Florida Chamber Music Project 2024-2025 Concert Series
Presented in Partnership with the Beaches Museum Chapel
Concert Times: Sundays at 3:00 pm. Doors open at 2:30 PM (Box office opens at 2:00 pm)
Location: Beaches Museum Chapel at 505 Beach Blvd, Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250
SEASON 12
(2024-2025)

Concert Time:
Sundays at 3pm. Doors open at 2:30 pm
Location:
Beaches Museum Chapel at 505 Beach Blvd, Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250
3-Ticket Season 12 Passes Are Available Now at $81.00 for the 2024-2025 Concert Series
Save $3.00 per concert
SEASON 12

FEBRUARY 23, 2025
This concert is sponsored by Holly and Redgie Gutshall
- String Quartet in G Major (Unfinished) • Florence Price
- String Quartet in G Major, Op. 106 • Antonin Dvorak

MARCH 23, 2025
This concert is sponsored by Antonia Porterfield
Guest artists Romona Merritt and Brian Magnus.
- Acoustic Analog: A Tribute to William and Sonia Hecht (World Premiere) • Alex Cooper
- String Sextet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 36 • Johannes Brahms

JUNE 1, 2025
“This concert sponsored by a generous an anonymous donor.”
- String Quartet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 18 • Ludwig van Beethoven
- String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135 • Ludwig van Beethoven
Concert Review
Celebrating Mozart's Birthday with the Florida Chamber Music Project

The Florida Chamber Music Project hosted one of Jacksonville’s finest celebrations of Mozart’s birthday on Sunday, January 19th. Perhaps the most famous composer of classical music, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s enduring popularity inspired brilliant performances by the Florida Chamber Music Project with guest pianist Hyunsoon Whang and clarinetist Giovanni Bertoni. Braving the cold and rain, the performers’ bright camaraderie shined through this celebratory program ranging from the Fantasy in D minor for solo piano to the Trio in E-flat Major and Piano Quartet in G minor.
Whang opened the program with the mysterious, searching quality of Mozart’s Fantasy. Her performance captured the improvisational spirit of the piece’s first bars, bringing a refined clarity of tone and sense of direction. In the work’s aria-like phrases and sweeping passages, Whang’s sensitive playing evoked the sets and costumes of the opera stage. Whang’s full, open sound in the cheerful ending set the stage for the chamber works to follow.
Bertoni and violist Susan Pardue then joined Whang on stage for Mozart’s playful “Kegelstatt” trio. Before the piece, Pardue, also FCMP’s Artistic Director, explained how this work reflects the FCMP’s mission of fostering joy and connection in their “Music Among Friends” series.
The Trio’s introduction showcased the play of music among friends, with the phrases energetically passed from viola to clarinet to piano. The extroverted energy of the middle movement helped to overlook tuning difficulties in some phrases, and the work’s grand finale brought the entire performance together with excitement. Throughout, the chapel space’s woody resonance complimented the blend of Bertoni’s soaring phrases with Pardue’s warm tone and Whang’s sensitively supportive sound.
The concert’s largest work, the Piano Quartet in G minor, brought violinist Victoria Stjerna and cellist Laurie Casseday to the stage. Following Pardue’s helpful pre-performance guide through the work, including a short demonstration of the first movement’s theme, the audience nodded with recognition of Mozart’s various changes to the theme throughout the movement.
The performers responded with an intensified focus on the movement’s dramatic character. With the second movement’s reprise of the operatic spirit of the concert’s opening Fantasy, the expressive quality of the string players’ vibrato brought Mozart’s creative composition to life. The dancing rhythms and sunny tone of the Quartet’s lively conclusion rounded out this musical celebration of Mozart’s life among a full house of friends.
Matt Bickett - Writer
Matt Bickett is a musician and scholar living in Jacksonville, FL.
