Columbia's Odyssey Chamber Music Series 2010-2011 Season

7:30 p.m. Friday: Odyssey Gala Benefit Concert includes intimate waltzes by Johannes Brahms with Tsuruta and her husband, pianist Peter Miyamoto, followed by Robert Schumann’s popular “Fantasy Pieces” with clarinetist Paul Garritson. It also will include a selection of songs by Richard Strauss with soprano Christine Seitz. The celebration of chamber music culminates with “Schumann’s Piano Quintet” with pianist Janice Wenger and the Esterhazy Quartet. Meet the musicians at a post-concert reception. Tickets: $20 general admission, $10 students.

7 p.m. Nov. 12: Ode to Americana: Woodwinds & Percussion features various combinations of woodwinds and percussions by mostly American composers. The concert features percussionist Andrew Heglund of the University of Nevada in Reno and bassoonist Christine Schillinger of Miami University in Ohio. MU’s Rodney Ackmann, Steve Geibel, Erica Manzo, Marcia Spence, Brian Tate, Dan Willett, as well as string players Amy Appold, Paul Seitz, Matt Pierce and Bryce McDonald will also take the stage. Tickets: $15 general admission, $10 students.

7 p.m. Dec. 3: Brahms & The Enchanted Garden is a holiday program featuring a work for violin and piano by resident composer Paul Seitz, Maurice Ravel’s fantastic “Mother Goose Suite” for piano four hands and Frank Martin’s charming “Trois Chants de Noël” with soprano Tiffany Blake and friends from Colorado State University. The evening closes with Johannes Brahms’ “Horn Trio” featuring Marcia Spence, Elizabeth Warne and Natalia Bolshakova. Tickets: $15 general admission, $10 students.

2 p.m. Jan. 22: Musicians from New York Summer Festival features New York Summer Music Festival faculty Miyamoto and Tsuruta; Chris Nappi, percussion; Ella Toovy, cello; Jessica Warner, oboe; and Nathan Warner, classical and jazz trumpet. Tickets: $15 general admission, $10 students.

7 p.m. Feb. 11: Genuinely Baroque welcomes flutist Roberto Maggio and virtuoso harpsichordist Enrico Baiano from Italy. The concert will also highlight violinist Susan Jensen and cellist Darry Dolezal as well as the Bach Collegium Choir and Odyssey Chamber Ensemble, led by R. Paul Crabb. Tickets: $15 general admission, $10 students.

7 p.m. March 11: The Second Viennese School features Schönberg’s “Verklärte Nacht,” or transfigured night, for string sextet performed by Esterhazy Quartet with cellist Matthew Pierce, and guest violinist Mark Menzies of the California Institute of the Arts. The program opens with a solo violin work by Brian Ferneyhough of Stanford University and closes with Alban Berg’s notoriously beautiful and difficult Chamber Concerto featuring soloists Menzies and Miyamoto, with Leo Saguiguit, conductor. Tickets: $15 general admission, $10 students.

9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. April 2: Plowman Chamber Music Competition semifinals. Tickets: $15 all day general admission, or $10 per morning or afternoon session; $10 all day students.

2 p.m. April 3: Plowman Chamber Music Competition finals concert and awards ceremony is scheduled for the Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts. The Plowman will feature 17 ensembles, and audience members are encouraged to vote for the Audience Prize. All proceeds support the Plowman Chamber Music Competition. Tickets: $20 general admission, $10 students.

7 p.m. May 6: Ode to Americana: George & Lenny! Popular composers Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin are featured in a selection of songs with soprano Jo Ella Todd and baritone Dan Urton, and Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” is arranged for a smaller ensemble by Patrick Dell. Tickets: $20 general admission, $10 students.

All events are at 1112 E. Broadway unless stated otherwise. For more details and updates, visit www.odyssey.missouri.org.