Music Mondays 2017-18 Schedule
After our first Music Mondays concert with the Claremont Trio last night (September 25), we are pleased to share the full schedule for the 15th season of Music Mondays! Here is the complete list of wonderful musicians and pieces to look forward to this year.
Shanghai Quartet
October 23, 2017
Weigang Li, violin / Yi-Wen Jiang, violin / Honggang Li, viola / Nicholas Tzavaras, cello
shanghaiquartet.com
Few ensembles have the worldwide reputation of the Shanghai Quartet, known for its “utterly sublime” performances (New York Times). They regularly perform in major halls across the world, drawing large crowds of devoted fans. Their performances of repertoire ranging from the complete Beethoven quartets to contemporary Chinese works are marked by “an unwavering unanimity of expressive intent” (Washington Post).
PROGRAM
Bridge — String Quartet No. 1 in E Minor
Zhou Long — Song of the Chi'in
Dvořák / String Quartet in E-flat Major, op. 51
Trident Ensemble, Miranda Cuckson & Friends: The End of Time
November 20, 2017
Trident Ensemble
Miranda Cuckson, violin
Raman Ramakrishnan, cello
TBA, clarinet
Aaron Wunsch, piano
tridentensemble.com
This immersive, meditative musical journey brings together music from across eight centuries that speak to eternity—including Olivier Messiaen’s transcendent Quartet for the End of Time, featuring violinist Miranda Cuckson (“prodigiously talented”, New York Times), cellist Raman Ramakrishnan (“played with lovely authority”, New York Times), and pianist Aaron Wunsch (“masterful”, Hartford Courant). The ravishing male voices of the Trident Ensemble interweave vocal works from the ancient to the contemporary throughout the program.
PROGRAM
Olivier Messiaen — Quartet for the End of Time
Vocal works, ancient to contemporary, by Pérotin, Francis Poulenc, Arvo Pärt, Mariano Garau, and others
Orion Weiss & Anna Polonsky
Piano Duo
December 11, 2017
Orion Weiss, piano / Anna Polonsky, Piano
orionweiss.com
annapolonsky.com
Major talents Orion Weiss (an Avery Fisher Career grant winner with “virtuosity to spare”, Washington Post) and Anna Polonsky (“someone to watch”, New York Times) come together for a special holiday program, performed on Music Mondays’ new Steinway concert grand piano. Hear Tchaikovsky’s beloved Nutcracker Suite and selections from Liszt’s delightful, little-known cycle The Christmas Tree, and a premiere by Stephen Hartke, among other works.
PROGRAM
Tchaikovsky — Nutcracker Suite
Liszt — Selections from The Christmas Tree
Schubert — Andantino variée
Schumann — Pictures from the East 18'
Hartke — Piano Sonata for Four Hands (New York Premiere)
yMusic & Special Guest
January 8, 2018
yMusic: Rob Moose, violin / Nadia Sirota, viola / Gabriel Cabezas, cello / Alex Sopp, flutes / CJ Camerieri, trumpet
Special Guest, vocals, piano, and guitar
The Brooklyn-based ensemble yMusic—“at the forefront of a rapidly changing performance culture” (New York Times)—joins with a special guest composer-songwriter (TBA in early December) for a performance of their latest projects, both separately and together. yMusic performs a premiere by Nico Muhly, along with music by Andrew Norman and Timo Andres; the well-known composer-songwriter sings his latest songs and joins yMusic for his latest large-scale song cycle.
PROGRAM
Nico Muhly — Clip (New York Premiere)
Andrew Norman — Music in Circles
Timo Andres — Safe Travels
Additional selections TBA in early December
ECCO
February 12, 2018
Bask in the “warm glow” of the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (New York Times), the “passionate and refined” conductor-less band of strings (Washington Post). This all-star assembly of major orchestra principals, soloists, and leading chamber musicians doesn’t happen often, so don’t miss their only New York performance this season—they perform classics by Dvořák and Shostakvich as well as the New York Premiere of Derek Bermel’s Murmurations. “Everything the group touched felt balanced and bright... And the orchestra, as always, play luminously” (New York Times).
PROGRAM
Dvořák — Nocturne in B Major for String Orchestra, op. 40
Derek Bermel — Murmurations (New York Premiere)
Shostakovich — Chamber Symphony, op. 110a
Bartók — Divertimento
Brentano Quartet
March 26, 2018
Mark Steinberg, violin / Serena Canin, violin / Misha Amory, viola / Nina Lee, cello
brentanoquartet.com
The Brentano Quartet is everywhere in demand for its “spellbinding” performances (London Independent). The foursome’s “luxuriously warm sound and yearning lyricism” (New York Times) captivates audiences around the world. Here they present classics by Haydn and Brahms, as well as the New York premiere of a major work by Stephen Hartke, The Fifth Book, based on the cycle of the seasons and inspired by Renaissance madrigals. Their performance promises to be “rapturous” (New York Times).
PROGRAM
Haydn — String Quartet in B Minor, op. 64, no. 2 ("Tost")
Stephen Hartke — The Fifth Book (New York Premiere)
Brahms — String Quartet in C Minor, op. 51, no.1
Ute Lemper & Escher Quartet: From Theresienstadt
April 9, 2018
Ute Lemper, vocals / Vana Gierig, piano /
Escher Quartet: Adam Barnett-Hart, violin / Aaron Boyd, violin /
Pierre Lapointe, viola / Brook Speltz, cello
utelemper.com
escherquartet.com
Star singer Ute Lemper, “one of the great chanteuses” (New Yorker), and the “eloquent” Escher Quartet (BBC Music Magazine) team up for an evening of the remarkable music composed in Theresienstadt, the World-War-II concentration camp. Lemper offers songs that traverse a wide spectrum of human emotion, and the Escher Quartet performs Viktor Ullmann’s masterful String Quartet No. 3, a romantic rumination on life’s fleeting beauty. Don’t miss this unique musical testament to the resilience of the human spirit.
PROGRAM
Songs composed in Theresienstadt, 1940–1944
Viktor Ullmann — String Quartet No. 3 op. 46 (1943)
Border Crossing: Music of Derek Bermel with JACK Quartet
May 7, 2018
Derek Bermel, host and clarinet
JACK Quartet
Additional performers TBA
derekbermel.com | jackquartet.com
Derek Bermel is a composer of “staggering eclecticism” (Gramophone Magazine). His works incorporate a wondrous array of the world’s sounds — from West African rhythms, to Eastern European folk music, to Celtic strains, to jazz and the blues — with wit, intelligence, and panache. Also a “brilliant” clarinetist (New York Times), he joins the JACK Quartet, “superheroes of the new music world” (Boston Globe), for his “ear-catching” clarinet quintet (New York Times), A Short History of the Universe. Don’t miss this chance to get to know him and his latest creative work.
PROGRAM
Bernstein — Clarinet Sonata
Bermel — A Short History of the Universe
Bermel — Intonations
Bermel — Coming Together
Bermel — Additional works TBA