Accordo, established in 2009, is a Minnesota-based chamber group featuring classical and contemporary chamber music in performance spaces. Its third season (Winter/Spring 2012) will be presented by The Schubert Club, Northrop Concerts and Lectures, and Kate Nordstrum Projects at the National Historic Landmark Christ Church Lutheran, one of the Twin Cities' great architectural treasures designed by the esteemed architect Eliel Saarinen and his son Eero Saarinen.
Accordo includes Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra principal players Steven Copes, Ruggero Allifranchini, Maiya Papach, Ron Thomas, and Tony Ross. This season also includes guest artists violist Rebecca Albers, percussionist Ian Ding, clarinetist Burt Hara and violinist Erin Keefe.
“Supporting and inspiring Twin Cities musicians to perform and contextualize classic and contemporary chamber music repertoire as part of this exciting new partnership aligns perfectly with the mission and goals of Northrop, Kate Nordstrum Projects, and The Schubert Club” said Ben Johnson, Director of Northrop Concerts and Lectures. “Using the historic mid-century modern Christ Lutheran Church and Longfellow neighborhood allows us to experiment and be more creative in supporting these great artists. And the dynamic nature of this collaboration will set the stage for more vibrant and leading-edge programming in the future.”
Audience members are invited to artist receptions in the Luther Lounge following each concert, sponsored by Solo Vino.
Accordo: Season 3 programs
Monday, February 6, 2012, 7:30pm
Romantic String Sextets
Strauss: Capriccio, Opus 85
Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), Opus 4
Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence in D minor, Opus 70
with Rebecca Albers, viola
Arnold Schoenberg's lush and moving early masterpiece Transfigured Night, inspired by a dark romantic poem by Richard Dehmel and written shortly before his immersion into serial or twelve-tone music, is centered between two other seminal works for string sextet. Richard Strauss' gorgeous curtain opener for his final opera Capriccio opens Accordo's new series at the architecturally stunning Christ Church Lutheran, and Tchiakovsky's brilliant Souvenir de Florence closes the program with all the unbridled passion and Russian folk melodies one expects from the composer of The Nutcracker.
Monday, March 12, 2012, 7:30pm
Bacchanalia
Beethoven: String Trio in G major
Jeffery Cotton: Meditation, Rhapsody & Bacchanal for Violin & Percussion (2004)
Dvorak: String Quartet in C major, Opus 61
with Ian Ding, percussion
Beethoven's spritely and humorous String Trio in G Major predates his monumental cycle of string quartets and, with one less player, manages to achieve the full breadth of expression with three equally demanding parts. American composer Jeffery Cotton created a similar joyous, boisterous energy in his colorful Asian and Blues-influenced duo for violin and percussion, pairing such unusual instruments as a waterphone and a Bulgarian tapan with a frenzied and furious violin part. The Dvorak String Quartet in C Major, while not as famous as the American Quartet, is arguably the most grand and virtuosic of all of Dvorak’s quartets and closes the March program with a Czech flourish.
Monday, May 14, 2012, 7:30pm
Brahms/Haydn Variations
Haydn: String Quartet in F minor, Opus 20 No. 5
Dahl: Concerto a tre
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Opus 115
with Burt Hara, clarinet; and Erin Keefe, violin
Accordo closes its third season with Brahms' monumental Clarinet Quintet, one of three pieces he wrote at the end of his life for the brilliant young clarinetist Richard Muhlfeld (after he had decided to stop composing), and one of the most tragic, intimate and heartrendingly beautiful pieces of music ever written. The Minnesota Orchestra's own brilliant Principal Clarinetist Burt Hara joins forces with Accordo to perform the Brahms as well as the rarely heard Concerto a tre by film and radio composer Ingolf Dahl, given its premiere in 1947 by jazz legend Benny Goodman. Mozart's hero Joseph Haydn earned his reputation as the “father of the string quartet” with the Op. 20 quartets, and the haunting opening melody of the fifth quartet begins this rich and varied spring evening of chamber music.
Event details
Concerts: Mondays at 7:30pm; February 6, March 12 and May 14 (2012)
Venue: Christ Church Lutheran, 3244 34th Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55406-3493
Tickets: $20, $17 senior and U of M Alumni, $12 student
Box office:
Online: www.schubert.org/accordo
By phone: 651.292.3268
In person: Schubert Club Office, 302 Landmark Center, 75 W 5th Street, Saint Paul, MN 55102 , Monday - Friday, 8:30am-4:30pm
Day of concert: Christ Church Lutheran, 3244 34th Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55406-3493, Monday, 6:30-7:30pm. Pending availability.
