NCMF in July Concert and Chamber Music for Bass

Summer here in the RCO office is flying by. On July 9th we had a terrific concert in Nightingale Hall--our "Nevada Chamber Music Festival in July" performance. Between 200-300 people came to hear Ruth Lenz, Ted Kuchar, John Lenz, Jim Winn and me play the Hummel: Quintet and Brahms: Quartet in g minor. It was a fun concert and, from the response, it seems that the audience really enjoyed it.

As a bass player, it is frustrating that there are relatively few pieces written for my instrument in the chamber music repertoire. I'm always on the look out for pieces that include a bass, and this weekend (while in Portland for our granddaughter Zelia's 1st birthday party!) stumbled across a CD and an ensemble that may lead to a treasure trove. The Nepomuk Quintet is a group consisting of violin, viola, cello, bass, and piano. It is named after the distinctive middle name of Johann Nepomuk Hummel, whose quintet we just performed. This instrumentation is most famous for being the one used in Schubert's "Trout" Quintet, and this group has dedicated themselves to researching and unearthing works for this configuration. The liner notes of the CD I bought indicate that they have found more than 20 pieces from the late classical era for this type of band. I can't wait to find out more and increase my chamber music repertoire substantially.