The Schubert Club Insider

We are very pleased to share with you our 137th season, featuring the International Artist Series at Ordway Center for the Performing Arts and the Music in the Park Series at Saint Anthony Park United Church of Christ. 

We are also excited to introduce our second annual Featured Ensemble of the Season, the Danish String Quartet.

The quartet follows Nicola Benedetti’s highly acclaimed 2018-2019 season of concerts, masterclasses, and community engagement activities as Schubert Club’s first Featured Artist.

During the upcoming 2019-2020 season, the Danish String Quartet will visit Twin Cities twice. On November 1st, the Quartet will come for a short visit to play a program of Scandinavian folk music from their second album, “Last Leaf,” as part of Schubert Club Mix. In May, the Quartet will return to perform the full cycle of Beethoven string quartets over a series of six concerts as we celebrate Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday. The full series of Beethoven concerts comprises the Quartet’s Music in the Park Series performance and two recitals on the International Artist Series, plus three additional concerts. Those who purchase the full six concert package will receive free passes to a pre-series “Introduction to Beethoven and his string quartets” with musicologist and University of Minnesota lecturer Daniel Freeman, and will be invited to a post-series reception with the quartet members immediately following the 6th and final performance.

Subscriptions will be on sale Tuesday, March 5 at 10:00am. Single tickets will be on sale August 1, 2019 at 11am.
The best way to guarantee tickets to these very popular series is to purchase a subscription. 

2019-2020 INTERNATIONAL ARTIST SERIES

Joshua Bell, violin

Joshua Bell’s career spans more than thirty years as a chamber musician, recording artist, conductor, and director, and he stands as one of the most celebrated violinists of his era. With repertoire and performances ranging from Bach to jazz standards to world music, his restless curiosity, passion, and multifaceted musical interests have earned him the rare title of “classical music superstar.” His curiosity and clarity of insight are a testament to his belief in the power of music as a unifying cultural force. An artist of precision and passion, Bell is committed to the violin as an instrument of expression and a vehicle for realizing the new and unexplored. As an exclusive Sony Classical artist, Bell has recorded more than 40 albums garnering Grammy®, Mercury®, Gramophone and ECHO Klassik awards. Bell has spent time previously in the Twin Cities area as an Artistic Partner with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO), and has performed with the SPCO and the Minnesota Orchestra, and twice as part of the International Artist Series The Schubert Club is delighted to welcome him back to the Ordway stage in 2019.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello
& Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano

Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, one of the brightest young stars on the classical music scene and the winner of the 2016 BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition, is already in great demand from major orchestras and concert halls worldwide, and his spectacular performance at the Royal Wedding in 2018 endeared him to millions of viewers across the globe. In January 2018, his debut recording for Decca Classics, Inspiration, was released, propelling Sheku to a debut spot at number 18 in the official UK album charts, and number 1 in the classical chart.  As The Telegraph notes, Sheku is “ a superstar who’s also a true artist in the making.” For his International Artist Series debut in the Ordway Concert Hall, Sheku’s program features Beethoven’s Variations in F Major Opus 66, Sonatas for Cello and Piano by Barber and Rachmaninov, and Lutoslawski’s Grave.

Daniil Trifonov, piano

Grammy Award-winning Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov – winner of Gramophone’s 2016 Artist of the Year award – has made a spectacular ascent in the classical music world as a solo artist, champion of the concerto repertoire, chamber and vocal collaborator, and composer. Combining consummate technique with rare sensitivity and depth, his performances are a perpetual source of awe. Trifonov recently added a first Grammy Award to his already considerable string of honors, winning Best Instrumental Solo Album of 2018 with Transcendental, a double album of Liszt’s works that marks his third title as an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist. As The Times of London notes, he is “without question the most astounding pianist of our age.” Born in Nizhny Novgorod in 1991, Trifonov began his musical training at the age of five, and went on to attend Moscow’s Gnessin School of Music as a student of Tatiana Zelikman, before pursuing his piano studies with Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has also studied composition, and continues to write for piano, chamber ensemble, and orchestra. When he premiered his own Piano Concerto in 2013, the Cleveland Plain Dealer marveled: “Even having seen it, one cannot quite believe it. Such is the artistry of pianist-composer Daniil Trifonov.”

Angela Gheorghiu, soprano
& Alexandra Dariescu, piano

Soprano Angela Gheorghiu is one of the most passionate and talented vocal artists working in opera today, a larger-than-life figure whose intensity and drive both on stage and off have commanded the attention of the musical world. Ms Gheorghiu’s magnificent voice and dazzling stage presence have established her as one of the most renowned opera singers of our time. Born in a small town in Romania, Gheorghiu knew from an early age that she wanted to pursue music as a career. Since her professional debut in 1990, she has performed in leading roles of operas at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, London’s Royal Opera House, the Vienna State Opera, Milan’s La Scala, and many other opera houses around the world. Gheorghiu has performed many of the most iconic soprano roles, including Mimi in La Boheme, Juliette in Romeo and Juliette, the title roles in Tosca and Madame Butterfly and of course La Traviata. For her International Artist Series Debut, Gheorghiu will be joined by fellow Romanian pianist Alexandra Dariescu.

