First Monday at Jordan Hall

NEC faculty have always enjoyed playing chamber music together, but it was cellist Laurence Lesser —at the time Conservatory President— who transformed these occasional musical evenings into a stellar, regularly occurring series. Twenty-seven years later, chamber music buffs eagerly anticipate the six free concerts held on the first Mondays of October, November, December, March, April, and May. They know they can count on fascinating repertory that ranges from Bach and Brahms to Bartók and beyond. They know they can hear the concerts in one of the great halls of the world. And they know they can expect illuminating performances by some of the world's greatest artists—NEC faculty, alumni, students and friends, who donate their services in exchange for the opportunity to experience together music that is among the most transcendent expressions of human culture.  This year, the series features Brahms and Birthdays. And tonight, the musicians pay a belated birthday tribute to Charles Martin Loeffler, the German-born American violinist and composer.

Mozart:Andante mit Variationen, K. 501
       Leslie Amper, Randall Hodgkinson – piano
Shostakovich:Seven Romances on Verses by Alexander Blok, Opus 127
      Jaime Korkos, mezzo soprano; Donald Weilerstein, violin, Laurence Lesser, cello; Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, piano
Loeffler:Two Rhapsodies
      Keisuke Wakao, oboe; Roger Tapping, viola, Randall Hodgkinson, piano
Schubert:Introduction and Variations on an Original Theme, Opus 82 Number 2
       Randall Hodgkinson, Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, piano