Midsummer’s presents music by real-life friends Anton Reicha and Ludwig van Beethoven
Midsummer’s Music, Wisconsin’s oldest summer chamber music series, presents its sixth and final week of 2020 virtual concerts with Friends of Old, September 9 – 13. Norman Gilliland of Wisconsin Public Radio, who hosted the first concerts of the streaming series in early August, returns to host this program featuring works by Anton Reicha and Ludwig van Beethoven.
The Friends of Old program spotlights Reicha’s Clarinet Quintet in F Major and Beethoven’s String Quintet in C Major. Midsummer’s Music features musicians include Daniel Won, clarinet, David Perry and Ann Palen, violins, Sally Chisholm and Allyson Fleck, violas, and Greg Sauer, cello.
Reicha of Prague, and Beethoven of Bonn, were both born in 1770. In 1785, Reicha moved to Bonn where he became friends with Beethoven and played in the Elector’s orchestra with Beethoven. They reunited in Vienna in 1801 and remained friends from then on. The two quintets in the Friends of Old program suggest their close and lifelong musical relationship.
All virtual concerts are free and stream online at midsummersmusic.com, on the Midsummer’s Music Facebook page and YouTube channel, and Sundays on The Violin Channel’s Facebook page. Programs are broadcast in two segments, each being approximately 30 minutes.
Sponsors for the Friends of Old virtual concerts are Nancy & Dave Borghesi and Mary Hauser & Jerry Randall.
Wednesday, September 9, 7:00 pm (CT) and Friday, September 11, 8:00 pm (CT)
Clarinet Quintet in F Major by Anton Reicha
Thursday, September 10, 7:00 pm (CT) and Saturday, September 12, 8:00 pm (CT)
String Quintet in C Major by Ludwig van Beethoven
Sunday, September 13, 3:00 pm (CT)
Reicha’s Piano Quintet and Beethoven’s String Quintet, plus musician interviews
Write On, Door County poet Albert DeGenova will be featured during the brief intermission.
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.