Harlem Quartet, from left: Ilmar Gavilán, violin; Jaime Amador, viola; Melissa White, violin; and Felix Umansky, cello. Mike Peters photograph
By Keith Powers
Harlem Quartet, Jan. 29, Rockport Music, Shalin Liu Performance Center
Tony Beadle certainly knows audience trends. An accomplished bass player, with a long performing career as a freelancer in Boston—Boston Musica Viva, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, among others—Beadle shifted to orchestra management in the 1990s. Since then he’s had stints with the Erie Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Columbus Symphony, and an extended term as general manager of the Boston Pops.
At Rockport Music, where he became president and CEO in 2010, Beadle oversees more than 100 concerts a year in the 330-seat Shalin Liu Performance Center. Capitalizing on the decades-long success of the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, SLPC was built to house the summer festivals, but also to develop Rockport Music into at year-round, genre-fluid presenter.
After a decade of successful transitioning, Covid struck. Since the shutdown, audiences have mostly returned —“We’re doing 110–115 events a year now, down from 125,” Beadle says, “tickets are probably 80–90 percent back.”
Rockport Music’s president and CEO Tony Beadle: “It’s a special event to come up here, but after the pandemic some things did not come back.” Jon Tadiello photograph
But ticket buyers are fussier, and harder to find. “Chamber music is our founding genre, and will always be a priority,” he says. “Our festival schematic has been in place for a long time, and hopefully will always be. And regardless of musical taste, people like coming to our hall.
“It’s a special event to come up here, but after the pandemic some things did not come back. The National Theatre doesn’t do as many streams, and the Bolshoi went away. Some artists haven’t come back. And there’s more competition. It was easier in 2010; now it’s a more crowded environment.
“And the predilections of the audience have shifted,” he says. “People are more discerning about going out. While streaming was okay during the pandemic, now people are just streaming Netflix, not concerts.”
This Sunday’s performance at SLPC by the Harlem Quartet has already found its audience, Beadle says, with advance sales well over 200 for a concert that is still five days away. The program—works by Bolcom, López-Gavilán, Gillespie and Fanny Mendelssohn—reflects changing preferences, and likely appeals to a wide range of tastes.
“Something we have to realize is that if people are going out, they pick something they really want to hear, a certain artist,” Beadle says. “Taking a chance, just going out on a whim—that kind of stuff is on hold.”
Harlem Quartet plays Bolcom, López-Gavilán, Gillespie (“A Night in Tunisia”) and Fanny Mendelssohn (E-flat major quartet), Jan. 29 in Rockport Music’s Shalin Liu Performance Center.
Chamber Music Events, Jan. 26–29
The Danish String Quartet includes Haydn Op. 20, no. 3, and Shostakovich 7 along with Nordic folk arrangements Jan. 27 at Jordan Hall, part of the Celebrity Series. Countertenor and cornettist Michael Collver joins Music for Viols & Friends on Friday, Jan. 27 at First Church in Cambridge for Spanish Renaissance works. Program repeats Jan. 29 at Somerville Museum.
“Clockworks” program at BoCo Jan. 28 looks interesting: Hinge Ensemble (electric guitar, piano, sax, perc) explores Czernowin, Young, Spiegel, Cox and Andriessen. Same program the night before in Providence’s Music Mansion. The Celebrity Series hosts Branford Marsalis and his quartet at the Berklee Performance Center on Jan. 28.
Arneis Quartet plays at First Church Boston on Jan. 29, music of Bailey-Holland, Prokofiev, Schulhoff and Lerdahl, joined by a quartet of guests as well (winds and bass). The first New Gallery Concert Series event of the year, Jan. 29, Zooms. Entitled “Begin There,” the NewGal program includes scads of great performers and composers, including Curtis Hughes (world premiere of TULPA).
How many musicians does it take to perform a trio sonata? Ah, trick question. H&H sends a notable ensemble (Nosky, Fishman, Watson, Martinson) to the Gardner Jan. 29 for trio sonatas by Purcell, Handel and Bach. Looks like the same program on Friday 27th, if you’re near the Endicott College neighborhood in Beverly.
Cherry Street Players feature director/cellist Allison-Yoshie Eldredge and pianist Max Levinson Jan. 29 in West Newton.
The Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra plays quartets, trios and duos Jan. 29 in Yarmouth Port, with a wind and string ensemble performing Dohnanyi, Ibert, Elizondo, Beethoven and Mozart.