Chamber Music

This program provides pre-formed ensembles of all types, with or without piano, an opportunity to focus on their development as an ensemble. Ensembles work on repertoire of their choice, are provided with their own rehearsal space, and the freedom to work on their own schedule. Program faculty includes violinist Andrew Dawes, cellist Laurence Lesser, and pianist Bernadene Blaha.

The Banff Centre’s summer music programs offer musicians a unique learning experience through intensive programs and dozens of performance opportunities with other international participants in the music programs, as well as with the renowned program faculty throughout the Banff Summer Arts Festival.

Participating ensembles in the Chamber Music program benefit from the input and guidance of the program’s faculty members -- highly seasoned chamber music gurus.

Listen to a clip of Brahms’s Piano Quintet in f minor performed by the Rocca Quartet and faculty member Bernadene Blaha at the 2004 Banff Summer Arts Festival.
Like many members of chamber ensembles, the members of the Rocca Quartet lead their own distinct musical lives for most of the year, separated by provincial and national borders. Come June, the quartet members convene in Banff for the Chamber Music program, where they are afforded an uninterrupted period of focused work to develop as an ensemble.

Listen to a clip of Beethoven’s Sonata in G Major, Op. 30, No. 3. performed by faculty members Andrew Dawes and Bernadene Blaha.