Ear Supply: More Chardonnay, Daisy?

Downtown, the Seattle Chamber Music Society gets a little less posh, but stays exciting.

The Great Gatsby lawn-party atmosphere of the Seattle Chamber Music Society‘s summer festival at Lakeside School was mostly congenial but occasionally a tad off-putting (attracting the sort of concertgoer who uses words like “tad,” for example), but the festival weathered a permanent move to Benaroya Hall last year without sacrificing quality. This year’s event runs July 5–29 (12 concerts) at Benaroya and August 3–12 (five concerts) at Redmond’s Overlake School, 20301 N.E. 108th St. As always, each evening is a generous two-part affair: a 7 p.m. solo recital preceding an 8 p.m. concert. Among the highlights is the July 15 premiere of a new work by former Cornish faculty member Laura Kaminsky—this year’s offering from the SCMS Commissioning Club (the Festival doesn’t just make paper, they plant trees too). Also watch for a trio by eclectic Canadian modernist R. Murray Schafer (July 23); Shostakovich’s brooding, mourning Piano Trio in E Minor (July 25); and a 30th-anniversary celebration with festive music by Bach, Haydn, and others (July 29). Opening night’s bill includes Bach, Liszt, and Schumann from pianist Orion Weiss at 7, and at 8, three meaty slabs of high romanticism by Glazunov, Brahms, and Rachmaninoff surrounding a palate-cleanser, Three Nocturnes (1924), by Ernest Bloch.