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Event
The Chicago Ensemble
The Chicago Ensemble begins its 38th season of chamber music concerts Sunday November 9 at 3:00 pm at International House on the University of Chicago campus and Tuesday November 11 at 7:30 pm at Fourth Presbyterian Church, Michigan Avenue and Chestnut. The group, which appears in different instrumental combinations for its series of five concerts, opens the season with two great piano quartets by Mozart and by Brahms, both in G Minor as well as "My Cagey Companions" by Wendy Wan-ki Lee, a winner in the Ensemble's "Discover America" competition for new American chamber works.
Mozart's G Minor piano quartet begins with dramatic, intense music, as do two other masterworks by him in the same key: the Symphony No. 40 and the string quintet. After a beautiful, serene slow movement, the piece concludes with a delightful movement written in a major key, unusual for Mozart and the Classical period, but more common in the Romantic period.
Brahms also chose G Minor for his first piano quartet, which opens with a darkly dramatic movement built primarily around the opening measure. A lovely intermezzo and a richly varied slow movement follow. For the last movement, Brahms writes very exciting music in Gypsy style a style Brahms knew well, having toured with a Gypsy violinist.
The Chicago Ensemble has held a competition for new American chamber works since 1992, the 500th year after Columbus' "discovery'" of America, giving rise to the name "Discover America" for the competition. Wendy Wan-ki Lee's "My Cagey Companions" is the first to be performed of the pieces selected in the most recent round of the competition. Other winning works will be heard throughout this season and next. Ms. Lee currently teaches composition at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her Ph.D. is from the University of Michigan, and she has held teaching positions at Oberlin and at SUNY in Binghamton. She has won numerous awards as a composer and also has premiered works by living composers in her piano recitals.
Performers are Stephen Boe, violin; Paul Vanderwerf, viola; Andrew Snow, cello and Gerald Rizzer, piano.
A complimentary reception precedes the program.
Tickets are $25 single admission, $100 for a five-concert subscription. Contact The Chicago Ensemble at (773) 558-3448 or at www.thechicagoensemble.org.
The other programs in the series are:
February 1 and 10 music for oboe, string quartet and piano, by Telemann, Dutilleux, Gilad Cohen ("Discover America" winner) and Dvořák
May 22 and 24 music for clarinet, violin, cello and piano, by Hindemith, Marc Satterwhite ("Discover America" winner) and d'Indy
May 3 and 5 music for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, violin and piano, by Monteverdi, Purcell, Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Shostakovich and Bloch
June 2 and 7 music for soprano, flute, violin and piano, by Bach, Debussy, Poulenc, Ibert, Martinů, Mark Zuckerman ("Discover America" winner) and Villa-Lobos
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LocationNovember 9: International House (View)
1414 E. 59th St.
Chicago, IL 60637
United States
Categories
Minimum Age: 6 |
Dog Friendly: No |
Non-Smoking: Yes! |
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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