Thursday, September 16, 2:00pm |
Benita Valente, soprano
Part of the Signature Songs Series |
Previously this Season
Friday, December 4, 3:00pm
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"Musical Conversation with Gunther Schuller" ![]() The composer Gunther Schuller is, famously, a man of many musical pursuits. He began his professional life as a horn player in both the jazz and classical worlds, working as readily with Miles Davis and Gil Evans as with Toscanini; he was principal horn of the Cincinnati Symphony from age sixteen and later of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra until 1959.
Presented by The Chamber Music Society of Minnesota and |
Monday, January 11, 2010, 5:00-7:00pm |
Takács Quartet ![]() Edward Dusinberre, VIOLIN Recognized as one of the world's premiere string quartets, the Takács Quartet is renowned for the ability to fuse four distinct, expressive musical personalities into gripping, unified interpretations. Commenting on their latest Schubert recording for Hyperion, Gramophone magazine noted; "The Takács have the ability to make you believe that there’s no other possible way the music should go, and the strength to overturn preconceptions that comes only with the greatest performers." Based in Boulder at the University of Colorado, the Takács Quartet performs ninety concerts a year worldwide, performing throughout Europe as well as in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Korea. The quartet members are Associate Artists at the South Bank Centre in London, performing several concerts there each year. In 2008-2009 the quartet will build its London programs around the music of Schumann, culminating in a recording of the piano quintet with Marc-Andre Hamelin in May 2009. Other highlights of the 2008-2009 season include the world premiere and performances throughout Europe of a quartet written for them by Wolfgang Rihm, three concerts to celebrate the re-opening of New York’s Alice Tully Hall, featuring the complete Bartok Cycle and a tour to Japan and Korea in June 2009. In a North American tour the quartet will continue its collaboration with the Hungarian folk ensemble Muzsikas and singer Marta Sebestyen. The Quartet's multi-award winning recordings include the Late Quartets by Beethoven which in 2005 won Disc of the Year and Chamber Award from BBC Music Magazine, a Gramophone Award and a Japanese Record Academy Award. Their recordings of the early and middle Beethoven quartets collected a Grammy, another Gramophone Award, a Chamber Music of America Award and two further awards from the Japanese Recording Academy. Of their performances and recordings of the Late Quartets, the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote “The Takács might play this repertoire better than any quartet of the past or present.” In 2005 the Takács Quartet signed a contract with Hyperion Records, for whom their first recording, of Schubert's D804 and D810 was released in 2006. A disc featuring Brahms' Piano Quintet with Stephen Hough was released to great acclaim in November 2007. Brahms Quartets Op. 51 and Op. 67 will be released in fall, 2008, and a disc featuring the Schumann Piano Quintet with Marc-Andre Hamelin will be released in 2009. The Quartet has also made sixteen recordings for the Decca label since 1988 of works by Beethoven, Bartok, Borodin, Brahms, Chausson, Dvořák, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Smetana. The ensemble's recording of the six Bartok String Quartets received the 1998 Gramophone Award for chamber music and, in 1999, was nominated for a Grammy. In addition to the Beethoven String Quartet cycle recording, the ensemble's other Decca recordings include Dvořák's String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 51 and Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81 with pianist Andreas Haefliger; Schubert's Trout Quintet with Mr. Haefliger, which was nominated in 2000 for a Grammy Award; string quartets by Smetana and Borodin; Schubert's Quartet in G Major and Notturno Piano Trio with Mr. Haefliger; the three Brahms string quartets and Piano Quintet in F Minor with pianist András Schiff; Chausson's Concerto for violin, piano and string quartet with violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet; and Mozart's String Quintets, K515 and 516 with Gyorgy Pauk, viola. The quartet is known for innovative programming. In 2007 it performed, with Academy Award–winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Everyman” in Carnegie Hall, inspired by the Philip Roth novel. In May 2008 the quartet performed a new piece commissioned by the South Bank by James Macmillan. The Takács has performed a music and poetry program on a fourteen-city US tour with the poet Robert Pinsky. Current commissions include works by Wolfgang Rihm and Daniel Kellogg. At the University of Colorado, the Takács Quartet has helped to develop a string program with a special emphasis on chamber music, in a small tightly nit community where students work in a nurturing environment best designed to help them develop their artistry. The Quartet's commitment to teaching is enhanced by summer residencies at the Aspen Festival and at the Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara. The Takács is a Visiting Quartet at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. The Takács Quartet was formed in 1975 at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest by Gabor Takács-Nagy, Károly Schranz, Gabor Ormai and András Fejér. It first received international attention in 1977, winning First Prize and the Critics’ Prize at the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France. The Quartet also won the Gold Medal at the 1978 Portsmouth and Bordeaux Competitions and First Prizes at the Budapest International String Quartet Competition in 1978 and the Bratislava Competition in 1981. The Quartet made its North American debut tour in 1982. Violinist Edward Dusinberre joined the Quartet in 1993 and violist Roger Tapping in 1995. Violist Geraldine Walther replaced Mr. Tapping in summer, 2005. Of the original ensemble, Karoly Schranz and Andras Fejér remain. In 2001 the Takács Quartet was awarded the Order of Merit of the Knight’s Cross of the Republic of Hungary. |
