James Shields plays Bach and Saint-Saens on the clarinet

Associate Artistic director James Shields presents a challenging program for the clarinet featuring works of Bach and Saint-Saens.  

Many musicians from around the world, regardless of instrument, have spent time familiarizing themselves with Bach's Suites for solo cello and Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin as tools to help learn technical and artistic mastery of their instruments.  Shields moves this practice from the work studio to the concert stage with a performance of Bach's Suite No. 1 in G major – substituting  Bass Clarinet for Cello to let you hear this work in a new light.  To complete the program, Shields will be joined by pianist Pamela Pyle to bring to life Camille Saint-Saens subtle and moving Clarinet Sonata, one of Shields’ favorite works to perform.

The spoken word portion of the program will be by poet Anthony Hunt, a long-time Chatter favorite. Listless in an economics class long long ago, Hunt began writing poems and has never stopped. A university professor (UNM, PhD - English, 1971), with a well-received scholarly book on Gary Snyder's “Mountains and Rivers Without End,” he has taught in Nigeria, Maine, Puerto Rico, Poland, Croatia, and Taiwan.  In October of 2007 Tony and his wife, Susan, decided to trade their tropical lifestyle in Mayagüez, PR, for the high desert, mountains, mesas, and canyons of New Mexico.

Sunday Chatter Admission prices are $15 regular, $9 for those under 30, and $5 for children under 12. The Frequent Attender Pass gives patrons 11 admissions for the price of 10 and can be purchased at the Chatter website, www.sundaychatter.org