The final chamber music concert of the season features Bohemian composers who relished the folk music of their homes. Joining the NWS Fellows is pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, whose virtuosic playing is praised for its elegance. After its banishment for over half a century, Béla Bartók’s Piano Quintet is a rare gem that blends his signature Hungarian folk music with nods to Liszt, Brahms and Richard Strauss.
Premieres and performances by stellar Frost artists. Frost professor and acclaimed violinist Charles Castleman leads David Amram’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, while Frost Studio Music and Jazz chair John Daversa solos on the premiere of Stephen Guerra’s Portrait in Blue.
A new work by Henry Mancini Institute Fellow Bryan Kennard rounds out the evening.
Frost faculty member Trudy Kane’s final concert before retirement features Frank Ticheli’s Silver Linings, a concerto for flute and wind ensemble commissioned by Peter Warshaw, in memory of his wife’s suicide.
Warshaw will also lead a discussion on the causes and signs of this tragic phenomenon.
From the City of Music comes chamber works steeped in great tradition, led by Vienna’s own star cellist Tamás Varga. Erich Korngold’s lush String Sextet nods to fellow Austrians Mahler and Strauss while foreshadowing his future as the father of Hollywood film music. Franz Joseph Haydn infuses sophistication and spontaneity in his trio for flute, cello and piano. After moving to the U.S., Vienna-born Arnold Schoenberg wistfully recalls music where tonality and rhythmic stability were paramount in his Second Chamber Symphony, one of his only tonal later works.
“Poet of the cello” Ross Harbaugh teams up with acclaimed pianist and fellow Frost faculty member Tian Ying on musical treasures by Shostakovich and Beethoven, plus soulful serenades by Saint-Saëns, Lecuona, and Bloch.
A prize-winning performer and member of the Bergonzi String Quartet, Harbaugh will also sing, play guitar, and deliver other musical surprises.
Join pioneering composer Anthony Davis for a musical and emotional voyage through African-American history, with selections from his acclaimed, seminal operas X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X and Amistad, as well as two recent works: FIVE, based on the story of the Central Park Five, and The Darkest Light in the Heart, inspired by the racism-inspired Dylann Roof shooting.
Also featuring Frost alumnus Carl DuPont and former Frost faculty member Kevin Short.