40+ exciting, pulse-pounding, riveting concerts featuring world-class chamber musicians
Sister Bay, Wis. – June 3, 2022 – Midsummer’s Music, Wisconsin’s oldest summer chamber music series, launches its 2022 concert season with a program celebrating the “unknown great” composers Friedrich Kiel and Joachim Raff.
Few composers have been lifted to the pantheon of greatness solely on the basis of their chamber music, although several have poured some of their finest efforts into this genre including Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and Brahms for starters. But Kiel and Raff poured their most inspired music into their chamber pieces. Given the extraordinary quality of some of their chamber music and the fact that both composers are 200 years old this year, it is fitting to explore two works that present them in their best light. Joachim Raff is no stranger to Midsummer’s Music, having performed at least six of his works in prior seasons. Friedrich Kiel, on the other hand, is a welcome newcomer to the organization’s programming. Both composers – in their day – were expected to be remembered as being of the finest of their generations but soon fell into the oblivion of the near-great. Only in the last few decades has there been a reappraisal of their significance, and most of that reappraisal has been based on their chamber music.
The concert features Kiel’s lively Quartet No. 3 in G Minor, Op. 50, and Raff’s dramatic Quartet No. 2 in C Minor. Op. 202, masterfully performed by David Perry, violin, Sally Chisholm, viola, James Waldo, cello, and Jeannie Yu, piano. Following opening night at 7:00pm, June 9, at the Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor, this exciting program plays at Björklunden in Baileys Harbor at 7:00pm on June 11; as a 3:00pm matinée at Hope United Church of Christ in Sturgeon Bay on June 12; and at 7:00pm on June 14 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Sister Bay.
The second program of the season, English Connections, features works by three English composers: Quartet No. 1, “Calvary” (1956) by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson; Phantasy Quintet (1912) by Ralph Vaughn Williams; and Quintet No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 86, by Charles Villiers Stanford. This program will be performed four times: June 16 at 7:00pm at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Sister Bay; June 19 at 5:00pm at Woodwalk Gallery in Egg Harbor, dedicated to the memory of Arnie Widen; June 21 at 5:00pm at the Historic Town Hall in Fish Creek, dedicated to the memory of Spencer Gould and with an optional post-concert dinner at Alexander’s; and June 23 at 7:00pm at the Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor. English Connections program musicians are David Perry and Ann Palen, violins, Sally Chisholm and Allyson Fleck, violas, and James Waldo, cello.
A complete 2022 summer brochure can be downloaded at www.midsummersmusic.com.
Tickets are $35 for adults, $15 for students, and children 12 and under are free. Premium prices apply for salon/home concerts, dinner concerts and other special events, including opening night. Flex-packs of six tickets for the price of five tickets are also available. Tickets can be ordered at www.midsummersmusic.com or by phone at 920-854-7088.
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:
Best of the Unknown Greats: Friedrich Kiel & Joachim Raff at 200
Quartet No. 3 in G Major, Op. 50 Friedrich Kiel
Quartet No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 202 Joachim Raff
Thursday, June 9, 7:00 pm • Opening Night Gala, Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
Saturday, June 11, 7:00 pm, Björklunden. Baileys Harbor
Sunday, June 12, 3:00 pm, Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
Tuesday, June 14, 7:00 pm, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
English Connections
Quartet No. 1, “Calvary” (1956) Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson
Phantasy Quintet (1912) Ralph Vaughn Williams
Quintet in C Minor, Op. 86 Charles Villiers Stanford
Thursday, June 16, 7:00 pm, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
Sunday, June 19, 5:00 pm, Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor
Tuesday, June 21, 5:00 pm • Dinner Concert, Fish Creek Historic Town Hall, Fish Creek
Thursday, June 23, 7:00 pm, Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
Griffon String Quartet
Quartet No. 8 in C Minor Dmitri Shostakovich
Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 13 Felix Mendelssohn
Thursday, June 24, 7:00 pm, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
Saturday, June 25, 7:00 pm, Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
Sunday, June 26, 3:00 pm, Sister Bay Moravian Church, Sister Bay
Thursday, June 30, 7:00 pm, Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
Mozart & Healy
Trio in E-flat Major Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(“Kegelstatt”), K.498
Trio (2022) Will Healy
Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Major, I.449 (arr. Mozart)
Friday, July 1, 7:00 pm, Björklunden, Baileys Harbor
Saturday, July 2, 7:00 pm, Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
Sunday, July 3, 3:00 pm, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
Tuesday, July 5, 7:00 pm, Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
Scintillating Summer Serenades
Sextet in E-flat Major Paul Wranitzky
Quartet in F Major, K.E. 386b Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Quintet in D Major, Op. 35 Bernhard Molique
Thursday, July 7, 7:00 pm, Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
Friday, July 8, 7:00 pm, First Baptist Church, Sister Bay
Saturday, July 9, 7:00 pm, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
Sunday, July 10, 5:00 pm, Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor
Trio Magic
Serenade, Op. 50 (1895) Laura Netzel
Circulo, Op. 91 Joachim Turina
Trio in E-flat, Op. 100, D. 929 Franz Schubert
Friday, July 15, 7:00 pm, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
Saturday, July 16, 7:00 pm, Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
Sunday, July 17, 3:00 pm • Salon Concert, Trenchard Residence, Sister Bay
Thursday, July 21, 7:00 pm, Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
Lush & Thrilling Romantic Poetry
Quartettsatz in C Minor, D. 703 Franz Schubert
Divertimento in E Major, Op. 53 Friedrich Gernsheim
Grand Quintetto in B-flat Major, Op. 34 Carl Maria von Weber
Wednesday, July 20, 7:00 pm, Sister Bay Moravian Church, Sister Bay
Friday, July 22, 7:00 pm, First Baptist Church, Sister Bay
Saturday, July 23, 7:00 pm, Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
Sunday, July 24, 5:00 pm, Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor
Homeland Sentiments
Adagio from String Quartet in D Minor (1869) Mykola Lysenko
Trio in C-sharp Major, Op. 100 Philipp Scharwenka
Quintet in A Major, Op. 81 Antonín Dvořák
Thursday, July 28, 7:00 pm, TBD
Friday, July 29, 7:00 pm, Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
Saturday, July 30, 7:00 pm, Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
Sunday, July 31, 3:00 pm, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
Down Home & Heavenly
Divertimento No. 10 in F Major, K. 247 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Rodeo Reina de Cielo (Rodeo Queen of Heaven) Libby Larsen
Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 25 Ferdinand Ries
Sunday, August 21, 3:00 pm, Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
Wednesday, August 24, 7:00 pm, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
Thursday, August 25, 7:00 pm, Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
Friday, August 26, 7:00 pm, Birch Creek: Juniper Hall, Egg Harbor
Quintet Elegance
Quintet in E Major, Op. 1 Dame Ethel Smyth
Quintet in D Major, D. 956 Franz Schubert
Saturday, August 27, 7:00 pm • Salon Concert, Courtney Residence, Sister Bay
Sunday, August 28, 5:00 pm, Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor
Wednesday, August 31, 7:00 pm, Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
Friday, September 2, 7:00 pm, Sister Bay Moravian Church, Sister Bay
A Date with Destenay (and Franck at 200)
Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 44 Louise Ferranc
Trio in E Minor, Op. 27 Edouard Destenay
Quintet in F Minor (1880) César Franck
Thursday, September 1, 7:00 pm, Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
Saturday, September 3, 3:00 pm, The Clearing Folk School, Ellison Bay
Sunday, September 4, 3:00 pm, Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
Monday, September 5, 3:00 pm • Labor Day Gala, Björklunden, Baileys Harbor