About the performance

Apex Concerts brings the animal kingdom vividly to life in The Carnivals of Animals, a program filled with color, imagination and wit. Flutist Tara Helen O’Connor takes flight in Vivaldi’s “Il gardellino,” a captivating evocation of the goldfinch. Pianist and composer Michael Stephen Brown then joins an extraordinary ensemble, including pianist Orion Weiss, violinists Kristin Lee and Arnaud Sussmann, violist Paul Neubauer, cellist Dmitri Atapine, double bassist Anthony Manzo, clarinetist José Franch-Ballester, and percussionist Ian Rosenbaum, in his own The Carnival of Endangered Wonders. The program culminates in Saint-Saëns’s beloved The Carnival of the Animals, one of the most iconic works in the chamber music repertoire, enchanting listeners of all ages for generations.

Program

• Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): Concerto in D major for Flute, Strings, and Continuo, RV 428, "Il gardellino" (1729)
• Michael Stephen Brown (b. 1987): The Carnival of Endangered Wonders: A Zoological Fantasy for Ensemble, with poems by Daniel Zaitchik
• Camile Saint-Saëns (1835-1921): The Carnival of the Animals (1886)

Guest artists

• Michael Stephen Brown, piano
• Orion Weiss, piano
• Kristin Lee, violin
• Daniel Phillips, violin
• Paul Neubauer, viola
• Dmitri Atapine, cello
• Anthony Manzo, double bass
• Tara Helen O'Connor, flute
• Jose Franch-Ballester, clarinet
• Ian Rosenbaum, percussion