Press Releases

Announcing the 2021-2022 Accordo and Schubert Club Mix Seasons

By Kristina MacKenzie

We are delighted to announce the 2021-2022 season of Schubert Club Mix, and the 13th season of Accordo!

Accordo is a collective of present and former principal players of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra who enjoy playing chamber music together. The group has been named “Best Chamber Ensemble” by the Minneapolis Star Tribune and “the dream team of chamber music” by Minnesota Monthly. Accordo has been performing since 2008 to enthusiastic audiences in packed venues.

After a full season of virtual performances, Accordo will return to Westminster Hall at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis for their four Monday evening performances this year. All four Monday evening concerts will be repeated in an abbreviated format the following evening on Tuesdays at Icehouse in Minneapolis. The group will also reprise the increasingly popular Accordo with Silent Film concert, which features silent films with original live music performed by Accordo, for a sixth time at the Ordway Concert Hall in downtown Saint Paul.

“Accordo is chomping at the bit to perform for our beloved audience after nearly twenty months away from the concert stage and from performing live, thrilling, and deeply moving music,” says Accordo violinist and St Paul Chamber Orchestra Concertmaster Steven Copes. “We have a delicious season planned for you filled with beloved masterpieces like Ravel’s Piano Trio, Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet & Brahms Clarinet Quintet, but also beautiful and eclectic works by Clara Schumann, Coleridge-Taylor, William Grant Still, Hans Eisner & Syrian composer and clarinetist Kinan Azmeh. Our annual movie show “Accordo with Silent Film,” which was on hiatus last season, is back as well with Steve Prutsman’s new creation ‘Seven Chances’ and other shorter films yet to be programmed.  We are excited to see you and share our love of music with you in the same space in the fall!”

Schubert Club Mix, now entering its 9th season, is a unique and innovative series which aims to take the formality out of classical music by presenting remarkable and intimate performances with relevant artists who are influencing the musical landscape of today. The 2021-2022 season features several concerts by ensembles and artists whose performances were originally scheduled for 2020 and 2021, but were canceled due to the pandemic. They are string quartet Brooklyn Rider along with Kayhan Kalhor on Kamancheh and Mathias Kunzli on percussion, piano duo ZOFO, and the a capella vocal chamber ensemble Stile AnticoThe series also includes a performance at Aria (Minneapolis) by Schubert Club’s 2021-2022 Featured Artist, pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, in a program of solo piano works by J.S. Bach and Philip Glass. Kronos Quartet will give their first performance in the Twin Cities in more than 10 years at the Fitzgerald Theater. To close the series, Minnesota vocalist and composer PaviElle French will perform newly commissioned music written by PaviElle, which features her long-time band together with an ensemble of students from St. Paul’s Walker West Academy.

Brooklyn Rider with Kayhan Kalhor and Mathias Kunzli will be co-presented in partnership with the Walker Art Center, and Kronos Quartet will be presented in partnership with the Walker and YourClassical Minnesota Public Radio.

“Our Schubert Club Mix series is always fascinating to put together,” says Barry Kempton, Schubert Club’s Artistic and Executive Director. “One key criterion for the artists on the Mix series is the musicians’ ability to communicate with audiences – not only in their music-making, but also in their overall presentation style. All of the next season’s Schubert Club Mix artists have this attribute in spades.”

Full-Series Packages for both series are on sale now! Call 651.292.3260 or email [email protected]

Accordo Season 13

Monday, October 18, 2021
Clara Schumann: 3 Romances for Viola and Piano
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Fantasy Pieces for Quartet, Op. 20
Shostakovich: Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57

Monday, February 14, 2022
Antonin Dvořák: 4 Romantic Pieces for Two Violins & Viola (Miniatures, Op. 75a)
Franz Joseph Haydn: Quartet in F Major, Op. 50 No.5
William Grant Still: Two Pieces for Violin & Piano
1. Pastorela
2. Quit Dat Fool’nish
Maurice Ravel: Piano Trio in A minor

Monday, March 14, 2022
Zoltán Kodály: Serenade for Two Violins and Viola, Op. 12
Kinan Azmeh: The Fence, The Rooftop and the Distant Sea for Clarinet and Cello
Johannes Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115

Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Accordo with Silent Film (at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts)
Stephen Prutsman: Seven Chances for String Trio, Flute, Piccolo, Double Bass, and Piano
Other repertoire to be announced

Monday, May 16, 2022
Franz Schubert: String Trio in B-flat Major
Hans Eisler: Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7
Ludwig van Beethoven: Kreutzer Sonata (arrangement for Cello Quintet)

Accordo at Icehouse

Icehouse performances are abbreviated versions of the previous evening’s performance in a more relaxed atmosphere. Icehouse concerts can be purchased only as single tickets, packages are not available.

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Performing in Accordo’s 13th season are:

Violin: Steven Copes, Erin Keefe, Susie Park
Viola: Rebecca Albers, Maiya Papach
Cello: Julie Albers, Anthony Ross, Ronald Thomas
Clarinet: Sang Yoon Kim
Flute: Alicia McQuerry
Piano: Julio Elizade, Anna Polonsky, Stephen Prutsman

Schubert Club Mix: 2021-2022 Season

Brooklyn Rider with
Kayhan Kalhor, kamancheh
Mathias Kunzli, percussion

Friday, October 29, 2021 at 8:00 pm
McGuire Theater, Walker Art Center
Co-presented by Schubert Club and the Walker Art Center

Hailed as “the future of chamber music,” the game-changing string quartet Brooklyn Rider offers eclectic repertoire in gripping performances that continue to attract legions of fans and draw rave reviews from classical, world, and rock critics alike.

ZOFO Piano Duo

Tuesday, November 17, 2021 at 7:30 pm
Park Square Theater

Since joining forces in 2009, the internationally acclaimed piano duo, ZOFO, have electrified audiences from Carnegie Hall to Tokyo with outside-the-box thematic programming for piano-four-hands. Their program, ZOFOMOMA, features live musical performance and projected contemporary paintings, a 21st century Pictures at an Exhibition.

Stile Antico
Renaissance Christmas

Tuesday, December 7, 2021 at 7:30 pm
Landmark Center

London-based Stile Antico is firmly established as one of the world’s most accomplished and innovative vocal ensembles. Working without a conductor, its twelve members have thrilled audiences on four continents with their fresh, vibrant and moving performances of Renaissance polyphony

Víkingur Ólafsson, piano

Tuesday, January 11, 2022 at 7:30 pm
Aria

Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson’s remarkable originality and powerful musical conviction have seen him, in just a few years, take the music world by storm to become one of the most sought-after artists of today. We are thrilled for Víkingur Ólafsson to make his Schubert Club debut in 2022, and to join us as our Featured Artist for the 2021-22 season.

Kronos Quartet
Fifty for the Future

Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 7:30 pm
Fitzgerald Theater
Co-presented by Schubert Club, the Walker Art Center, and YourClassical Minnesota Public Radio

For over 45 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet has pursued a singular artistic vision, combining a spirit of fearless exploration with a commitment to continually reimagine the string quartet experience. The repertoire for this program will be drawn from Kronos’ five-year, 50-composition commissioning project of new works from some of the world’s most accomplished and diverse composers.

An Evening with PaviElle French & Friends

Sunday, May 22, 2022 at 7:30 pm
Fitzgerald Theater

Known for her powerful vocals and dynamic stage presence, PaviElle French is an amazing interdisciplinary artist and winner of an Upper Midwest Emmy Award and an American Composers Forum award, as well as a Sage Award for dance and choreography. PaviElle and her band will be joined for this performance by an ensemble of students from Walker West Academy in St. Paul.