IKARUS CHAMBER PLAYERS: “L’HEURE BLEUE”

L’heure bleue, features the premiere of a fascinating, beautiful, and challenging duo for violin and cello by James Blachly that explores the foods, tastes, smells, and ambience of a summer evening as it fades into the late night and early morning, just as the summer fades into autumn.

Joining cellist Julia MacLaine for these concerts are pianist Ilya Kazantsev, her long-time duo partner, and Owen Dalby, a violinist whom she met while the two were members of Carnegie’s Ensemble ACJW and who plays with her in The Ikarus Chamber Players. Also on the program is Messiaen’s Theme and Variations for violin and piano, Debussy’s Sonate for cello and piano, and Ravel’s piano trio. The two performances, on Friday and Saturday September 17th and 18th and 8 PM, will be at the DUO Multicultural Arts Center, a charming, historic, and truly magical little theater on the Lower East Side. Tickets are $15 at www.smarttix.com. Wine and madeleines will be served!

(as listed in the New Yorker)

“The title of this concert by alumni of Carnegie Hall’s prestigious Ensemble ACJW refers to the “blue hour,” the time just before daybreak or nightfall. The venue, Duo Multicultural Art Center, has a tinge of blue as well: back in 1969, as the Fortune Theatre, it was used by Andy Warhol as a place to show gay porn films. (Joe Dallesandro was the projectionist.) Long since renovated and respectable, the Off Broadway spot hosts a concert featuring Francophone music by Messiaen, Debussy (the Sonata for Cello and Piano), Ravel (the Piano Trio), and James Blachly (the première of “La Fête de l’Été”).”