New York Chamber Music Society

American violinist and writer Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897-1973) once called chamber music “a musical conversation between friends.”

For this conversation, Chamber Music Monterey Bay has imported an ensemble of players from New York’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, housed since 1969 in the Center’s Alice Tully Hall, widely recognized as the finest hall in the world for chamber music.

It includes Paul Neubauer on viola, called “a master musician” by the New York Times, who was appointed principal violist of the New York Philharmonic at the tender age of 21. He has gone on to appear as a soloist with more than 100 orchestras, philharmonics and symphonies worldwide.

Paul Watkins (cello) enjoys a distinguished career both as a cellist and as a conductor, and in the 2009-10 season became the first ever music director of the English Chamber Orchestra, performing regularly with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic.

Arnaud Sussman (violin) is capturing the attention of classical critics and audiences around the world as his playing “can hypnotize a listener,” according to the Minnesota Pioneer Press.

Swiss-born Gilles Vonsattel (piano), earned a master’s degree from The Juilliard School and is a versatile artist who remains deeply committed to the performance of both traditional and contemporary works.

These four players will collaborate on an ambitious program, beginning with Beethoven’s Mozart-like “Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op.16,” continuing with Dohnányi’s “Serenade (String Trio) in C Major for Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 10,” which the Chamber Music Journal calls “one of the great masterpieces of the string trio literature.”

The performance concludes with the folksy “Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 87,” by Czech composer Antonín Dvorák.

Before the concert, San Francisco musicologist Kai Christiansen will offer a pre-show lecture from 7-7:30pm in Sunset Center’s Studio 105, free-of-charge and with no concert ticket required.

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Piano Quartet Ensemble 8pm Saturday, Feb. 13. Sunset Center, San Carlos at Ninth, Carmel. $41-$59. Discounts for active military, adult students, and wheelchair seating. Kids age 3-12 and music teachers free. chambermusicmontereybay.org, 625-2212