Daily News

Westfield Athenaeum, MOSSO Launch Second Westfield Concert Season

WESTFIELD — The Westfield Athenaeum will present a three-concert chamber-music series beginning Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023 at 7 p.m. with MOSSO (Musicians of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra) performing. This is the second year of this partnership. Guy McLain, executive director of the Westfield Athenaeum, will offer a pre-performance talk at 6 p.m., which is free to ticket holders.

The Westfield Athenaeum series opens with MOSSO and Friends on Feb. 23. Violinist Beth Welty, horn player Sarah Sutherland, and pianist Elizabeth Skavish will perform horn trios of Frédéric Duvernoy, Trygve Madsen, and Johannes Brahms. Welty, chair of MOSSO, is acting principal second violin of MOSSO and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (SSO). Sutherland, MOSSO and SSO horn player, is also MOSSO’s finance director.

The series continues on Thursday, March 23 with a performance by the Vermont-based Champlain Trio, which includes MOSSO and SSO principal cello Emily Taubl. The Champlain Trio will perform “Brilliant Colors,” a program that features music by Tchaikovsky, Erik Neilsen (“Trio No. 2” written for the ensemble), Jennifer Higdon, Amy Beach, and Stravinsky’s “Firebird Suite.”

The series concludes on Thursday, April 20 with MOSSO and SSO horn player Robert Hoyle’s quintet, the Connecticut-based Harmonia V. The quintet will celebrate April in Paris with an all-French program, featuring pieces by Barthe, Fauré, Ravel, Poulenc, Debussy, Pierné, and Lefebvre.

“We’re thrilled to bring classical music back to downtown Westfield for the second consecutive year, and we look forward to working with MOSSO, the Musicians of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, to make that happen,” McLain said.

Welty noted that the members of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra have fond memories of their many summer performances at Stanley Park. “We’re glad to return to Westfield and the Westfield Athenaeum for a second year. We’re thrilled that our MOSSO members are introducing their chamber-music ensembles to the area.”

Tickets for the concerts, $25 per person, must be purchased in advance at the Westfield Athenaeum during business hours, or online at www.westath.org.

MOSSO is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that is not a subsidiary of, nor affiliated with, the Springfield Symphony Orchestra Inc.