Five free streaming concerts feature 20th century composers.
Midsummer’s Music, Door County’s premiere chamber music series, presents its third streaming concert program, New Voices, August 19 – 23, featuring three contemporary composers.
The virtual concert season continues with the final streaming performances of the Soaring Spirits program, hosted by Lisa Flynn of WFMT-Chicago and highlighting works by three classical composers of color – George Walker, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and Florence Price – on Friday, August 14, at 8:00 pm (CT), Saturday, August 15, at 8:00 pm (CT), and Sunday, August 16, at 3:00 pm (CT).
For the New Voices streaming concerts, Midsummer’s Music premiers Composer-in-Residence Jacob Beranek’s new Piano Trio, “Midsummer,” the fourth of his compositions commissioned by Midsummer’s and supported by the MMG Foundation. Beranek’s work is as fresh sounding as its title, as is Black Tango by the contemporary Canadian composer, Erling Patrick Horn. In the early 1920s, Reynaldo Hahn was just such a new voice when he immigrated as a child from his native Caracus, Venezuela, to France and took Parisian society by storm.
The five free concerts will stream online at midsummersmusic.com and on the Midsummer’s Music Facebook page and YouTube channel. The New Voices program will be broadcast in two segments, each being approximately 30 minutes.
Wednesday, August 19, 7:00 pm (CT) & Friday, August 21, 8:00 pm (CT)
Piano Trio No. 1, “Midsummer” by Jacob Beranek
Piano, Violin, Cello
and
Black Tango for Piano Quartet by Erling Patrick Horn
Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello
Thursday, August 20, 7:00 pm (CT) & Saturday, August 22, 8:00 pm (CT)
Piano Quintet in F-Sharp Major by Reynaldo Hahn
Piano, Two Violins, Viola, Cello
Sunday, August 23, 3:00 pm (CT)
See the Beranek, Horn, and Hahn pieces in a matinée performance including new interviews.
Midsummer’s Music musicians for these performances are David Perry and Ann Palen (violins), Allyson Fleck (viola), Greg Sauer (cello), and Jeannie Yu (piano).
Support from Nicolet National Bank and Jeannie & Wietze de Vries, Bob & Ruth Fleck, and Julie Ann Fleck Hobbs help to make it possible to provide the New Voices concerts at no cost to viewers. The Violin Channel is an Official Media Partner to Midsummer’s Music and our 2020 virtual music season.
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Midsummer’s Music staff have industriously worked at reimagining the 30th Anniversary concert season, employing technology and new equipment to bring concerts into homes across the country and beyond. During the first week of virtual concerts – streaming simultaneously via midsummersmusic.com and the Midsummer’s Facebook page and YouTube channel – data analytics showed that thousands of people were viewing the short concerts, which are approximately 30 minutes each. Feedback further demonstrates that Midsummer’s Music is reaching a larger audience than ever.
Midsummer’s Music draws on the extraordinary talent of musicians from the Chicago Symphony, Chicago’s Lyric Opera, Milwaukee Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Aspen Music Festival, China National Symphony and the Ravinia Festival, among others.
Midsummer’s Music was co-founded in 1990 by Jim and Jean Berkenstock, long-time Door County summer residents and principal orchestral players with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. What began as two concerts among friends has become one of the Midwest’s most anticipated chamber music series, bringing thousands of chamber music enthusiasts from around the globe to the magical Door County Peninsula.