ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥

Electric.

Shock, awe . . . yet, intrigue.

The festival's organizer, the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Friends of Chamber Music, has programmed George Crumb's seldom-played "The Voice of the Whale," which calls for electric flute, cello and amplified piano. On Wednesday night, the festival musicians, pianist Christina Dahl, flutist Tara Helen O'Connor and cellist Bion Tsang, will perform the piece against a backdrop of blue light, just as the Philadelphia composer intended.

"We recommend that the audience brings their bathing suits or their diving gear," joked Friends president Jean-Paul Bierny.

This will be the first time the Friends has used amplified instruments in its programs, but Bierny isn't afraid of offending even the most stalwart of classical music purists.

"It is a very beautiful piece," he said, acknowledging that some people may be shocked, but more will come to the 13th annual festival expecting something unusual.

"We have, over the years, made sure to include on every one of our programs a contemporary work. In the last 10 years or so, it's been literally a very contemporary work, and the audience is therefore used to it; they expect it," he said.

This year's festival also incudes the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon's String Quartet, featuring the Tokyo String Quartet, on Tuesday. The Friends commissioned the piece with the Tokyo ensemble in mind.

"When we want to commission a piece, we start with the musicians and they tell us what composer they want to work with," he explained, calling the piece "very special."

With this commission, the Friends join a prestigious list of orchestras employing Higdon, an Atlanta native now living in Philadelphia, where she teaches composition at the Curtis Institute of Music. Higdon composes from six to a dozen works a year for folks such as the National Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony and her native Atlanta Symphony.

She's also worked in the past with the Tokyo group, said its publicist, Saskia Lane of the New York-based Milina Barry PR.

The group was in Japan last week and could not be reached for comment, but Lane said they were excited to return to ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ and to perform the piece.

The Tokyo String Quartet will do some heavy lifting in this week's festival, performing in four of the five concerts. It will be their first visit to ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ since 1998. That performance also was with the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Friends of Chamber Music.

Other highlights of the 13th annual winter festival:

â—� Chinese pipa player Wu Man makes her ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ debut playing an instrument that has never been part of the festival. Wu Man, who lives in Boston, plays the pipa, an instrument that has had very little exposure in the United States.

Wu Man is largely credited with bringing the pipa — a stringed instrument that looks like a small guitar — to America's attention from her native China, where she was the first person to earn a master's degree in pipa from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.

She performs Philip Glass' 2003 piece "The Sound of a Voice" Friday and is part of the ensemble at Saturday's gala at the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Inn. She also will perform Chen Yi's "Ning!" in the March 12 closing concert.

This is only the second time the Friends has included a Chinese instrument in its programs, Bierny said. The first was Guo-Ren Lang playing the erhu, an ancient two-stringed bowed instrument akin to a violin. Guo-Ren performed with his son, the now famous Chinese pianist Lang Lang.

â—� After a couple years of trying, the festival snagged noted Canadian soprano Meredith Hall, a regular on opera stages throughout North America.

Bierny said his group had hired Hall to perform at the festival two years ago but learned at the last minute that she needed a work visa.

This year, the Friends teamed up with the Memphis Symphony, which engaged Hall for a January concert, to get the visa.

â—� The festival marks the return of festival faves violinist Benny Kim, pianists Lydia Artymiw and Dahl, cellist Peter Rejto, violist Paul Coletti and percussionist Gary Cook, and the festival debuts of violinist Lynn Chang, Tsang, violist Gina Warnick, the Tokyo String Quartet, Wu Man, Hall and Higdon.

â—� Works that will make their festival debuts this year include all four pieces on the opening night Sunday; Leonard Bernstein's Piano Trio and Schumann's Sechs Gesange op. 107, arranged for String Quartet and Soprano on Wednesday; Taneyev's beautiful Quintet for Piano and Strings and Mozart's Piano Quartet in G minor on March 10; Bach's Cantata "Ich habe genug," one of the pieces slated for Saturday's gala dinner; and much of the March 12 closing concert is new repertoire including Respighi's seldom-played Quintet for Piano and Strings.

The festival's final number is the upbeat, jovial "Octet" by Mendelssohn, which the Tokyo String Quartet will play with the help of Kim, Chang, Coletti and Tsang.

"It's one of the great works of chamber music for eight strings," Bierny said. "(Mendelssohn) composed it when he was 16. It is so gorgeous, you cannot not love it. It's a perfect ending for the festival."

Quick Take

2006 ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Winter Chamber Music Festival

Presented by: ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Friends of Chamber Music

When: Sunday through March 12

Where: Leo Rich Theatre

Tickets: Individual concerts, $20 with discounts available; packages $90-$240 through the Friends, 577-3769

Et cetera: Dress rehearsals from 9 a.m.-noon every concert day except this Sunday are open to the public; admission is free. Master classes Saturday afternoon are free and open to the public. A children's concert will be held Thursday morning for area school pupils. Open only to schools that already have been notified. All events in the Leo Rich Theatre.

Musicians:

Tokyo String Quartet featuring violinists Martin Beaver and Kikuei Ikeda, violist Kazuhide Isomura and cellist Clive Greensmith; violinists Benny Kim and Lynn Chang; pipa player Wu Man; flutist Tara Helen O'Connor; pianists Lydia Artymiw and Christina Dahl; cellists Peter Rejto and Bion Tsang; violists Paul Coletti and Gina Warnick; soprano Meredith Hall; percussionist Gary Cook; and composer Jennifer Higdon