Grammy Award winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet opens the LACA concert season at 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25 at the Duane Smith Auditorium. Courtesy photo

LACA presents Brown-Urioste-Canellakis Trio Nov. 5 at the Duane Smith Auditorium. Photo by Sophie Zhai

Hailed as the greatest American violinist active today, Joshua Bell performs Feb. 3 at the Duane Smith Auditorium. Photo by Chris Lee

LACA News:

A violin super star, a Grammy-winning guitar quartet, and a recipient of the piano world’s “genius grant” are just some of the pleasures in store during the upcoming season of the Los Alamos Concert Association.

The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet will open the season at 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25. Grammy winners in 2005, the quartet has a distinguished reputation for wide-ranging repertoire featuring works from the classical, contemporary and world music realms. 

The Brown-Urioste-Canellakis Trio will perform works from the piano trio repertoire by Haydn, Mendelssohn, Chausson and Josef Suk at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5. Pianist Michael Brown, violinist Elena Urioste and cellist Nicholas Canellakis bring impressive solo careers and stage presence to the ensemble.

Joshua Bell, hailed by the Boston Globe as “the greatest American violinist active today”, will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3. This will be Bell’s first performance in New Mexico in 10 years. He will be accompanied by his frequent collaborator, the accomplished pianist Sam Haywood.    

Poster for The Return of the Violin documentary. Courtesy image

As a prelude to Mr. Bell’s appearance, the concert season will include a Jan. 22 screening of The Return of the Violin, a documentary recounting the compelling story of his violin, the legendary Gibson ex Huberman Stradivarius, and one of its previous owners, the Polish prodigy Bronislaw Huberman.   

The much admired Baltimore Consort will bring instrumental music of the English Renaissance to an afternoon concert in March. Tickets also are available to a dinner at the Blue Window Bistro with the Consort following their performance. 

Argentinian pianist Ingrid Fliter will close the season in May with a performance of the complete Chopin Preludes, and two works by Beethoven, his Sonata no. 23 in F minor, the “Appassionata” and his 32 Variations on an original theme. Fliter is a distinguished Chopin interpreter and winner in 2006 of the prestigious Gilmore Artist Award, the “genius grant “of the piano world.

A mail-in order form offering ticket discounts before Sept. 1 is available for download on LACA’s website www.losalamosconcert.org. Continuing a long tradition, students ages 6 through 18 will be admitted free to all the performances with the exception of the Joshua Bell concert at $10. All tickets purchased (with the exception of Bell and documentary tickets) are valid for any concert in the series. 

LACA concerts are in the Duane Smith Auditorium on the campus of Los Alamos High School, 1300 Diamond Dr.

Concert Schedule:

• Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, Sunday, Sept. 25 at 4 p.m.
• Brown-Urioste-Canellakis Trio, Saturday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m.
• Return of the Violin (documentary), Sunday, Jan. 22 at 2 p.m.
• Joshua Bell, violin and Sam Haywood, piano, Friday, Feb. 3 at 8 p.m.
• Baltimore Consort, Sunday, March 5 at 4 p.m.
• Ingrid Fliter, piano, Sunday, May 7 at 4 p.m.

Baltimore Consort will bring instrumental music of the English Renaissance to the Duane Smith Auditorium March 5. Courtesy photo

Argentinian pianist Ingrid Fliter will close the LACA season May 7 at the Duane Smith Auditorium. Photo by Dan Porges