Announcing our 2008-09 season concerts at Carnegie Music Hall!
Get Subscriptions Now! Single Tickets go on sale in September 2008.
- October 27, 2008 | JOY: Emerson String Quartet
Haydn | Shostakovich | Dvorak - November 10, 2008 | ELEGANCE: Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio
Rachmaninov | Schubert | Mendelssohn - December 8, 2008 | ESSENCE: Jupiter String Quartet
Haydn | Shostakovich | Gubaidulina | Beethoven - February 16, 2009 | BREATHE: Imani Winds
Santamaria | Husa | Schifrin | Ligeti | Coleman | Piazzolla - March 31, 2009 | TWILIGHT: Ysaÿe Quartet
Fauré | Bartók | Franck - April 26 & 27, 2009 | THE MENDELSSOHN PROJECT: Pacifica Quartet
Mendelssohn’s complete string quartets and octet (with the Miró Quartet)
Monday, October 27, 2008 | 8pm at Carnegie Music Hall
Program:
- Haydn — Quartet in F major, Op. 74, No. 1
Shostakovich — Quartet No. 14 in F-sharp major, Op. 142
Dvorak — Quartet No. 14 in A-flat major, Op. 105
If you look up “string quartet” in the dictionary, you’ll likely see a picture of the Emerson. They’ve been at the pinnacle of the genre for years. They kick off the season with the oft-humorous and comical Haydn, inventor of the genre with unparalleled compositional technique. Next is an unexpectedly peaceful and good-natured Shostakovich. The geniality continues with Dvorak, who was exuberant and joyous at returning to his native Bohemia when he wrote this, his last piece of chamber music.
Monday, November 10, 2008 | 8pm at Carnegie Music Hall
Program:
- Rachmaninov — Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor
Schubert — Trio in B-flat major, Op. 99, D. 898
Mendelssohn — Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66
The Kalichstein Laredo Robinson Trio bring a matchless wisdom and intelligence to their musicmaking gained through 30 years of performing together. Their concert starts with Rachmaninov, whose moody romanticism and dazzling piano skills are already evident in this work written when he was only 19. The tone changes with Schubert’s effervescent Trio, which Schumann wrote makes “the troubles of our human existence disappear.” Hallmark Mendelssohn closes the concert – elegance, delicacy and a fairyland sparkle.
Monday, December 8, 2008 | 8pm at Carnegie Music Hall
Program:
- Haydn — Quartet in F major, Op. 77, No. 2
Shostakovich — Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp minor, Op. 108
Gubaidulina — Quartet No. 2
Beethoven — Quartet in A minor, Op. 132
The rising young Jupiter, still at the beginning of their life as a quartet, perform a program that ponders the meaning of existence. Haydn may be thinking back on his own life in his last completed quartet, marked by his singular humor but tinged with melancholy reflection. Shostakovich likewise looks back with music dedicated to the memory of his first wife that is surprisingly playful and haunting, hardly mournful. Gubaidulina looks beyond herself and explores transfiguration from earthly existence to essence. And Beethoven, never meant for this world, leaves personal expression completely behind to enter the realm of universal emotion with a sublime “Holy Song” to the Divinity.
Monday, February 16, 2009 | 8pm at Carnegie Music Hall
Program:
- Santamaria (arr. Coleman) — Afro Blue
Husa — Five Poems
Schifrin — La Nouvelle Orleans
Ligeti — Ten Pieces for Wind Quintet
Coleman — Portraits of Josephine Baker
Piazzolla (arr. Scott) — Libertango
A young and spirited group of classical musicians, Imani (meaning “faith” in Swahili) Winds are known for explorative and culturally poignant programming. Their love of jazz is reflected in works by Santamaria, Schifrin and Coleman. Virtuosity from the performers is required in Husa and Ligeti, whose extended techniques push the boundaries of musical possibility. Piazzola sings a “Song of Liberty” that proclaims his joy of discovering new ideas and pathways of expression – an apt way to sum up this entire concert.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 | 8pm at Carnegie Music Hall
Program:
- Fauré — Quartet in E minor, Op. 121
Bartók — Quartet No. 6
Franck — Quartet in D major
Paris-based Ysaÿe Quartet are acknowledged masters of the French classical music literature. They bring us three quartets written at the end each composer’s life, when each had attained mastery of an individual style: Franck with his symphonic textures and frequent use of the organ; Fauré with his smoothness and flexibility, complex harmony and the theme of peace in death; and Bartok with his despair and irony in the face of World War II.
Sunday, April 26, 2009 | 3pm at Carnegie Music Hall
Program:
- Andante in E major, Op. 81, No. 1
Scherzo in A minor, Op. 81, No. 2
Quartet in A minor, Op. 13
Quartet in D major, Op. 44, No. 1
Sunday, April 26, 2009 at 8 PM
Program:
- Fugue in E-flat major, Op. 81, No. 4
Capriccio in E minor, Op. 81, No. 3
Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 44, No. 3
Quartet in F minor, Op. 80
Monday, April 27, 2009 at 8 PM
Program:
- Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 12
Quartet in E minor, Op. 44, No. 2
Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20
(with the Miró Quartet)
Exuberant, energetic, fresh – these are just a few words that describe the gifted Pacifica. You could say the same thing about Mendelssohn, and here are his works for string quartet. One of the most spectacular musical prodigies to follow Mozart, Mendelssohn composed with charm and exquisite craftsmanship that set him apart from the rest of the early Romantics. 2009 marks Mendelssohn’s 200th birthday. The Miró Quartet, close friends of the Pacifica and with a star that shines equally as bright, join in for a landmark performance of his Octet – one of the most exhilarating works in all of chamber music.
