Griffon String Quartet Plays Free Community Holiday Concerts
The Midsummer’s Music resident string quartet performs Piazzolla, Shostakovich, and holiday favorites.
Sister Bay, Wis. – December 3, 2021 – The Griffon String Quartet, hailed for “superb playing, palpable chemistry, spirit, and emotional connection,” will perform three pay-what-you-can holiday concerts in Northeast Wisconsin.
Spicing up the repertoire and injecting some South American heat into cold, Wisconsin mid-December are two tangos from Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla. Four, for Tango is a six-and-a-half-minute piece employing surprising instrumental techniques that are widely considered atypical for a traditional tango. Piazzolla’s Tango Ballet moves the essence of the tango, forged from a range of musical influences, into six scenic movements.
The String Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 108, will send concertgoers on a musical journey that is uniquely Dmitri Shostakovich. Written as a tribute to his first wife, Nina, it is a relatively short piece performed in three movements; yet it covers a broad spectrum of musical styles that convey the composer’s emotions of love, loss, and grief.
A holiday concert is incomplete without seasonal music, and the Griffon String Quartet’s violist Blakeley Menghini enthusiastically says, “We will deliver with a selection of well-loved pieces to put everyone in a festive spirit!”
The three concerts, part of the Quartet’s Community-Embedded all-inclusive programs for families, are 5:00pm, December 17, at SWY231 in Sturgeon Bay, WI; 2:00pm, December 18, at the Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor, WI; and 2:00pm, December 19, at the Brown County Library main branch in Green Bay, WI. Tickets are free and should be reserved at midsummersmusic.com, where the organization’s Covid-19 concert policy is also available to read.
One of the most vibrant and engaging quartets of their generation, the Griffon String Quartet was formed in the fall of 2018 as a collaboration led by Midsummer’s Music. The quartet is a groundbreaking project to enrich the lives of children and adults throughout Northeast Wisconsin through concerts, workshops, and music education outreach. Members of the Quartet include violinists Ji-Yeon Lee and Vinicius Sant’Ana, violist Blakeley Menghini, and cellist Ryan Louie. Extraordinary musicians who have performed with orchestras and ensembles around the globe in the finest halls from Carnegie Hall and Brazil’s Teatro Municipal de São Paulo to Ukraine’s Lviv Philharmonic Hall, and won prestigious music competitions and awards, they are equally dedicated to music education and inspiring the next generation of music lovers. Each member of the Griffon String Quartet has advanced degrees and significant professional experience, both as educators and performers, and the ensemble has been recognized for “their youthful vigor, which is absolutely infectious!”
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.
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:
Name: Gather with the Griffon
Description: Free mini concerts for seniors, funded in part by the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation and the Green Bay Packers Foundation
Dates: December 15, 2021, January 12, 2022, February 9, 2022, March 9, 2022, April 13, 2022, May 11, 2022
Time/Location: 11:30am, First Presbyterian Church, 200 S. Ashland Ave., Green Bay, WI
Name: Griffon String Quartet: Community Concert for Sunshine Resources
Description: The Griffon String Quartet plays for Sunshine House clients in this free community concert|
Date: December 10, 2021
Time/Location: 1:00pm, Sunshine Resources, 55 Yew St., Sturgeon Bay, WI
Name: Griffon String Quartet: Memory Café
Description: The Griffon String Quartet performs a mini concert as part of its B Double Sharp Program for the aging or disabled, specifically targeting people with Alzheimer’s and dementia, as well as their caregivers. Funded in part by the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation and the Green Bay Packers Foundation.
Date: December 14, 2021
Time/Location: 1:00pm, Green Bay Botanical Garden, 2600 Larsen Rd., Green Bay, WI
Name: Griffon String Quartet Holiday Concerts
Description: The Griffon String Quartet plays Astor Piazzola and Beethoven, along with holiday favorites for these three, free community concerts. Reserve free tickets at midsummersmusic.com or by calling 920-854-7088.
Date/Time/Location: December 17, 2021, 5:00pm, SWY231, 231 N 3rd Ave., Sturgeon Bay, WI
Date/Time/Location: December 18, 2021, 2:00pm, Kress Pavilion, 7845 Church St., Egg Harbor, WI
Date/Time/Location: December 19, 2021, 2:00pm, Brown Co. Library, 515 Pine St., Green Bay, WI*
*December 19 concert is funded in part by the Green Bay Packers Foundation