Danish String Quartet

The Danish String Quartet made its debut at the Copenhagen Summer Festival in 2002. Regular audience members of Schubert Club’s Music in the Park Series know them as one of the greatst string quartets touring the world today, performing classical, contemporary, and Scaninavian folk music with passion and precision. In 2012, The New York Times selected the quartet’s concert as a highlight of the year, saying the performance featured “one of the most powerful renditions of Beethoven’s Opus 132 String Quartet that I’ve heard live or on a recording.” Since 2007, the group has curated its own annual festival —DSQ Festival— in Nyboder, Copenhagen. 2016 marked the beginning of Series of Four, the quartet’s new concert series in the concert hall of The Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen.The quartet was also named as a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist for 2013-15. The Quartet’s performances on the International Artist Series will be two of the six concerts in which they will perform the full cycle of Beethoven String Quartets. They will present two different programs on May 15 and May 17, and we encourage you to attend both, or to purchase the entire Beethoven Series!

Read more at schubert.org

2019-2020 MUSIC IN THE PARK SERIES

Montrose Trio

Formed in 2013, the Montrose Trio is a collaboration stemming from a long and fruitful relationship between pianist Jon Kimura Parker and the now disbanded Tokyo String Quartet. Mr. Parker was the quartet’s final guest pianist, and a backstage conversation between Parker, first violinist Martin Beaver and cellist Clive Greensmith led to the Montrose Trio’s creation.Named after Chateau Montrose, a storied Bordeaux wine long favored after concerts, with a nod to the Montrose Arts District of Houston and the street in Winnipeg where Mr. Beaver was raised, the Montrose Trio has quickly established a reputation for performances of the highest distinction. In 2015 the Washington Post raved about their “absolutely top-notch music making, as fine as one could ever expect to hear…they are poised to become one of the top piano trios in the world.” Their program features Dvorak’s Trio in E Minor “Dunky” and Schubert’s Trio in E Flat.

Modigliani Quartet

Formed in 2003, the Modigliani Quartet performs regularly at the world’s top chamber music venues, touring America, Japan, Korea, China and European countries. In 2017, they made their Berlin Philharmonie debut and returned to London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Paris Philharmonie, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Salzburg’s Mozarteum, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, and Tokyo’s Oji Hall. In 2014, the Quartet became Artistic Directors of the Rencontres Musicales d’Evian, created in 1976 by Antoine Riboud and made famous by its former artistic director, Mstislav Rostropovich. The quartet first recorded in 2008 and has released 8 CDs, all internationally acclaimed. Its latest, Schumann’s Op. 41 String Quartets, was issued in November 2017. Their program for this Music in the Park Series debut features Stravinsky’s Three Pieces for String Quartet, Haydn’s Quartet in D Minor “Fifths,” and Tchaikovsky’s Quartet No. 3 in E-flat minor.

Skride Piano Quartet

The Skride Piano Quartet is made up of four like-minded musicians who have each achieved success as a soloist at the highest levels: Baiba Skride, Lise Berthaud, Harriet Krijgh, and Lauma Skride. The 2016-17 season included performances at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Musikverein Wien, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Malmo Chamber Music Festival, and BASF Ludwigshafen. Upcoming performances include the Concertgebouw, Philharmonie Essen, and Great Guild Hall Riga.Their program for the Music in the Park Series will feature Schubert’s Adagio and Rondo Concertate in F, Mendelssohn’s Piano Quartet No. 3 in B minor, and Enescu’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in D.

Susie Park, violin & Benjamin Hochman

Violinist Susie Park first picked up a violin at age three and made her solo debut at five. A native of Sydney, Austrailia, Susie launched her international career at age 16, when she took first place in the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition in France. This led to performances and reengagements throughout the US, Europe, and her native Australia, where highlights included performances for crowds of over 120,000. Susie went on to receive additional top honors at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis and the Wieniawski Competition in Poland. Susie has grown into a musician distinguished by unusual passion and versatility, and today performs internationally as an orchestral, chamber, and solo artist. She currently serves as the first associate concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra and is a founding member of the East Coast Chamber Orchestra.

Catalyst Quartet

Sunday, April 26, 2020, 4:00 pm

Hailed by the New York Times at their Carnegie Hall debut as “invariably energetic and finely burnished…playing with earthy vigor,” Catalyst Quartet is comprised of top Laureates and alumni of the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Competition. Known for “rhythmic energy, polyphonic clarity and tight ensemble-playing,” the ensemeble has toured throughout the United States and abroad, including sold-out performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Chicago’s Harris Theater, Miami’s New World Center and Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall. The quartet has also appeared as concerto soloists with the Bogata Filharmonica, the Sphinx Virtuosi, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Danish String Quartet

The Danish String Quartet made its debut at the Copenhagen Summer Festival in 2002. Regular audience members of Schubert Club’s Music in the Park Series know them as one of the greatest string quartets touring the world today, performing classical, contemporary, and Scaninavian folk music with passion and precision. In 2012, The New York Times selected the quartet’s concert as a highlight of the year, saying the performance featured “one of the most powerful renditions of Beethoven’s Opus 132 String Quartet that I’ve heard live or on a recording.” The Quartet’s performances on the Music in the Park Series will be one of the six concerts in which they will perform the full cycle of Beethoven String Quartets. 

Read more at schubert.org

Subscriptions on sale Tuesday, March 5, 10:00 am