Six composers from the 18th century to today and their lives’ interesting twists and turns
From Friday, July 16, through Sunday, July 25, Midsummer’s Music will present two very appealing programs in six unforgettable concerts with six intriguing composers. Featured musicians include Heather Zinninger Yarmel, flute, David Perry and Ann Palen, violins, Allyson Fleck and Ria Hodgson, violas, Paula Kosower and James Waldo, cellos, and Jeannie Yu, piano.
The Respect and Revelation program highlights music by Robert Schumann from Germany, Pedro (Pere) Tintorer from Spain, and Paul Frucht from the United States. Schumann is highly regarded as the “great balancer” of classicism and romanticism, and he eloquently wrote on the topic of these two great forces in music. Tintorer was first and foremost a teacher, and he founded a school for piano in Barcelona in 1849. One of his compositions, Te Deum, was written to honor the birth of Napoleon III’s son, while his Stabat Mater was dedicated to Spanish Queen Isabella II, who later bestowed the title of knight on the composer. Frucht, who was named a Composer-in-Residence Fellow for Midsummer’ Music’s 2021 season, was awarded a commission to write for the 2016 Kyoto International Music Festival, where he represented American music for the concert series.
The Respect and Revelation concerts feature Schumann’s Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 47, Tintorer’s Un Souvenir de Beethoven, and Frucht’s Music for Piano Trio; they play on July 16 at 7:00pm at SWY231 in Sturgeon Bay, July 17 at 7:00pm at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Sister Bay, and July 20 at 7:00pm at the Door Community Auditorium in Fish Creek, where the audience sits on stage with the musicians.
Rounding out Midsummer’s July programs is Diversions and Excursions, celebrating works by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Katherine Hoover, whose lives were fashioned by professional and geographical twists and turns. Beethoven moved from his native Bonn to Vienna in 1795, where, for a while, he found himself without a steady income and had to maintain himself by teaching, composing, and playing piano at social functions. Tchaikovsky was initially directed toward a professional career in the law, and after being educated in a school of jurisprudence, he became a law clerk in 1859; however, he increasingly devoted himself to music and ultimately studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. His piece in this program is the result of a visit to Florence, Italy. Hoover was born in West Virginia, yet despite being a musically gifted flutist and pianist, she was guided by her parents to pursue academic studies at the University of Rochester in New York. The famous, affiliated Eastman School of Music was too much of a draw, and she entered Eastman to study flute and composition.
The Diversions and Excursions concerts feature Beethoven’s Serenade in D Major, Op. 25, Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence in D Minor, Op. 70, and Hoover’s Divertimento (1975); they play on July 23 at 7:00pm at the Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor, July 24 at 7:00pm at SWY231 in Sturgeon Bay, and July 25 at 4:00pm at Woodwalk Gallery in Egg Harbor.
The final July Coffee Talk – a free, informal presentations on music topics by Midsummer’s Music musicians and friends – will be by 2021 Composer-in-Residence Fellow Paul Frucht presenting Writing Music for Our Time at SWY231 in Sturgeon Bay at 10:00am on July 17.
Reservations are recommended for all concerts and Coffee Talks. Before making plans or purchasing tickets, concertgoers should review Midsummer’s COVID-19 policy at midsummersmusic.com.
Tickets for all concerts are $30 for adults and can be ordered at www.midsummersmusic.com or by phone at 920-854-7088. Call the office for youth ticket prices. All programs are subject to change.
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 and reaching thousands more each year through virtual programming.
For more information visit www.midsummersmusic.com.
High-resolution photos can be downloaded at https://midsummersmusic.com/photos/.
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For Calendar Listings:
Respect and Revelation
Music by Pedro (Pere) Tintorer, Paul Frucht, and Robert Schumann
July 16, 2021, 7:00pm – SWY, Sturgeon Bay, WI
July 17, 2021, 7:00pm – St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay, WI
July 20, 2021, 7:00pm – Door Community Auditorium, Fish Creek, WI
Diversions and Excursions
Music by Katherine Hoover, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
July 23, 2021, 7:00pm – Donald and Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor, WI
July 24, 2021, 7:00pm – SWY231, Sturgeon Bay, WI
July 25, 2021, 4:00pm – Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor, WI
Coffee Talks
July 17, 2021, 10:00am – Paul Frucht, 2021 Composer-in-Residence Fellow: Writing Music for Our Time: SWY231, Sturgeon Bay, WI