Gualala Arts announces the return of the Chamber Music Series for 2020-2021. The first concert, featuring composer and pianist Adam Marks, will be a virtual concert on Sunday, November 8, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. The concert will be available with a link on the GualalaArts.Org website, and the link is here as well.

Originally scheduled for an in-person piano recital on November 8, Adam Marks will be coming to us live from New York via Zoom. He will perform a short recital that includes a fantasy based on a Chopin Mazurka, and then engage in a question-and-answer session with the on-line audience. Marjie Van Gunten, who has offered Gualala Chamber Music Series Pre-concert talks, will introduce the session and guide the Q&A. Marks is an engaging conversationalist as well as performer. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the real life of a performing artist in the middle of a pandemic. This event will last approximately 45 minutes.

As part of Albatross (his duo with vocalist Jennifer Beattie), Adam serves as the founding co-director of Artists at Albatross Reach, an arts residency/incubator in Gualala, California. There, he has helped to craft a unique collaborative process to champion the development of new multidisciplinary works and experimentation, as well as a rich environment for curious community members and local artists to explore and participate in the art-making. Marks’ other programming ventures include serving as the first non-local curator for the San Francisco Center for New Music, presenting innovative soloists and ensembles from across the country.

Praised as an “excellent pianist” with “titanic force” (New York Times), Adam Marks is an active soloist, collaborator, curator, and educator based in NYC. He has appeared as soloist with the Mission Chamber Orchestra, Manchester Symphony Orchestra, the National Repertory Orchestra, and at notable venues including Salle Cortot, Carnegie Hall, Miller Theatre, Logan Center for the Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Millennium Park, Ravinia, and Davies Symphony Hall. He was a laureate of the Orleans Competition for contemporary music in Orleans, France, and his premiere of Holly Harrison’s “Lobster Tales and Turtle Soup” with Eighth Blackbird won the Australian Art Music Awards Performance of the Year in 2018. Other recent international performances include recitals in Brazil, Singapore, France, and Croatia.

Because Gualala Arts Center remains closed for public events due to COVID-19, the previously announced Chamber Concert Series for 2020-2021 has been cancelled and the artists will be re-scheduled for future dates. The safety of our audience and our performers is paramount. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t have chamber music performances in another format. Watch for announcements of additional virtual concerts being planned for 2020-21.