Festival in three parts

The Richmond Festival of Music, the chamber-music series devised and directed by cellist James Wilson, will preview its spring 2010 edition with events in December and February.

"Winter Baroque" programs, played on period instruments, will be staged on Dec. 8 and 10. Concerts on Feb. 25 and 26 will feature the Biava Quartet, winner of the Naumburg Chamber Music Award and active on the international concert and festival circuit.

The February events and the festival's three programs on April 18, 20 and 22 will focus on music of Brahms, Dvořák and their protégés and contemporaries.

Performers in the December concerts, in addition to Wilson, are violinist Christina Day Martinson, concertmaster of the Boston Baroque orchestra; Mary Boodell, principal flutist of the Richmond Symphony, playing a baroque-style traverse flute; Richmond-based viola da gamba player and baroque cellist Ulysses Kirksey; and harpsichordist Carsten Schmidt.

The Feb. 25 concert will feature the Biava Quartet and Wilson with Molly Sharp, principal violist of the Richmond Symphony; the Biava will perform on Feb. 26.

Performers in the April concerts include Wilson, Schmidt (playing piano), violinists Diane Pascal and Erin Keefe, violinist-violist Lily Francis, violist Roger Tapping, double-bassist Anthony Manzo and pianist Gabriel Dobner.

The Dec. 10 and Feb. 26 events are galas, with limited seating and tickets priced at $50. Single tickets for other concerts are $25. Series tickets for the three April concerts are $70. (Senior and student tickets are discounted, except those for the galas.)

Details: (804) 519-2098 (Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia); www.cmscva.org

Dates, places and programs for the winter concerts and spring festival:

Dec. 8 (7:30 p.m., First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1000 Blanton Ave. at the Carillon) – "Baroque by Candlelight: a Tale of Four Cities." Handel: Trio Sonata in B minor; Purcell: Fantazia No. 2 in three parts; Geminiani: Cello Sonata in D minor; Domenico Gabrielli: Ricercar No. 5 for solo cello; Vivaldi: Sonata in A major from "Il Pastor Fido;" Bach: Chaconne from Partita in D minor for solo violin; Telemann: Quartet in D major ("Paris").

Dec. 10 (7:30 p.m., Wilton House Museum, 215 S. Wilton Road) – "Baroque Français." Marin Marsais: "Sonnerie de Ste. Genevieve du Mont de Paris;" Couperin: "Concert Royal" No. 1; Michel Pinolet de Montéclair: Concert in A major for two treble instruments; Jean Baptiste Barrière: Cello Sonata in B minor; Telemann: Quartet in D major ("Paris"); harpsichord pieces TBA. (Repeated at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 11 at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 300 W. Frederick St., Staunton.)

Feb. 25 (7:30 p.m., First Unitarian Universalist Church) – Brahms: String Sextet No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 18; Dvořák: String Sextet in A major, Op. 48.

Feb. 26 (7:30 p.m., Ellen Glasgow House, 1 W. Main St.) – Haydn: Quartet in F minor, Op. 20, No. 5; Ginastera: Quartet No. 1; Brahms: Quartet in C minor, Op. 51, No. 1.

April 18 (4 p.m., First Unitarian Universalist Church) – "Master Pieces." Brahms: Piano Trio in C major, Op. 87; Heinrich von Herzogenburg: "Variations on a Theme of Brahms;" Henry T. Burleigh: "Southland Sketches;" Dvořák: Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op. 87.

April 20 (7:30 p.m., First Unitarian Universalist Church) – "Brahms Goes Dancing." Johann Strauss II: "On the Beautiful Blue Danube" (Wilson-Schmidt arr.); Brahms: Hungarian dances TBA; Bach: Klavier Concerto in F minor; Brahms: Viola Quintet in G major, Op. 111.

April 22 (7:30 p.m., First Unitarian Universalist Church) – "The Bohemian Soul." Dvořák: two waltzes; Josef Suk: "Meditation on the St. Wenceslas Hymn;" Vitezslav Novak: work TBA; Dvořák: Bass Quintet in G major, Op. 77.