(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.) – The Williams Chamber Players will perform an eclectic program of ballads, chamber works by Ravel and Brahms, and a setting of Robert Lowell’s poetry by Frederic Sharaf in their first concert of the season in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall on the Williams College campus on Friday, September 11, 2015, at 8pm. The event is free and open to the public.

The evening begins with ballads sung by bass-baritone Keith Kibler and soprano Gwendolyn Tunnicliffe and played by Doris Stevenson, piano, along with harpist Anna DeLoi ’18. This collection of traditional ballads includes settings by Benjamin Britten.

Next is Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro for harp, flute, clarinet & string quartet played by Jacqueline DeVoe, flute; Susan Martula, clarinet; Elizabeth Morse, harp; Joana Genova and Max Sopher ’16, violins; Ah Ling Neu, viola; and Nathaniel Parke, cello.

Soprano Erin Nafziger and pianist Edwin Lawrence perform Frederic Sharaf’s “Three Settings from Imitations” by Robert Lowell. American composer Frederic Sharaf is a writer of contemporary classical chamber music, art songs, and love ballads. “Three Settings from Imitations” by Robert Lowell was premiered by his late wife, Jane, a mezzo-soprano.

After an intermission, the Williams Chamber Players present Brahms’ Piano Trio in C Major, op. 87 with Joanna Kurkowicz, violin; Ronald Feldman, cello; and Doris Stevenson, piano.

The Williams Chamber Players was founded in 1999 and is coordinated by Doris Stevenson. The Williams Chamber Players is a resident performance faculty chamber music ensemble at Williams. The ensemble offers performers and audiences the opportunity to explore chamber music over a range of periods and styles.

Williams Concert Hotline: 413-597-3146