Thursday, February 11, 7:00pm Prospective candidates for participation should contact 651-450-0527
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Ieva Jokubaviciute, piano ![]() Known for her deep musical and emotional commitment to a wide range of repertoire, Lithuanian pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute performs regularly in the US and Europe. Critics have described her as possessing "razor-sharp intelligence and wit"' (The Washington Post) and as "elegant and engaging" (The Wall Street Journal). Over the last seasons, Ieva made her Chicago Symphony debut at the Ravinia Festival with James Conlon and her Brazilian orchestral debut in Rio de Janeiro under the baton of Ligia Amadio. She has given solo recitals in Vilnius, Lithuania, on the Dame Myra Hess series in Chicago, at Caspary Hall in New York, and at the Freer Gallery in Washington DC. In the autumn of 2009, Labor Records will release her world premiere recordings of works written in tribute to Alban Berg by Scelsi, Ali-Zadeh, Finney, Gilboa and Apostel, which will be coupled with Berg's Piano Sonata Op.1 and Four Songs Opus 2. A much sought after chamber musician, Ieva Jokubaviciute recently appeared at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium and tours regularly with Musicians from Marlboro. Her piano trio Trio Cavatina made its New York City and Boston debuts in 2006. She appears annually at international music festivals including Marlboro, Ravinia, Bard, Prussia Cove in England, and most recently at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany. Earning degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and from Mannes College of Music, her principal teachers have been Seymour Lipkin and Richard Goode.
Presented by The Chamber Music Society of Minnesota and |
Friday, February 19, 3:00pm |
Barthold Kuijken, baroque flute ![]() Barthold Kuijken is among the most prominent Belgian musicians involved in the performance of early music on authentic instruments. He often appears in concert with his brothers Wieland, a cellist and viola da gamba player, and Sigiswald, a violinist, viol player, and conductor. Often, Paul Dombrecht joins them on oboe, with either Gustav Leonhardt or Robert Kohnen on harpsichord. Though Barthold Kuijken's flute and recorder repertory largely falls into the Baroque era, he plays works by Haydn (divertimentos and trios), Mozart (the flute quartets), Schubert (violin/flute sonatas), and other pieces from the Classical era. Kuijken typically appears in chamber music performances, but he has devoted much time throughout his career to playing in early music ensembles, such as the Parnassus Ensemble, the Collegium Aureum, and La Petite Bande. Kuijken has appeared on more than 40 recordings spread across several labels, including Sony Classical, Harmonia Mundi, Accent, Naïve, and EuroArts. |
Friday April 9, 4:30pm Prospective candidates for participation should contact 651-450-0527
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Fred Sherry, cello ![]() Cellist Fred Sherry has introduced audiences on five continents and all fifty United States to the music of our time through his close association with such composers as Babbitt, Berio, Carter, Davidovsky, Foss, Knussen, Lieberson, Mackey, Takemitsu, Wuorinen and Zorn. He has been a member of the Group for Contemporary Music, Berio's Juilliard Ensemble, the Galimir String Quartet, and a close collaborator with jazz pianist and composer Chick Corea. Mr. Sherry was a founding member of Speculum Musicae and Tashi. He is on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and The Juilliard School. In his extensive recording career, he has been soloist and "sideman" on hundreds of commercial and esoteric recordings; his longstanding collaboration with Robert Craft has produced recordings of major works by Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and Webern. In 2001, in collaboration with the Chamber Music Society and Merkin Concert Hall, he created and directed A Great Day in New York, a groundbreaking festival featuring the music of 52 living composers.
Presented by The Chamber Music Society of Minnesota and |
Saturday, June 12, 1:00pm Prospective candidates for participation should contact 651-450-0527 |
Nobuko Imai, viola
![]() Formerly a member of the esteemed Vermeer Quartet, Ms. Imai now combines a distinguished international solo career appearing with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw, Vienna Symphony, Stockholm Philharmonic, London Symphony, the BBC orchestras, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Boston Symphony, and the Chicago Symphony, along with teaching at the Conservatory in Amsterdam and Geneva, where she is a Professor.
Presented by The Chamber Music Society of Minnesota and |








