Event Details

Chamber Music Charleston is thrilled to continue its newest concert series, “Chamber Music at the Pearl,” taking place in the Pearl Theatre of the West Ashley Theater Center (1401 Sam Rittenberg Blvd. #11, West Ashley). The opening program of this series takes place on Friday, October 25, 2024 at 7pm and features CMC violinist Frances Hsieh, cellist Timothy O’Malley, and pianist Irina Pevzner performing music of Saint-Saens, Cassado, and Beethoven.

The hour-long program opens with Camille Saint-Saëns' evocative "Danse Macabre" for violin and piano. This 1870 tone poem opens with twelve haunting piano notes, symbolizing the stroke of midnight. The violin, embodying the "Fiddle" of death, then enters with a scratchy tone and increasing virtuosity, leading a spectral dance until the break of dawn, when the music gently transitions to an elegiac close.

The program culminates with Ludwig van Beethoven’s renowned Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70 No. 1, famously dubbed the “Ghost.” The trio's eerie slow movement is reminiscent of the ghost scene in Shakespeare’s "Hamlet," providing a fittingly spectral conclusion to the evening's performance.

Nestled within Ashley Landing in West Ashley, the Pearl Theatre of the Charleston Stage offers a dynamic venue with two dance and rehearsal studios and a 130-seat performance space known as “The Pearl” or the Pearlstine Theatre, named in honor of a generous contribution from the Pearlstine Family.

Tickets start at $20 ($5 for students/parents) and are available in advance online at https://www.chambermusiccharleston.org/pearl/