Culture & Community | East Rock | Music | Arts & Culture | Kallos Chamber Music Series
Minyoung Kang (piano), Josh Halpern (cello), Tanner Menees (viola) and Kevin Zhu (violin). Lukas Flippo.
Two screens flanked Minyoung Kang, displaying her fingers as they flew between the keys of the black Steinway & Sons piano. In a semi-circle in front of her, Kevin Zhu, Tanner Menees and Josh Halpern each commanded their respective instrument—violin, viola and cello—to the stylings of musicians Aaron Copland, Josef Suk and Johannes Brahms.
Wednesday night, those musicians guided an audience from the sounds of the Wild West to Central Europe, as the New Haven Lawn Club echoed with their sweet sound for two hours. It marked the final 2022-2023 concert and fifth season anniversary of the New Haven-based Kallos Chamber Music Series, complete with a standing ovation and thunderous applause.
Kang founded Kallos, whose Greek namesake weaves the concepts of “beauty” and “nobility,” in January 2019. At the time she was pregnant, and now affectionately refers to the series as her “second baby.”
Having performed at some of the world’s most prestigious chamber music venues—Château de Fontainebleau in Paris, France and Sejong Center in Seoul, South Korea among many others—she founded Kallos first and foremost “to create a sense of community.”
“Chamber music is a communal experience,” she said. “Not just we are playing for them. I feed off their energy. Without the audience it doesn’t mean anything.”
The concert, which centered on folk traditions, opened with the Waltz and Celebration from Copland’s “Billy the Kid,” adapted specifically for the piano and violin. Zhu and Kang's take on Copland’s ballet meandered between ominous and gentle notes, inviting the reader to partake in the intensity and unpredictability of the Wild West.
Kevin Zhu, Minyoung Kang, Tanner Menees and Josh Halpern. Lukas Flippo.
Halpern and Menees joined in as Kang led the ensemble through Suk’s Piano Quartet in A minor, Op.1. Kang provided a melodious undergird on the piano, atop which the string instruments steered the emotion of the piece, shifting between tender and prolonged notes to animated plucking and strikes of the bow.
The electric chemistry between the musicians reached its peak as they performed Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25. Halpern, Zhu and Menees intermittently locked eyes and smiled at one another, bopping their heads in concert at particularly dramatic moments.
“Where do we find community in music?” Kang had asked the crowd beforehand, as she took the stage. “Folk traditions may not be something elegant or sophisticated, but folk music has the power and wisdom to capture the breadth of humanity.”
It follows a long five years of growth and transition for the series. During the first year of Covid-19, the absence of an audience to feed off of became a reality for Kallos. Prior to the pandemic, Kallos’ concerts took place at First Presbyterian Church on Whitney Avenue and Lyric Hall in Westville. As a result of the pandemic, Kallos’ third concert season was held virtually.
The Lawn Club, where it has now been the quartet in residence for two seasons, helped it chart a return to live music. In 2017, the New Haven Lawn Club Preservation Trust was founded to support the maintenance of the facility, designed by New Haven-based architect Douglas William Orr. Since its inception, the trust has hosted numerous special events and fundraisers to secure funding.
Lukas Flippo.
Covid-19, however, posed substantial challenges to their fundraising efforts, said David Soper, the president of the board of trustees. The pandemic pushed them to think differently about how to bring in both funding and new forms of art.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Preservation Trust Board Member Brian Dore called Kang, who he had met years earlier when she played at a Beethoven-themed birthday party. When he saw Kallos in concert after that party, he was moved by the music. “People fell in love with it,” he said.
Initially, the New Haven Lawn Preservation Trust scheduled a three-concert season for Kallos. Held amidst a surge in Covid-19 cases in early 2021, capacity was limited, audience members wore masks and socializing was discouraged.
Despite the restrictions, the concerts were overwhelmingly popular. The Trust added an additional show last May, then invited Kang for another season. This concert season brought about 100 guests per performance, effectively doubling the number of attendees from last season.
To cellist Josh Halpern, the return to performing in-person without restrictions was beyond exciting. Based in Germany, where he is a member of the Berlin Philharmonic, Halpern returned for his fifth feature at the Kallos Chamber Music Series this week. He has performed with Kallos during the concerts affected by the pandemic, and is confident that the experience is drastically different.
“It is just great to play without all of those restrictions, to feel like after a concert you can shake someone’s hand, and say hello and get together,” he said.
George Knight, an architecture professor at Yale, has attended most of Kallos’ recent concerts at the Lawn Club. Though he lacks a professional ear for chamber music, he said he is enchanted by the quality and thoughtfulness behind Kallos’ performances.
“I am not knowledgeable about chamber music and I wouldn’t even consider myself a fan,” he said. “But a comment I have been making and hearing tonight is that everyone has exceeded expectations, and the opportunity to see spectacular live music has been totally thrilling.”
Knight agreed that there’s a palpable difference between the current season and the previous one, which was heavily influenced by the pandemic. It is “night and day,” he said.
Beyond the season ticket-holders, the concluding concert also attracted new attendees. Steve Newton commuted from Branford to enjoy his first Kallos concert. “Absolutely stunning, the talent, the youth, the vigor, the joyful intensity has been absolutely marvelous,” he said. “If the future events are as compelling and exceptional as this I am certain I will be back for more.”
As Kang reflected on the fifth anniversary of her “second baby,” she said she is now focused on making her music more accessible. For instance, she said, she wants to reach more people who may not have the financial means to afford a classical music concert. One way in which she makes her music widely available is by posting videos of parts of her concerts on her YouTube page.
“My hope is to have this accessible to more people, people who don’t have the privilege to hear classical music live.”