Chestnut Hill Concerts explore "Debussy and His World"

Chestnut Hill Concerts will transport The Kate to La Belle Epoque for the next four Friday evenings with a series of chamber music concerts exploring "Debussy and His World."

Alongside the music by France's great musical innovator will be Gallic-flavored fare by his musical peers and influences. The opening concert Friday will include some of Debussy's unique pianistic impressionism, some drawn from Images Book 1, and his youthful Piano Trio in G major.

Surrounding Debussy's music will be something of a rarity - Two Romances sans paroles, for cello and piano by the New Orleans-born Ernest Guiraud, who was one of Debussy's composition teachers - and César Franck's popular and emotive Violin Sonata in A major.

The musicians will include violinist Sheryl Staples, cellist Julie Albers, and pianist Jon Klibonoff, making his Chestnut Hill Concerts debut.

The intimate, air-conditioned setting of The Kate, with its adjoining park for intermission wandering, makes an ideal summer spot for chamber music, and the Boston-based Chestnut Hill ensembles do not disappoint.

- MILTON MOORE

Chestnut Hill Concerts, 8 p.m. Friday, The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St.,

Old Saybrook; $25 and $30 (season subscriptions $80 and $100), free

for children and teens when accompanied by an adult;

1-877-503-1286, thekate.org.