ASHBURNHAM — The rich, expressive sounds of historic instruments will once again fill the hall as the Historical Piano Concerts launch their 40th spring season on Sunday, April 26, at 3 p.m.
Held at New Dawn Arts Center/Ashburnham Community Church, 84 Main St. (Route 12), the opening program welcomes the return of the Shtrykov-Tanaka Trio, featuring Maksim Shtrykov on clarinet and Misuzu Tanaka on piano.
The concert marks the first of five performances scheduled throughout May, each highlighting a different instrument from the Frederick Historical Piano Collection in music from its era.
The season opens with an 1871 J.B. Streicher & Son piano from Vienna, an instrument known for its clear, warm tonal color. The program begins with solo piano works, including a Bach prelude and fugue transcribed by Franz Liszt and two rhapsodies by Johannes Brahms, before continuing with selections for clarinet and piano by Robert Schumann and Niels Gade.
The featured piano is similar to one owned by Brahms himself during the final decades of his life, offering listeners a chance to experience the composer’s music as it may have originally sounded.
The Trio’s appearance marks their sixth performance in the series since 2014, along with previous solo recitals by Tanaka.
The series continues Sunday, May 3, with pianist Yuan Sheng performing late works of Brahms on an 1868 Streicher piano. A longtime favorite of the series, Sheng serves as professor of piano and director of piano studies at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music. He will also record with that piano for an upcoming multi-disc album.
Additional concerts are scheduled for Sundays, May 10, 24 and 31, with no performance on May 17.
“We are excited that Yuan Sheng is coming back,” said Pat Frederick of the Frederick Collection. “He first played here in 2009 and has returned many times since, both to perform and to record with our pianos. He fell so in love with the instruments that he began acquiring historical pianos of his own to keep at home in China.”
Frederick added that Sheng’s visits became a regular part of his annual travels to the United States.
“He used to come every summer for a festival in New York sponsored by the university where he earned his degrees,” Frederick said. “While he was here, he would set aside a few days to rehearse and perform with us, and sometimes to record. That was interrupted by COVID, so this will be his first concert here since 2019.”
Frederick noted that the series continues to draw international artists despite its small size.
“Besides his flying over from Beijing, the mezzo-soprano performing on May 31 will be traveling from France,” Frederick said. “We find it amusing that, as a true “mom-and-pop” organization with a tiny budget, our piano collection is known by musicians all over the world.”
Admission is $20 for adults; children and students are admitted free. Season passes, offering five concerts for the price of four plus a guest pass, are available upon request. Payment is accepted by cash or check only.
Concerts are performed without intermission to preserve the continuity of the music.
The Frederick Piano Collection is open for tours by appointment, except on concert days. Both the performance hall and collection are wheelchair accessible.
For more information, contact 978-827-6232, email [email protected], or visit www.FrederickCollection.org. Videos from recent seasons are also available on the YouTube channel, “Music from the Frederick Collection”.