News Type: Press

Musical Masterworks Hits High Notes in Launch of 35th Season

By Meredith Guinness, 

OLD LYME — When Tessa Lark, violinist and artistic director of Musical Masterworks, sat down to plan a program for the 35th-anniversary season, she worked with a simple rule.

“I go with my gut,” Lark told CT Examiner in a recent interview. “I program concerts that I myself would like to see. I enjoy different styles and my friends happen to be a diverse bunch.”

Fans of Musical Masterworks, which opens its season Oct. 4 and 5 at the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, will be happy to hear her friends also happen to be some of the most lauded names in classical music. This season’s performers include Grammy-winning bassist and MacArthur Fellow Edgar Meyer, internationally acclaimed pianist Inon Barnatan, and Bridget Kibbey, who Vogue crowned “the Yo-Yo Ma of the harp.”

Called “one of the most admired pianists of his generation” by The New York Times, Barnatan will be part of the powerhouse quintet on the first program, which features three works by Franz Schubert, including the much-loved “Trout Quintet.”

“I call it a party piece. You can almost smell the wienerschnitzel,” said Lark with a laugh. “But the instrumentation is unusual and, like a lot of Schubert, in its simplicity I find there is quite a bit of poignancy and melancholy.”

While “the Trout” may be a familiar mainstay of the classical canon, Lark said she and her fellow performers look for surprising nuances that show chamber music is a vital form.

“‘Classical music’ is a misnomer,” she said. “It’s a living, breathing, forever-changing landscape.”

Highlights of her 2024-25 work includes returns to the BBC Symphony and Rochester Philharmonic, a debut with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and a recital for the San Francisco Symphony.

She was also named artistic director of the Moab Music Festival and is a mentor for the Irving M. Klein International String Competition.

That last connection introduced her to fellow violinist Julia Schilz, a Juilliard grad student who won the 2025 competition’s grand prize. Schilz will join Lark in Old Lyme for the April concert also featuring pianist Jeewon Park, who has performed extensively in North America, Europe and Asia.

In December, Meyer and Amy Yang, who The Washington Post called “a jaw-dropping pianist who steals the show … with effortless finesse,” will play a recital of their own compositions. Lark, who has collaborated with both, said she’s excited to see how the audience reacts to the pair.

“This will be their first time together in Old Lyme,” she said. “That’s just going to be mind blowing.”

The season’s first program also includes one of Lark’s compositions, “Appalachian Fantasy,” which draws on her own Kentucky roots.

February’s eclectic program of Joseph Haydn, English works and café music brings Lark together with genre-defying cellist Mike Block. March showcases Kibbey with a quintet for “The Sacred and the Profane,” a collection of works by Claude Debussy, J.S. Bach, Benjamin Britten and more.

In addition to the five main concerts at the church, Musical Masterworks will offer the annual MMModern concert at Lyme Academy of Fine Arts. Th event features Catalan singer and guitarist Lau

Remembering Charles Wadsworth, first director of Musical Masterworks

By Rick Koster, Day Staff Writer | 6.6.25

Charles Wadsworth, the much-loved pianist whose vision and passion launched numerous renowned chamber music series including New York City’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Spoleto Festivals in Italy and Charleston, S.C., and Musical Masterworks in Old Lyme, died May 30 in New York City. He was 96.

Wadsworth, a Georgia native, not only founded these organizations, but also served as creative director and host, and his clever mix of repertoire with newer material and under-known composers was only equaled by his onstage wit and anecdotal charm.

“(My husband) Jamie and I got to know Charles at first through visits to the Spoleto Festival in Charleston,” Musical Masterworks president Alden Murphy said in a statement Thursday. “It was there we first witnessed his slightly wacky and fully informed verbal ‘program notes.’ Because the chamber music Midday Concerts were performed every day at noon, Charles and the musicians often didn’t decide until that morning what they would play.

