Rockaway Chamber Music Year Three

By Dan Guarino

How does it feel for Rockaway’s always fluid Rockaway Chamber Music (RCM) group to be starting its third year?

“Fantastic!” said its founder, cellist Emily Brausa. “I feel like RCM is growing organically, a lot through word of mouth. I love seeing both familiar and new faces at each concert.”

She’s described RCM as “a flexible collective of musicians,” matching players to the pieces being performed to “bring together individual performers rather than fixed ensembles.”

For Sunday, June 1’s season opener, she said, “We had an unusual ensemble of two trombones, two violas, and two cellos on the boardwalk at Beach 20th. I commissioned composer/performers Clarice Jensen and T. J. Robinson to write pieces inspired by the natural beauty and sounds of Rockaway, and they really came through with some interesting and haunting music.” As RCM’s first time performing in Far Rockaway, “it was truly a magical evening!”

Following are two concerts at the outdoor Arverne Cinema, 72-02 Gouverneur Ave., blocks off Beach Channel Drive, next to the old Rockaway Brewing Company. Sunday, June 15, will feature music for bassoon and strings, while Sunday, July 13, brings the sounds of a string quintet and double bass. “I’m excited to bring these new sounds to the community!” Brausa said. “I was just practicing Russell Platt’s ‘Quintet for Bassoon and Strings,’ which has a super juicy cello solo at the top of the second movement.”

July’s show features Shelley Washington’s “Middleground,” which they’ll be playing for the first time. Arverne Cinema tickets, $10 each at  www.rockawayfilmfestival.org, also include the evening’s film screening.

Their Sunday, August 10, concert, the last of the season, will be “particularly special,” Brausa said. “I’ve commissioned composer/performer John Hadfield to write a piece for cello and percussion, again inspired by Rockaway.” Brausa will be performing on cello with Hadfield for this piece.

Wanting to do “Ricefall” by Michael Pisaro since seeing non-musician community members perform it in Lucerne, Switzerland, Brausa said, “My friends are tired of hearing about how cool the piece is, so I’m super excited it’s actually happening! We’re partnering with RISE (Rockaway Initiative for Sustainability and Equity) for this one, so fourteen teenagers from their Shore Corps will be performing with rice alongside percussionist Shane Shanahan and me. We’ll hold one rehearsal open to the public.” For updates check their website www.rockawaychambermusic.org  or Instagram, follow them @rockawaychambermusic before August.

The free concert takes place under the A Train tracks at Beach 60th Street off Rockaway Beach Blvd. Bring your own beach chair/towels.

This year, RCM has also received grants from Flushing Town Hall, the Queens Art Fund, and Citizens Committee for New York City. “I’m extremely grateful to be supported by these organizations, and happy that Rockaway gets more art!”

Looking back to RCM’s beginnings, Brausa, being an avid surfer, said she “moved to Rockaway in June of 2020. Prior to this, I had been volunteering for GrowNYC in Harlem, so I was excited to learn about a volunteer-run organic farm on the peninsula.” During the pandemic “a time in which so many were still suffering, Edgemere Farm was an oasis, a place we could still safely socialize, while building friendships and doing something extremely beneficial to our community.”

A classically trained professional musician, she explained, “I was out of work for eighteen months during Covid. My musician colleagues and I were extremely hungry to play music together again. With the support of Edgemere Farm managers Vanessa Seis and Mike Repasch-Nieves, I organized several outdoor classical music concerts at the farm. The events proved to be cathartic for both audience members and performers, and the roots of Rockaway Chamber Music were born.”

As restrictions eased and she returned to work, on Broadway, live television, in concert and recording studios, Brausa said she “began thinking about how my new community had no direct access to the music I’ve spent my life pursuing. While there is in fact a vibrant music scene in Rockaway during the summer, there is specifically no classical music (here) or anywhere close.”

“In the winter of 2023, I approached Sam Fleischner and Courtney Muller with the idea of performing classical chamber music at Arverne Cinema,” she said. “They immediately agreed, and we held our first official RCM concerts” that summer.

Though classical music “often has the air of formality, when to clap, tuxedos, expensive tickets, don’t cough,” she previously noted, “Rockaway Chamber Music is an experience, a hang. Bring your own drinks, grab some food, sit where you feel comfortable and let us take you for a ride.”

Starting piano at age 4, and choosing the cello at 8, Brausa said professionally, “This year has been a freelancer’s dream! After wrapping up ‘The Notebook’ on Broadway last December, I began subbing on ‘Sunset Boulevard,’ ‘Hamilton,’ and ‘& Juliet.’ Subbing shows has been a fun change of pace for me, as it’s not every night and I get to play different music with different people.”

In January, she had “the sublime pleasure of performing with two incredible showmen, Harry Connick Jr. and Hugh Jackman.” Connick played a week of shows at the Metropolitan Opera, while Jackman began a residency at Radio City Music Hall running one weekend each month through October.

Pursing chamber music as a personal love, Brausa was also excited to work with both Alarm Will Sound and Talea Ensemble this year. In February, she recorded with pianist Teddy Robie, with more recordings coming up. For March, she was delighted to perform solo cello in Rockaway’s first Lilith Fair at the Rose Den.

Last month, she toured with the group Five for Fighting. Last week, she recorded with David Byrne, performed a Strauss opera with American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, and began rehearsals for American Ballet Theater’s summer season.

With RCM, “Playing chamber music is such an intimate form of music-making. We listen. We watch. We respond to unplanned moments. We breathe together. To be able to share this art form, something so close to my heart, with a community I’ve grown to love is really quite special,” Brausa said. “I feel grateful to be able to introduce many people to this new language.”

Photos by Nick Karp and Alec Kugler.