Schubert Club’s popular Courtroom Concert Series, hosted by composer Abbie Betinis, opens its 26th season of free concerts at Landmark Center on October 13, 2022. This series features accomplished musicians and composers from the Twin Cities and nearby surrounding area, as well as occasional musical newcomers to the area.
Courtroom Concerts are held most Thursdays from October through April in the beautiful and historic Landmark Center and are free and open to the public. This fall, Courtroom Concerts continue to take place in the Landmark Center Cortile, instead of their usual venue in Courtroom 317, to allow for distancing between audience members.
Admission is free, reservations are not required. Programs last approximately one hour, and seating is General Admission on a first-come, first-served basis.
The season will open with returning Courtroom Concert favorites the Elkina Sisters piano duo performing a program of music by de Falla, Verdi, Ravel, and Armenian composers Arutyunyan and Babadjanian. Also performing this fall are the Mill City String Quartet, pianist Laura Cavianiwith saxophonist David Milne, and vocal group Lumina Women’s Ensemble (Linda Kachelmeier, Angela Grundstad, Clara Osowski, and Kim Sueoka). The ever popular Songs of the Season program, featuring carols by local composers, will also return this year with two performances at Landmark Center.
Spring Courtroom Concerts will be announced later this year.
Fall 2022 Courtroom Concert Schedule
All concerts at noon in the Landmark Center Cortile unless otherwise noted
October 13
Julia and Irina Elkina, piano duo
Alexander Grigori Arutiunian and Arno Babajanian: Armenian Rhapsody
Franz Liszt: Concert Paraphrase on the Themes from Verdi’s “Rigoletto”
Manual de Falla: Seven Spanish Popular Songs
Maurice Ravel: La Valse
October 20
Mill City String Quartet
Osvaldo Golijov: Tenebrae
Daniel Bernard Roumain: String Quartet No. 4, “Maya Angelou”
Kevin Puts: Credo
October 27
Laura Caviani, piano & David Milne, saxophone
Program to be selected from the following:
Program to be selected from the following. Arrangements by David Milne and Laura Caviani
Gabriel Fauré: Sicilienne, Op. 78
Claude Debussy: La fille aux cheveux de lin
Erik Satie: Gnossienne
Claude Debussy: Le Petit Berger
Maurice Ravel: Vocalise en forme de Habanera
Claude Debussy: Golliwog’s Boogie
Robert Schumanni: First Loss
Laura Caviani: Mademoiselle (inspired by Chopin’s Waltz in A-flat, Op. 69, No. 1)
And featuring original compositions by Laura Caviani and David Milne
November 10
Lumina Womens Ensemble
Linda Kachelmeier: “Bread” (premiere)
Catherine Dalton: “May the Grace of the Love” (premiere)
Jared Steven Coffin: “The Night Day” (premiere)
Natalie Nowytski: “Shukannja (The Search)”
Michael Maiorana: “Sonnet 27”
J. David Moore: “To Know the Dark”
Simon M. Sperl: Even in Darkness”l
December 15: 12:00 pm and 6:00 pm
Songs of the Season
Carols by Minnesota Composers, curated by Abbie Betinis
ABOUT THE HOST
Composer Abbie Betinis writes music called “inventive, richly melodic” (The New York Times), “superb, whirling, soaring” (Tacoma News Tribune), and “the highlight” of the program (Boston Globe). With over 50 commissioned works for ensembles such as Cantus, the New England Philharmonic, and The Rose Ensemble, Abbie is also a two-time McKnight Artist Fellow, and has won grants from the American Composers Forum, ASCAP, and Jerome Foundation, and at age 31, was listed in NPR Music’s Top 100 Composers Under 40. Abbie has been a Composer-in-Residence with New York State School Music Association, The Rose Ensemble, The Singers-Minnesota Choral Artists, and Schubert Club. In 2019, she will be the American Composers Forum’s ChoralQuest composer, visiting schools around the U.S. to write new choral music with middle school singers.
Originally from Wisconsin, Abbie is a graduate of St. Olaf College (B.A.), the University of Minnesota (M.A.), and holds a diplôme from the European American Musical Alliance Institute in Paris, France. She lives in Minnesota, where she is Adjunct Professor of Composition at Concordia University-St Paul and executive director of Justice Choir.