Piano Chamber Music of Dvorak and Schumann

Chamber musicians enjoy playing Dvořák’s many chamber works, which include a series of piano trios, to piano quartets of which Op 87 is the second, and a piano quintet.  The quartet Op 87 is filled with beautiful melodies, notably for the cello in the lyrical slow movement.

Schumann’s piano quintet was the first work by a major composer for the combination of piano and string quartet. This beloved chamber work was composed in late 1842 and premiered early the next year by its dedicatee, his wife Clara, a highly accomplished concert pianist in her own right.

Artist Bios

Hervé Brönniman (violin) grew up in France, where he studied viola from the age of 10. Being as passionate for music as for mathematics and computer science, he graduated from École Normale Supérieure Paris in Math/CS and Princeton University in CS, where he discovered the wonderful musical tradition of the Princeton Univ. Orchestra, eventually becoming principal viola, regularly staffing the early morning classical shift at WPRB (Princeton’s student radio station), and enjoying local chamber music. He cultivated chamber music through workshops and groups in the NYC area, while getting tenure at NYU and leaving academia promptly for the life of software engineer in finance and big tech. Moving to SoCal in 2018, Hervé played in UC Irvine’s violin, viola, and cello sections, and thanks to ACMP’s directory, found a wonderful community of San Diego and Long Beach players, playing either violin or viola with them regularly.

Penny Bridges (viola) has been playing a stringed instrument since the age of three when she screamed until someone put a violin in her hands. A few years later she found her true love, the viola, and has been playing the same French instrument (Vuillaume workshop, c. 1900) ever since. Penny discovered the joys of orchestral and chamber music as a child in Northern Ireland and has played with ensembles including the FitzGibbon Ensemble, the Dunfermline Festival Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and the McLean Orchestra (Virginia). These days her demanding position as Dean or senior pastor of St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in San Diego interferes with her availability for musical engagements but she is an enthusiastic member of ACMP and the Southern California Chamber Music Workshop.

Janet White (cello) started learning her instrument at the age of ten, but didn’t discover chamber music until some twenty years later. Through ACMP Associated Chamber Music Players, whose Board she led for several years, Janet has established an international network of fellow enthusiasts. Janet works for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where she makes grants to support development of affordable vaccines for children in the developing world.

Michael Krause (piano) is from Cleveland, starting off with the creation of Exchange Network, an internet service provider, which earned him an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 1998. After selling the company at 19 years old, he focused on developing his first love of piano, eventually ending up as a music student at Yale University. Moving to San Diego after this period of musical obsession, he united his tech and financial skills to become founder and portfolio manager at Counterpoint Funds. He has kept practicing, performing, and collaborating with other local San Diego musicians. Michael lives in Del Mar with a family of musicians - his wife Ines (piano), and two children Natalie (cello) and Glenn (violin).

Geoff Brimhall (violin) started playing classical piano at 6, violin at 11, culminating in lessons with Leonard Feldman, Professor of Violin at University of New Mexico at 15. Professionally a Software Engineer working for companies including Microsoft, Intel, and Intuit, Geoff currently enjoys playing chamber music with fellow Associated Chamber Music Players, does solo performances with San Diego's Amateur Piano members, and is the assistant Concertmaster with the North Coast Symphony Orchestra in Encinitas.

Bruce Windoffer has been an amateur violin player since the age of nine, most recently playing with the PLNU orchestra. Recently he was introduced to chamber music through the Associated Chamber Music Players San Diego chapter and now spends much of his playing time in string quartets, eager to learn this vast and wonderful music genre. As a hobby, he has taken up violin-making and restoring. His professional career is working at Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine whose mission is to end the diagnostic odyssey for babies and children suffering from rare and ultra-rare genetic diseases.

Laurie Smith (viola) grew up playing violin, but then discovered in college that she is really a violist at heart and never looked back - pretty standard story for violists! Laurie is recently retired as Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at UCSD. After twenty years of almost no playing due to the demands of job and family life, she became active again as a musician several years ago through participation in the La Jolla Symphony, Villa Musica Summer Orchestra, and chamber music. She is now an active chamber and orchestral musician in her hometown of Seattle, WA.

Michael Gorman (piano) grew up in Rockford, Illinois where he studied piano with local teachers. In 1998, he moved to San Diego to join the faculty of the Department of Psychology at the University of California.  After a long hiatus from regular piano practice, he rekindled his interest in the instrument around 2010 after connecting with like-minded amateurs. In addition to exploring the standard solo repertoire, he particularly enjoys learning and presenting works of lesser-known, modern and contemporary composers. New friendships have opened his eyes to the wondrous joys and challenges of chamber music of all eras!