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The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library is one of the few places in San Diego where you can enjoy chamber music as it was intended - in an intimate venue. The Athenaeum's Chamber Concert Series began in 1990 and was renamed the Barbara and William Karatz Chamber Concert Series in 2003. Held in the library’s 160-seat Joan & Irwin Jacobs Music Room, the six-concert annual series features internationally recognized classical musicians and ensembles, each followed by a private reception with the artists.

Sunday, October 7, 2012, 7:30 p.m.— Odair Assad, solo guitar
Thursday, November 15, 2012, 7:30 p.m.—Nathan Gunn, baritone
Sunday, January 20, 2013, 7:30 p.m.— Joshua Roman, solo cello
Saturday, February 2, 2013, 7:30 p.m.—Jennifer Koh, solo violin
Tuesday, February 12, 2013, 7:30 p.m.—Parker Quartet
Tuesday, March 5, 2013, 7:30 p.m.—Horszowski Trio

Joan & Irwin Jacobs Music Room, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla
Call 858.454.5872 to reserve

Series Tickets (6 concerts): $ 223 member/$253 nonmember

The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library is proud to present its 23rd anniversary season of chamber concerts. Enjoy chamber music as it was intended—in a warm, intimate setting, where you are treated as a guest in our historic home. Doors open at 7 p.m. Guest names will be on a will call list at the door. Please note that seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis. Only members at the Donor level and above receive reserved seating.

These concerts are made possible in part, thanks to funding from the City of San Diego through a program managed by the Commission for Arts and Culture and the County of San Diego.

The series opens on Sunday, October 7, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. with guitarist Odair Assad. For more than forty years, Brazilian guitarist Odair Assad has been concertizing worldwide with his brother Sergio, forming an exceptional guitar duo. Odair has now finally made a solo recording—in the spring of 2010, Odair’s first recording El Caminante was released on the GHA label—and decided to play this and other material live on stage. Reviewer Colin Cooper has said "Odair Assad reveals himself to be a soloist of awesome talents” and “Assad has one of the most fluent left hands (he has) seen in a guitarist: seemingly attached to the fingerboard, it performs its function without obvious effort and to the maximum musical effect."

Program—Robert Schumann: Dichterliebe

The second concert in the six-part series, and the final chamber performance in 2012, will take place on Thursday, November 15, at 7:30 p.m., with baritone Nathan Gunn. Nathan Gunn has made a reputation as one of the most exciting and in-demand baritones of the day. He has appeared in internationally renowned opera houses, such as the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Theater an der Wien, Teatro Real in Madrid, Bilboa, and the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. Mr. Gunn's solo album, Just Before Sunrise, was released on Sony/BMG Masterworks.

Sunday, January 20, 2013, 7:30 p.m.— Joshua Roman
$35 member/$40 nonmember

The series picks up again early 2013 on Sunday, January 20, at 7:30 p.m., with cellist Joshua Roman. Dubbed a "Classical Rock Star" by the press, cellist Joshua Roman has earned a national reputation for performing a wide range of repertoire with an absolute commitment to communicating the essence of the music at its most organic level. The San Francisco Chronicle hailed Roman as "a cellist of extraordinary technical and musical gifts." For his ongoing creative initiatives on behalf of classical music, Roman was named a 2011 TED Fellow, joining a select group of Next Generation innovators with the potential to positively affect the world.

Saturday, February 2, 2013, 7:30 p.m.—Jennifer Koh, solo violin
$40 member/$45 nonmember

On Saturday, February 2, 2013, at 7:30 p.m., we continue with violinist Jennifer Koh. Koh is recognized for her intense, commanding performances, delivered with dazzling virtuosity and technical assurance. With an impassioned musical curiosity, she is forging an artistic path, choosing works that both inspire and challenge her. She is dedicated to performing the violin repertoire of all eras from traditional to contemporary, believing that the past and present form a continuum.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013, 7:30 p.m.—Parker Quartet
$40 member/$45 nonmember

Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 7:30 p.m., will feature the lone quartet of the season, the Parker Quartet. Hailed by the New York Times as "something extraordinary," the Grammy Award–winning Parker Quartet has rapidly distinguished itself as one of the preeminent ensembles of its generation. The quartet began its professional touring career in 2002 and garnered international acclaim in 2005, winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition as well as the Grand Prix and Mozart Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in France.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013, 7:30 p.m.—Horszowski Trio
$35 member/$40 nonmember

The series concludes on Tuesday, March 5, 2013, at 7:30 p.m., with the Horszowski Trio. The Horszowski Trio presents repertoire spanning the traditional and the contemporary. They seek to perform works from the trove of composers with whom Mieczysław Horszowski (1892–1993), the legendary pianist, had personal contact, such as Saint-Saëns, Fauré, and Granados. Two-time Grammy-nominated violinist Jesse Mills; founding cellist of the prize-winning Daedalus Quartet, Raman Ramakrishnan; and pianist Rieko Aizawa perform.

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