Illness kept me away from the season opener of the wonderful Mason Home Concerts, a very special series of chamber-music concerts held in a home “salon” on the beautiful Westside. So I am extra excited for the second concert—”Chalifour and Friends”—featuring violinist and longtime concertmaster of the LA Phil, Martin Chalifour together with local music stars Ambroise Aubrun (violin), Jonah Sirota (viola), Cecilia Tsan (cello), and David Kaplan (piano).

I will be offering a short introduction to the night’s program, which includes Debussy’s Cello Sonata, two Kreisler works for violin & piano, and the first movement of Todd Mason’s String Quartet No. 1. But the big lift for the evening will be Brahms’s monumental Piano Quintet! YUM.