Clarinet virtuoso and New York Philharmonic principal Anthony McGill, along with star soprano Elena Perroni, and pianist Myra Huang perform on the Cleveland Chamber Music Society concert series.

The program for clarinet, soprano, and piano will be bookended by two exquisite Schubert works (Shepherd on the Rock and the “Arpeggione” sonata) paired with pieces by two African-American composers, James Lee III and William Grant Still (“Romance”). The highlight of the evening will be the Midwest premiere (and first reading for a live audience) of Lee’s new work, Chavah’s Daughters Speak. Chavah is the Hebrew name for Eve, the mother of humanity, and the work uses texts and thoughts that might have been spoken by women from the Bible. Lee consistently explores spiritual themes in his compositions, expressing elements from his faith and examining biblical subjects through a modern lens. This cycle of five songs is set to poems by Sister Lou Ella Hickman who, in a volume entitled she: robed and wordless tries to shed light on the inner life of several biblical women who were not given an opportunity to have their voices and expressions recorded in the scriptures.