“So Charles came onstage often with his notes literally scribbled on a napkin from breakfast. He charmed those audiences; charmed all of us in Old Lyme with the same style. … It was a surprise and delight for Jamie and me, and our Musical Masterworks co-founders John Hargraves and David Dangremond, when Charles said yes to our offer to become artistic director to our young series.”

Wadsworth accepted the opportunity to run the chamber music concert series in 1991 and held the position until 2009. Under his stewardship, the series rapidly gained a national reputation, thanks in no small part to Wadsworth’s many virtuoso friends as well as a regional audience that, as he was fond of saying in mid-concert remarks and press interviews, was extremely informed and appreciative.

When it was time for Wadsworth to retire, he had the prescience to hand-pick his successor, the cellist Edward Arron, who served a sort of Masterworks apprenticeship for two years and was subsequently artistic director until 2022.

On Thursday, Arron said, “I was a kid whose obsession growing up was literally chamber music, and Charles was a hero from a distance because he was this incredible advocate for the art form, and he was so charming. I got to see him at the Chamber Society when I was little, so here was this person who actually fit into the mold of a hero for me.”

As Arron’s career took off and he began to cross paths more and more with Wadsworth, he said, “We began to realize we were kindred spirits. I was so honored he brought me into the fold as his friend, and fortunate he recognized in me, I guess, a curatorial aspect — so much so that he asked me to assist him in his final years at Musical Masterworks. What an amazing dream come true.”

Arron described Wadsworth’s habit, in those final two seasons in Old Lyme, of introducing a performance by saying, “You know, at my age, so may people have told me I’m a legend that I’m starting to believe it might be true.”

After the laughter and applause died down, Wadsworth would point to Arron standing next to him and add, “And this is my associate legend.”

In numerous reviews or articles over the years, writers and critics continually made the point that Wadsworth never lost or wanted to lose his Southern manners and humor.

In an inaugural interview with Wadsworth, this reporter apologetically acknowledged a layperson’s limited familiarity with chamber music. Wadsworth quickly brushed that aside and, noting the similar accents — Georgia and Texas — instigated a relaxed conversation about great southern music, humidity and cooking.

Since Wadsworth’s death, Arron said he’d spent a lot of time reflecting on the innovations his mentor made to chamber music. “Charles brought the art form out of that narrow path of just string quartets or the occasional piano trio. He unearthed so many treasures of musical composition spanning 400 years, and came up with so many combinations and lively programs — all of which he could describe in ways that utterly disarmed audiences.

“And Charles was the ultimate chamber musician at heart. By that I mean he was a great colleague. To him, music was ageless. It didn’t matter how young or old you were, if you played chamber music, he gave you his respect and you’d walk away realizing he’d magically given you the gift of his wisdom and friendship.”

Murphy said, “Beginning with Charles (at Musical Masterworks), we’ve seen three generations of musicians grace our stage, including three generations of stellar artistic directors. We’re so grateful for the gifts he brought to our community and our region.”

Musical Masterworks Mourns Founding Artistic Director, Chamber Music Pioneer Charles Wadsworth

By Elizabeth Reagan for LymeLine, 6.7.25

OLD LYME–The Musical Masterworks community and beyond is mourning the loss of founding artistic director and pioneering chamber musician Charles Wadsworth.

The pianist died on May 29 in Manhattan, NY, at the age of 96.

A tribute from the Musical Masterworks board of directors recalled his arrival on the Old Lyme scene in 1990 when the group was still a fledgling concert series. Wadsworth brought with him a worldwide reputation as the founding director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Spoleto Festival Midday Concerts in Italy and Charleston, S.C.

Musical Masterworks President Alden Murphy, who was a founding director of the series with her husband Jamie Murphy, told LymeLine in an email that it was a “joyful surprise” when Wadsworth agreed to become the group’s first artistic director.

“Thanks to Charles, three generations of musicians and audiences have found a home at Musical Masterworks,” she continued, adding, “We’re forever grateful for the magic he brought to our community.”

