Festival Grand Finale - Photo Credit: Portland Chamber Music Festival

Festival Grand Finale

Mozart’s virtuosic Oboe Quartet gets a modern makeover with saxophonist Steven Banks’ “transformational” artistry, followed by the Spanish folk tunes and the clack of castanets of a delightful Piano Quartet by Joaquín Turina. In a lyrical contrast, Ernest Chausson’s Concerto is unreservedly showy and surging with passionate outpourings, this exquisite gem makes for an expansive, season-ending flourish.

Events > Festival Grand Finale
Stevens Square Theater
631 Stevens Avenue
Portland, Maine 04103 United States
About the Event
Presented by
Portland Chamber Music Festival
(800) 320-0257
August 23, 2025

7:30 PM

Mozart wrote his virtuosic Oboe Quartet at a pivotal time, when he left his family and home town of Salzburg and struck out on his own in Vienna. Reflecting his growing independence, this quartet gets a modern makeover when Steven Banks—whose artistry was declared “transformational” by Seen & Heard International—reinterprets the oboe voice on saxophone. Joaquín Turina freely adapted mainstream European musical structures to suit his own expressive ideas, infusing Spanish folk tunes and the clack of castanets into his delightful Piano Quartet. In a lyrical contrast, Ernest Chausson’s Concerto wears its heart on its sleeve. Unreservedly showy and surging with passionate outpourings, this exquisite gem makes for an expansive, season-ending flourish.

PROGRAM Mozart: Oboe Quartet, K. 370 (arr. for saxophone) Turina: Piano Quartet, Op. 67 Chausson: Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet, Op. 21 ARTISTS Steven Banks, saxophone; Chad Hoopes, Anthony Marwood, Susie Park, violin; Cara Pogossian, Melissa Reardon, viola; Nina Lee, cello; Benjamin Hochman, piano

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