Third Sunday Concerts to feature chamber music at April 21 performance

A program of chamber music will be offered at the Third Sunday Concert at Christ Episcopal Church, Covington, on Sunday, April 21. The concert will be staged in the church, beginning at 5 p.m. (doors open at 4:30 p.m.).

Selections to be performed include Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114 by Johannes Brahms and Quartet No. 1 in G minor, K. 478 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Performers will be pianist Robin Williams, clarinetist Larry Jones, violinist Ben Thacher, violist Luke Fleming and cellist Jake Fowler.

Williams is former chair of the Department of Music at the University of New Orleans and past member of the board of directors of the Musical Arts Society of New Orleans (MASNO). Her creative focus in recent years has been on a CD series fostering relaxation and pleasure titled A Piano in the House and including three subtitles, Music for Hearth and Home, Signs of Spring and On a Winter’s Eve.

Jones’ passion for the clarinet began at age twelve when he was given his first clarinet. He has performed everything from classical to jazz and ragtime to German oom-pah-pah polkas with groups such as the Baton Rouge Symphony, New Orleans Civic Symphony, Jefferson Performing Art Society. the New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra and the Prost German Band.

A native of Cape Cod, Mass., Thacher teaches violin and is on the faculty of the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra Program. He is also a member of the Lott String Quartet and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.

Fleming’s performances have been described by Gramophone magazine for their “superlative technical and artistic execution.” In 2015, Mr. Fleming became the founding artistic director of both the Manhattan Chamber Players, a New York-based chamber music collective, and the New Orleans-based Crescent City Chamber Music Festival. He is a member of the Lott Quartet.

A New Orleans-based cellist and also a member of the Lott Quartet, Fowler is the founding director of the Surf and Sounds Chamber Music Series of Outer Banks, North Carolina, and a founding member of Delachaise Ensemble, which is dedicated to presenting accessible and innovative programs to the local community. He was recently recognized for his performance with New Orleans natives Juvenile, Mannie Fresh, Trombone Shorty and Jon Batiste on National Public Radio’s Tiny Desk Concert Series.

The Third Sunday Concert Series, now in its 33rd year, is an outreach of Christ Episcopal Church, Covington. The one-hour concerts are held monthly from September through May. They are free and open to the public and are followed by a wine and light hors d’oeuvres reception in the Parish Hall for the performers and audience.

The 2023-2024 Third Sunday Concert Series concludes its current season on May 19 with a performance by the award-winning New Orleans blues pianist Joe Krown.

Christ Episcopal Church is located at 120 S. New Hampshire, near the Covington downtown area and just before the entrance to Bogue Falaya Park. The handicap accessible entrance to the sanctuary is located on the park side of the main church.

For more information call 985.892.3177.