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Event
Avalon String Quartet in Chicago 2010-11 Three-Concert Series
The Avalon String Quartet's 2010-2011 three-concert Chicago series explores different intersections of the string quartet and the human voice. Each concert examines this relationship from a different perspective.
September 23, 2010 "Opening Night at the Opera"
Puccini: Crisantemi for String Quartet
Britten: Three Divertimenti (1936)
Verdi: String Quartet in e minor
Mozart: String Quintet in C Major, K. 515
With Roger Chase, viola
Looking at the composers featured in this concert, one could be forgiven for momentarily thinking he might be looking at a Lyric Opera brochure. Puccini and Verdi are thought of immediately for their operas - their quartet writing feels like an intimate scene lifted from the stage. With more than a dozen operas on diverse libretti to his name, Benjamin Britten was responsible for reviving an English operatic tradition that had lay dormant for over a century. While Mozart excelled in any genre, a distinctly operatic drama and lyricism infuses all of his writing - the slow movement of this quintet could easily be a coloratura aria.
Englishman Roger Chase is recognized as one of the leading viola soloists and chamber musicians of his generation. He is on the faculty of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.
February 10, 2011 "Viennese Song"
Berg: Lyric Suite
With Julia Bentley, mezzo-soprano
Schubert: String Quartet in d minor, "Death and the Maiden"
Schubert's string quartet in d, one of his most beloved, takes its nickname from his own song by the same name, which becomes the main theme of the famous second movement of the quartet. Alban Berg and his contemporaries took the lyricism inherent in the song tradition perfected by Schubert into the expressionist musical language of the Second Viennese School.
Julia Bentley is a Chicago-based singer of international renown who has distinguished herself particularly in music of the 20th and 21st centuries.
April 27, 2011 -- "American Voices"
Harold Meltzer: New Work for String Quartet
Reich: Different Trains
Amy Beach: Quintet for Piano and Strings
Steve Reich's groundbreaking work Different Trains (for string quartet with pre-recorded tape) uses the rhythm of human speech to tell stories of America before, during and after the Second World War. Amy Beach was the first American woman to gain international recognition; her 1907 Piano Quintet is a shining example of American Romanticism. Pulitzer Prize finalist Harold Meltzer was awarded the 2008 Barlow Prize for the composition of a new string quartet. The Avalon is part of a consortium of three string quartets (with the Pacifica and Lydian) giving the first performances of this work.
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LocationAnne & Howard Gottlieb Hall-Merit School of Music
38 S. Peoria St.
Chicago, IL 60607
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: No |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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