Soiree Musicale presents a masterful performance with musicians from California, Nevada and Utah featuring Brahms Opus 36 Sextet and Tchaikovsky “Souvenir de Florence” Sextet.

What is Chamber Music?
Most broadly, it includes any music scored for a small number of artists, with one performer to a part (in contrast to orchestral music, in which each string part involves a large section). Chamber Music also has no conductor, thus requiring the individual players to work together equally, sharing opinions and striving to synthesize something uniquely beautiful.

The concert is followed by a post-concert Meet the Artists reception.
Soiree Musicale is organized by Urs Rutishauser with support from Eve Whetton. 

Opus 36 Sextet for Strings No. 2
By Johannes Brahms
https://youtu.be/MVKwCjZ_zUQ
Sextet No. 2 is considered one of the most ethereal of Brahms’ larger works, imbued with a sense of mystery and haunting beauty. In contrast to its warm, songlike predecessor, Opus 36 travels into the shadows. Few composers before Brahms explored this instrumental combination, creating a tonal richness and depth that is almost symphonic. With Beethoven having pushed the symphony and string quartet to monumental heights, the young Brahms sought to forge new musical paths.

Souvenir de Florence
By Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
https://youtu.be/3lq7QWI6TkU
When Tchaikovsky traveled to Italy he put his worries behind him, and every note of his string sextet Souvenir de Florence simply shimmers with Mediterranean sunshine. Love-songs, dance tunes and holiday high-spirits: you can practically feel the warmth. It’s the perfect way to welcome the summer, as six string players come together to unleash a burst of pure enjoyment (notes by CBSS Centre, Birmingham UK).

Featured Soiree Musicale Artists:

Fritz Gearhart, violin
Urs Rutishauser, violin
Jason Bonham, viola
Rachel Goff, viola
Andrew Smith, cello
Tido Janssen, cello.

Fritz Gearhart (violin) received his Master’s Degree and prestigious Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Donald Weilerstein. He has appeared in major halls around the country including the Kennedy Center, the 92nd Street Y in NYC, Alice Tully Hall, and Weill Recital Hall, and internationally in Austria, Germany, Croatia, Spain and Korea. He. He is heard frequently on National Public Radio. A sampling from the press: “…a sizzling performance…”(The Wall Street Journal),  “…supple and imaginative…”(The New York Times), “…a superlative evening of musicmaking…”(New York Concert Review), He has recorded for Albany, Koch Entertainment, Centaur Records and Bridge Records, including “Music of a Lifetime”, which features compositions by his father.

Urs Rutishauser (violin) studied violin with Vera Barstow in Pasadena, and chamber music at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Chamber Music Conference of the East in Bennington VT. He has held the position of concertmaster and soloist with the Brown University Orchestra and Brown Chamber Soloists and served as presenter at the Rockefeller University Concerts. He is a founding member of the Soiree Musicale Chamber Music Society, performing in concerts at the Kayenta Center of the Arts in collaboration with Linda Ghidossi-Deluca, Christian Bohnenstengel, Ka-Wai Yu, Jessica Soli, Jason Bonham, and Mykola Suk. 

Jason Bonham (viola) is the Principal Violist with the Las Vegas Philharmonic and is Lecturer of Viola at California State University Long Beach. Additionally he is a Viola Teaching Artist at Biola University. He has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra among many others. In the fall of 2021 he released his first CD “Mythic” with Berlin-based pianist Stephanie Hoernes. As a chamber musician he has performed with members of the Emerson Quartet, Boston Chamber Society, Chicago Pro Musica and the Fry Street Quartet.

Rachel Goff (viola) has been a member of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and the AMIRUS chamber ensemble and is now with the South Bend Symphony. She has concertized throughout Germany, Russia, Korea, Italy, China, Finland and America. Rachel frequently appears with various orchestral ensembles throughout Chicagoland, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Nevada. She holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Northwestern University. Her principal teachers include Peter Slowik, Li-Kuo Chang, Roland Vamos, Karen Ritscher and Donald McInnes. 

Andrew Smith (cello)  is Associate Professor of music at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the Principal Cellist of The Las Vegas Philharmonic. He is an original member of the Camerata Deiá, a group founded in 2001 to be the resident ensemble with The Festival Internacional de Deiá, a summer festival in Majorca, Spain. He was also a founding member of The Adriatic Chamber Music Festival, a summer music program in southern Italy, where he taught and performed from 1998-2008. An active recitalist, Andrew has collaborated with pianist Alfredo Oyagüez in cello/piano recitals in Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Argentina, and Japan, as well as in Kosovo, Serbia, and Macedonia. 

Tido Janssen (cello) served on the faculty at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley since 2010. He is founder and director of the UTRGV Cello Festival regularly hosting around 200 cellists to work with nationally and internationally known cellists. A native of Germany, Dr. Janssen studied cello performance at Folkwang Hochschule für Musik in Duisburg and holds a Master of Music Degree from Boston University, and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Texas. His chamber music studies include coachings with the Muir Quartet, Lydian Quartet, and members of the Lyontevich and Kolisch Quartets.

As a performer Dr. Janssen has repeatedly appeared in Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Austria, Canada, and throughout the US. He has been a member of the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra since 2000, and has recorded for Deutsche Welle, Public Radio, and Centaur Records.
He was Principal Cellist of the Abilene Philharmonic and Abilene Opera Orchestras, founder and Director of the Abilene Summer Music Festival, and performed with the Abilene Chamber Players for the Concerti Nel Chiostro and the Abrosianeum Concerti, in Milan, Italy.