Seattle chamber-music series filled with summer treats

For starry-eyed romantics, summer in Seattle means only one thing: the Seattle Chamber Music Society's Summer Festival, in its 28th year under the artistic direction of cellist and University of Washington music professor Toby Saks. There is, quite simply, nothing else that stirs the heart quite like the live performances of this series, with its world-class roster of talent and rousing programs.

The festival runs Monday-July 31 at Seattle's Lakeside School and moves to Redmond's Overlake School Aug. 5-14.

"This audience loves the great Romantic composers," Saks says, admitting that when she started programming the festival almost three decades ago, "a lot of these mainstream works hadn't been played live in Seattle much."

Many of the composers and performers the festival first introduced to local audiences in a live setting have become part of the series' acoustic hallmark. Associate artistic director and violinist James Ehnes, for example, was "still in his teens when he first appeared," says Saks.

Ehnes will present the world premiere of Christopher Theofanidis' "Summer Verses for Violin and Cello" with cellist Robert deMaine on July 13 in a program that also features Johannes Brahms' hard-to- resist Quintet for Piano and Strings in F Minor.

Theofanidis, 40, one of the world's oft-performed and best-known living composers, will be introducing his piece during the recital before the July 13 concert. Every 8 p.m. concert in the series is preceded by a 7 p.m. recital that is short, sweet and, best of all, free. Lines start forming early, so bring a picnic dinner or order one in advance.

Festival devotees know they can count on the presence of such longtime stalwarts as pianist Adam Neiman and cellist Ronald Thomas to put on an unforgettable show. The two of them, regulars for 20-some years, will be collaborating on Béla Bartók's Piano Quintet on July 27, the first time this piece will be performed in the festival.

"It's melodious, with that Hungarian idiom that people love. It deserves to be played more often," says Saks.

Joining them in the Bartók will be crowd-favorite violist Richard O'Neill, who, like pianist Jeremy Denk and deMaine, has logged almost 10 years at the series. My festival favorites, these three players had a hand in many of last summer's most memorable moments, and I'm betting they'll do so again.

Count on something unforgettable happening July 24, when Denk joins violinist and critic's darling Stefan Jackiw and horn player Jeffrey Fair in Brahms' lovely, mournful Trio in E-flat Major. This performance hasn't sold out but will soon, especially since the program closes with Sergei Taneyev's Quartet for Piano and Strings, "an extraordinary piece of music," according to Saks, "that always brings the audience cheering to their feet."

Expect another showstopper July 20, with Richard Strauss' Quartet for Piano and Strings in C Minor, says Saks. "It's big, romantic, rousing; Strauss at his most glorious." Fans of chamber music need no introduction to another powerhouse that will make a welcome appearance Aug. 5 at Overlake: Felix Mendelssohn's glorious, beloved string Octet in E-flat Major, with an all-star lineup that includes Jackiw, O'Neill, deMaine and Saks.

Always a pleasure to hear, the Octet deserves to be savored live in an intimate setting with players of such finesse.

All the festival regulars were once newbies, and this summer's crop of talented first-timers includes Italian violinist Augustin Hadelich, who July 8 will perform in recital Eugène Ysaÿe's Sonata in G Minor that Hilary Hahn memorably introduced to local audiences at Benaroya Hall this year.

The program for that night's concert promises to be another stunner, with two piano trios, Mendelssohn's Op. 66 and Antonín Dvorák's Op. 90, and Darius Milhaud's sumptuous "La Création du Monde" Suite in D Minor.

Sumi Hahn: sumi@bewodo.org