophia Cloud, Gabriela Diaz, Katherine Manker, Irina Muresanu, Monica Pegis, Ben Sayevich; violists Tatjana
Mead Chamis, Chung­Hoon Peter Chun, Tim Deighton, Robert Meyer, and Yizhak Schotten; cellists David Hardy, Brian Manker, and Wendy Warner; pianists
Lolita Lisovskaya­Sayevich and Heng­Jin Park; and French hornist Abel Pereira.
“I love the feeling of being like a big family. We play music together, eat together, get together at night, bring our families. We are creating musical friendships
as well as personal friendships with fellow performers and the audience. It is the feeling of being a part of something bigger,” said Romanian violinist and
Boston Trio member Irina Muresanu.
The performers have about three concentrated rehearsal sessions. The amount of time spent practicing depends on the difficulty of the piece. Rehearsals are
kept short and to the point, as they need to refine the details of each piece in a timely manner.
“Rehearsing and performing with musicians you do not play with often stretches you. It makes you reexamine your way of thought and approach,” said David
Hardy, Washington D.C.­ based cellist and National Symphony Orchestra musician.
Every year the festival features one or two younger, exceedingly talented musicians. This year, Halcyon will be introducing two cellists, Andrée and Mariel

2. 8/18/2016 Halcyon Days: Concert series draws chamber music virtuosos to Seacoast - Gate House
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Werner. The two sisters are currently working toward their master's degrees at the Juilliard School in New York City. Park explained that this is a great
opportunity for the young featured performers. They are forced to learn a lot in a short amount of time and benefit from working with older, more experienced
professional musicians.
Halcyon focuses on building a community of artists that is dedicated to the advancement and exploration of chamber music at the highest artistic level. The
performers are professional musicians who continuously look to better themselves as artists and to share their passion for chamber music. This environment
enables the musicians to grow and results in a compelling and vibrant performance.
“The joy of playing concerts is the way you connect with the audience. If you play well and with positive energy, the audience will understand your point of
view and become invested in the performance,” said Hardy.
There is a suggested $25 donation for each individual concert. If attending more than one concert, there are discount options: $130 for the full festival, $110
for five concerts, $88 for four concerts, $65 for three concerts, and $88 for the four Portsmouth concerts.
For more information on concert dates, artist bios, or to purchase tickets in advance, please visit www.halcyonmusicfestival.org/concerts/.
Halcyon Music Festival Concert Schedule
­Wednesday, July 20: “Bohemian Rhapsody” at Phillips Exeter Academy Library at 7 p.m. Program includes: Reicha’s Grand Quintet for Horn and String
Quartet; Dvorák’s Piano Trio in F minor, Opus 65; and Suk’s Piano Quartet in A minor, Opus 1.
­Friday, July 22: “Vive La France” at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth at 7:30 p.m. Program will include: Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Piano;
Debussy’s String Quartet; and Chausson’s Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet.
­Saturday, July 23: “Elegance, Jubilation, and Heartbreak” at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth at 7:30 p.m. Program will include Böhner’s
Variations for Horn and String Quartet, Opus 24; Strauss’ String Sextet from the opera ‘Capriccio’; and Mozart’s String Quintet in C Major, K. 515.
­Wednesday July 27: “Novelties from Eastern Europe” at St. George’s Church in Durham at 7:30 p.m. Program will include Dvorák’s Bagatelles for String trio
and Harmonium, Opus 47; Kodály’s Serenade, Opus 12; and Haydn’s String Quartet ‘Largo’, Opus 76, #5.
­Thursday, July 28: “Made in USA” at Rye Congregational Church in Rye at 7:30 p.m. Program will include Barber’s String Quartet (Adagio); Dvorák’s Piano
Quartet no. 2 in Eb Major, Opus 87; and Schoenfield’s Café Music for Piano Trio.
­Friday, July 29: “The Four B’s—Bach, Beethoven, Bolcom, Brahms” at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth at 7:30 p.m. Program will include Bach’s:
Jesu, Joy of man’s desiring for solo piano; Beethoven’s Piano Trio in Bb Major, Opus 11; Bolcom’s Ragtime for string quartet; and Brahms’ String Sextet in G
Major, Opus 36.
­Saturday July 30: “The Final Serenade” at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth at 7:30 p.m. Program will include DeFalla’s Suite Populaire Espagnole;
Beethoven’s Piano Quartet in Eb Major, Opus 16; and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings.
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