Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival Presents: Free Community Concert
The Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, which draws outstanding musicians from North America and abroad every September, celebrates its 26th season with a series of concerts from September 7 to 20, 2025.
The 2025 Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival is full of color from around the world, from classic pieces by Schubert, Rachmaninov, and Brahms, to the rhythms of Latin America, and Stravinsky’s theatrical L’Histoire du soldat, and so much more. Playing music is telling stories, the expression of culture, the sound of a place, sometimes a place left behind. It is memories, the expression of emotions deep inside and ones to be wildly danced and celebrated.
This free one-hour concert should appeal to both classical music fans and curious music explorers alike. This will be an eclectic program for strings, clarinet, and piano, featuring music from Brazil, as well as works by Niccolò Paganini, de Beriot, Rebecca Clarke, Osmo Vänskä, and others.
School groups and other groups of 10 or more that need to be seated together, please call our Box Office to let us know of your attendance.
Edward Arron, Raphael Bell, Cristian Budu, Jennifer Frautschi, Erin Keefe, Muriel Razavi, Timothy Summers, Osmo Vänskä
Other 2025 Festival concerts at the Paramount include a ticketed events on Thursday, September 11 at 7:30PM and Friday, September 19 at 7:30PM.
Special thanks to our Festival Season Sponsor: Mrs. Tessa G. Ader
Sponsored by the Bama Works Fund of the Dave Matthews Band at Charlottesville Area Community Foundation
About the Musicians
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Edward Arron made his New York recital debut in 2000 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since that time, he has appeared in recital, as a soloist with major orchestras, and as a chamber musician, throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Mr. Arron tours and records as a member of the renowned Ehnes String Quartet and is a regular performer at the Boston and Seattle Chamber Music Societies, the Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, among others.
Raphael Bell enjoys a varied career as a principal cellist, chamber musician, teacher, and festival director. He is currently principal cello of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Co-Artistic Director of La Loingtaine in Montigny-sur-Loing, France, Co-Founder of the Camerata Fontainebleau, and Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival. As a chamber musician he has performed at Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Salle Gaveau, Berlin Philharmonie, Köln Philharmonie, Luzerner Theater, Tokyo Suntory Hall, and Kyoto Concert Hall.
Cristian Budu has performed as a soloist with such orchestras as the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Orquestre de la Suisse Romande, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Basel and Lausanne Chamber Orchestras, and as a soloist at festivals such as the Verbier Festival, and La Roque D’Antheron Piano Festival. He has played in duos with Renaud Capuçon and Antonio Meneses, and in chamber music with musicians from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The honor that has special meaning for Cristian came from another Brazilian classical artist. Nelson Freire, regarded as one of the greatest pianists of his generation, said in his last interview that he thought Cristian would become his successor.
Two-time GRAMMY nominee and Avery Fisher career grant recipient violinist Jennifer Frautschi has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Cincinnati Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and St Paul Chamber Orchestra. As chamber musician she has performed with the Boston Chamber Music Society and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and appeared at Chamber Music Northwest, La Jolla Summerfest, Music@Menlo, Tippet Rise Art Center, Toronto Summer Music, and the Bridgehampton, Lake Champlain, Moab, Ojai, Santa Fe, Seattle, and Spoleto Music Festivals.
American violinist Erin Keefe is currently the Concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra and on the violin faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music. Winner of an Avery Fisher Career Grant as well as numerous international competitions, she has appeared as soloist in recent seasons with the Minnesota Orchestra, New York City Ballet Orchestra, Korean Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony, Lahti Symphony, Sendai Philharmonic and the Gottingen Symphony. She has given recitals throughout the United States, Austria, Italy, Germany, Korea, Poland, Finland, Japan, and Denmark.
Muriel Razavi is an American-Iranian violist performing internationally across various formations and genres of classical music. She is the founder and artistic director of Leipzig’s Soundseed Festival, focusing on contemporary works by female composers from the Middle East – North Africa (MENA) region. Previously, Razavi served as Deputy Principal Violist of the MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig. As a soloist, she has performed with the Bridges Chamber Orchestra, Ankara State Orchestra, and Lviv Philharmonic, among others.
Violinist Timothy Summers is a member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and has performed on violin, viola, and occasionally mandolin with the orchestra across the world. He serves on the orchestra’s board and is Artistic Director of the MCO’s ‘Future Presence’ Virtual Reality project with sound artist Henrik Oppermann. Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival since 2000, Timothy has performed as a chamber musician at festivals across the United States and Europe. He served as second violinist of the Orpheus String Quartet, and was for several years a participant in the Emmanuel Music cycle of Bach Cantatas in Boston, led by John Harbison and the late Craig Smith.
Conductor and clarinetist Osmo Vänskä was born in Finland and began his clarinet studies at the age of 11 at the music school in Kotka. He undertook further studies at the Sibelius Academy as a pupil of Sven Lavela, and spent a short but significant period as a pupil of Karl Leister in Berlin in 1974. He has been the principal clarinetist of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra (1971-76) and assistant principal clarinetist of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (1977-82). He was the Artistic Director of the Crusell Festival in Uusikaupunki, Finland, from 1989 until 1993.
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO! The Paramount Theater is pleased to bring diverse programming to the stage and screen. The Theater does not provide advisories about subject matter for events, as sensitivities vary. Not all events may appeal to, or be appropriate for, every person. Patrons are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the shows offered in order to make informed decisions prior to purchasing tickets.
In addition to show synopses, trailers, and reviews on our web events, other resources about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb, and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches. For further questions, please contact the Box Office at 434.979.1333 or at boxoffice@theparamount.net, 10AM-2PM Monday-Friday + 1 hour before events.
