One More in the Chamber

The Music Academy’s 76th annual summer festival reached its halfway mark with a second chamber night concert at Lehmann Hall featuring works by Joan Tower’s “Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 3,” Mozart’s “Piano Quartet in E-flat Major” with Qiyan Xing on violin, Molly Prow on viola, Simon Housner on cello, and Robert Brooks Carlson on keyboard. The performance wrapped with Ravel’s “Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques” with mezzo-soprano Tivoli Treloar, and Poulenc’s “Sextet for Piano and Wind Quartet.”

The week culminated with a sold-out concert by the Academy Festival Orchestra under conductor Anthony Parnther, opera singer, comedian, and storyteller, at Hahn Hall.

Parnther, music director of the San Bernardino Symphony, was at the top of his game, not at all surprising given he has worked with an absolute galaxy of bold-faced names during his career, including Joshua Bell, Jessye Norman, Frederica von Stade, Rihanna, Kanye West, Imagine Dragons, Beyoncé, Elton John, Madonna, and Jennifer Hudson.

The concert was undoubtedly a showstopper with Von Weber’s overture from Euryanthe, Carlos Simon’s 2015 work “An Elegy: A Cry from the Grave,” Herrmann’s reworked theme from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film thriller “Psycho: A Nocturne for String Orchestra in Three Parts,” and Shostakovich’s “Symphony No.9,” written just after the conclusion of World War II.

A glorious night, indeed.