She said his quirky, napkin-scribbled program notes back when the couple first met him at the Spoleto Festival made chamber music feel alive and spontaneous.

“He brought that same warmth and humor to Old Lyme, transforming our young concert series into something extraordinary,” she noted.

The group counted Paula Robison, Richard Goode, Chee-Yun, Carter Brey among the many stars he introduced to the Masterworks stage. He passed on a welcoming spirit that still defines the concerts to artistic director Edward Arron in 2009 and Tessa Lark, who took the role in 2022.

“With every performance, we carry forward his joy, his generosity, and his belief in the transformative power of chamber music,” the tribute concluded.

Musical Masterworks roars into its 29th season

By Lee Howard, Day staff writer  |  October 19. 2019

 

Old Lyme — Musical Masterworks got off to a rip-roaring start as it kicked off its 29th season of classical music performances Saturday night at the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, with artistic director Edward Arron on cello joined by veteran pianist Gilles Vonsattel and young violinist Stefan Jackiw making his local debut.

About 200 people showed up for opening night in a concert that will be repeated at the church at 3 p.m. Sunday, and the vibe was decidedly upbeat as the crowd gave the trio a standing ovation and even a few hoots and hollers not usually associated with this genteel setting. The concert featured works by Mozart, Ravel and Schumann that were some of the most adventurous and thrilling in their respective repertoires.

The concert began with Mozart’s Sonata in G Major for Violin and Piano (K.379), a work penned as the composer was being introduced to Viennese society in 1781, still only in his mid-20s. As Arron told it, Mozart was hard at work on the score even as opening night arrived for his first concert in Vienna, and Mozart was forced to wing the piano part from memory, a handicap that Vonsattel luckily did not have to emulate.

It’s a beautiful, romantic piece that had Jackiw rising up on his toes as he tossed off the luscious violin melodies while Vonsattel’s fingers cascaded up and down the piano in a waterfall of dreamlike arpeggios. The give and take between the piano and violin was like watching a balletic pas de deux that matched strength and agility while giving each its due.

Arron humorously introduced the next piece, Ravel’s Piano Trio in A Minor, by raving about its harmonic luminosity, gorgeous textures and exquisite craftsmanship, not to mention the finale that he said “ends in titanic fashion. …

“Not THAT Titanic,” he added, to laughter from the audience.

Indeed, Ravel’s trio written on the eve of World War I proved a true revelation from its sweet opening melody to the wild finish. Arron and Jackiw exhibited perfect timing in their frequent duets throughout as the cellist appeared to conduct the piece largely with his substantial eyebrows and furrowed forehead.

The phrasing throughout was impeccable and the romantic sweeps of emotion were played to the hilt as each player physically launched himself into the score, bending and swaying to the music. Beads of sweat could be seen forming on the two string players’ faces as their bows skittered across the strings, particularly in the fast scherzo of the second movement.

The third movement was a masterpiece unto itself with the low rumbling of the piano sounding like thunder in the distance, and the passionate theme is repeated eight times — each in a different way. At the end, there again is the finality of the rumbling piano in its lower register.

The final movement is less cerebral and more visceral, featuring exciting trills in the violin and cello, building in intensity toward the final burst of wild arpeggios.

Finally, Schumann’s Piano Trio in D Minor, Opus 63, featured lovely playing by the whole ensemble. The stormy opening movement gave way to a horse-trot dance in the second and a funereal dirge in the third that had the two string players closing their eyes and playing from memory and their hearts.

The final movement proved elegiac and brighter, “a joyful valedictory,” as Arron had put it earlier, and the trio dug into the fulsome, gorgeous melody to wring out the last ounce of emotion, flying up and down their instruments in perfect syncopation to deliver a final wild punch.

The next Musical Masterworks concert at the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme will be Dec. 7-8. Click for tickets.

l.howard@theday.com