Big Names From La Jolla Chamber

Featuring such big names as the Tokyo String Quartet, the Beaux Arts Trio and the Borodin String Quartet, the La Jolla Chamber Music Society’s 1992-93 Sherwood Auditorium season confirms the society’s status as the connoisseurs’ choice in local chamber music series.

Well-known soloists appearing on the eight-concert series, now in its 24th year, include clarinetists Richard Stoltzman and David Shifrin, as well as violinist Ida Kavafian in her debut season with the Beaux Arts Trio.

The season was announced Monday.

The popular Tokyo Quartet opens the performances Oct. 10 with a program of Mozart, Beethoven and Shostakovich’s Eighth String Quartet. The German ensemble Trio Fontenay, which has recorded all the piano trios of Brahms, Mendelssohn and Mozart, follows at Sherwood Auditorium on Nov. 7.

Russia’s Borodin Quartet, whose recordings established its reputation in the West before they could tour freely, performs Nov. 13. Its program includes Tchaikovsky’s rarely played Third String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 30, and Brahms’ String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 67.

I Solisti Italiani will play an all-Baroque program Feb. 6 with recorder virtuosa Michela Petri as soloist. The 12-member Italian ensemble, which is the successor to the oft-recorded I Virtuosi di Roma, performs in 18th-Century fashion without conductor.

British cellist Steven Isserlis will make his local debut in a solo recital March 20. According to Neale Perl, the society’s executive director, Isserlis first impressed American audiences with his playing at the 1988 International Cello Competition at the University of Maryland. The 30-year-old cellist’s La Jolla program includes Bloch’s “Scenes From Jewish Life,” Britten’s Third Suite for Solo Cello and Brahms’ F Major Cello Sonata.

Stoltzman, a favorite soloist from previous Sherwood series, appears April 17 with the 13-member Guildhall String Ensemble. The Beaux Arts Trio returns to La Jolla on April 23, and a new ensemble with violist Paul Neubauer, pianist Margot Garrett and clarinetist Shifrin closes the series May 9.