Pulitzer Prize winner Rita Dove will read her Beethoven poem with Chamber Music Society

The Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta (ECMSA) launches its 32nd season this fall with celebratory overtones because it marks Director William Ransom’s 40th year at Emory. The lineup also features Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Rita Dove in the Sonata Mulattica program, named after her poetry collection of the same name.

The noon concert on September 6 and the evening concert on September 14, both at Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, will feature Ransom on piano. On September 14, he will play works by Chopin and Debussy, as well as George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in honor of the piece’s 100th anniversary.

The ensemble’s schedule will continue with a smorgasbord of activity with its Emerson Evening series, joined by its daytime Bach’s Lunch and Cooke Noontime concert series, family events and master classes — 60 events in total. Highlights of the season include:

Saturday, September 7 at Schwartz Center for Performing Arts: Boundless Bach: A Symphony for Solo Cello. Johann Sebastian Bach’s cello suites remain the most celebrated pieces in the cello literature for their emotional depth and wide-ranging technical demands. In this program, Atlanta cellist Roee Harrán will perform four suites from this iconic cycle: No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 5.

Saturday, November 16 at Emory’s Cannon Chapel: Eternal Love Triangle. A selection of compositions will celebrate the work of Clara and Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. The title is a reference to the trio’s legendary romantic entanglement. Tenor Timothy Miller will sing “Dichterliebe.”

Friday, January 17 at Schwartz Center for Performing Arts: Sonata Mulattica. In an unusual pairing, Rita Dove will read her poem “The Bridgetower,” which is about the contentious relationship between Beethoven and Black violinist George Bridgetower. Violinist Hannah White, in her Atlanta debut, will join Ransom for a performance of Beethoven’s “Kreutzer Sonata,” tying in with Dove’s powerful poetry. 

Saturday, January 31 at Schwartz Center for Performing Arts: World renowned violinist Chee-Yun joins William Ransom for a noontime concert featuring Ravel’s Tzigane and Franck’s Sonata.

Saturday, March 22 at Cannon Chapel: The Old and the New. The Vega Quartet premieres a new piece by violist and composer Paul Coletti, with a special guest appearance by former Vega violist Yinzi Kong.

Finally, the Vega Quartet will enjoy a career highlight performance April 25, 2025, at Carnegie Hall, presenting Beethoven and Bluegrass with fiddle duo Mark and Maggie O’Connor. Although it’s unlikely to see many Atlanta attendees, the concert will be the Vega’s first New York concert in roughly a decade.

“The Vega has played in Carnegie’s other two halls — Weill Recital Hall and the big one,” explains Ransom. “But this is the first time they will play in Zankel, the middle-size hall at Carnegie, which holds 600.”

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Jordan Owen began writing about music professionally at the age of 16 in Oxford, Mississippi. A 2006 graduate of the Berklee College of Music, he is a professional guitarist, bandleader and composer. He is currently the lead guitarist for the jazz group Other Strangers, the power metal band Axis of Empires and the melodic death/thrash metal band Century Spawn.