WQXR Celebrates the Intimate Art of Chamber Music with "Trout Week", a Festival of Live Performances, Radio Specials, and Web Features, April 2-8

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Five superlative ensembles headline “Trout Week: A WQXR Chamber Festival,” on April 2-8, presented by WQXR, New York City’s classical station. Inspired by one of the chamber repertoire’s most beloved pieces, Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet, and with a sly nod to the Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week”, the festival showcases the passion, intensity and emotional richness of one of classical music’s most rewarding genres.

At the heart of the festival are five nightly concerts on April 4-8 at The Jerome L Greene Performance Space, the station’s innovative and intimate live event venue, featuring cutting-edge groups, from ETHEL, the JACK Quartet and the Ensemble ACJW to the Gramophone Award-winning Ebene Quartet and world-renowned Tokyo String Quartet. Each evening performance will be hosted by Bill McLaughlin (whose programs St. Paul Sunday and Exploring Music are carried on WQXR), who will discuss with the performers what is so special about the genre. The Greene Space will also host several free lunchtime concerts throughout the festival.

Additionally, WQXR will present a jam-packed schedule of music and features on the air and online at 105.9 FM, on www.wqxr.org, and on Q2, the station’s 24/7 new music web stream. The festival will put a spotlight on chamber music from multiple angles, including radio programs devoted to the genre, listener polls, a chamber music photo gallery, ongoing coverage on the WQXR blog and, of course, recordings of Schubert's "Trout" Quintet.

“Chamber music is magnetic because it’s an intensely personal genre, inspired by a do-it-yourself ethos,” said Graham Parker, Vice President, WQXR. “It is ever evolving and is found everywhere -- in diverse spaces from apartments to concert halls. We are excited to build WQXR’s first full festival around this truly inventive format. With a wide variety of live performances in The Greene Space, inspired radio programming, and accessible, interactive web features, ‘Trout Week’ gives New Yorkers a variety of ways to connect with WQXR, with each other, and with excellent chamber music.”

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