Midsummer’s Music, Wisconsin’s oldest summer chamber music series, continues its 2024 concert season with a program highlighting two piano quintets by Antonín Dvořák and Johannes Brahms. The program’s four performances run June 22 through June 30 and feature pianist Jeannie Yu, who enjoys an active career as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, and educator.
Dvořák and Brahms are great 19th century composers who gave us splendid piano quintets. Dvořák’s Quintet No. 1 in A Major, Op. 5, is rarely performed. He was 31 when he wrote it, and then revised it in 1887 at the height of his career. Yet this version was not heard until 1922, 18 years after the composer’s death. Here is an opportunity to savor this rare masterpiece coupled with Brahms’ Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34, which is one of his best chamber works.
A dedicated chamber musician, Yu is the pianist of the Florestan Duo, with whom she has recorded Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano. Chamber music appearances include engagements with the Northwestern University Winter Chamber Music Series, the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music North, Three Bridges Chamber Music Festival, Frankly Music Series, Chamber Music Milwaukee, Midsummer’s Music, and the Rembrandt Chamber Players Series. Media performances as a soloist and collaborative artist include WQXR in New York, WOI in Des Moines, IPR in Interlochen, and WFMT in Chicago. As a recording artist, she has recorded volumes of music for various instruments for the Hal Leonard Publishing Company.
In addition to Yu, the musicians are violinists David Perry and Ann Palen, violist Allyson Fleck, and cellist Mara McClain.
Concerts are at 7:00pm on June 22 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Sister Bay, sponsored by the Nancy T. and David A. Borghesi Fund; 7:00pm on June 28 at Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church in Ellison Bay, sponsored by the James & Nancy Huebner Charitable Fund; and 5:00pm on June 30 at Hope United Church of Christ in Sturgeon Bay, sponsored by Sandy Zingler. The dinner concert on June 29 at the home of Marianna Beck and John Wilson in Fish Creek is sold out. The 2024 concert series is sponsored by the Jean Berkenstock Family Fund and the Susan DeWitt Davie Legacy Fund, and the season is dedicated to the memory of Jean Berkenstock.
A complete 2024 summer brochure can be downloaded at www.midsummersmusic.com.
Tickets are $39 for adults, $19 for students, and children 12 and under are free with an adult. Premium prices apply for special events. Flex Packs of six tickets for the price of five tickets are also available. Order tickets 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.
Jeannie Yu (credit Heidi Hodges): https://midsummersmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Jeannie-Yu-Piano.jpg
Dvořák and Brahms program graphic: https://www.midsummersmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/dvorak-and-brahms-calendar-featured-image.png
High-resolution photos can be downloaded at https://www.midsummersmusic.com/photos/.
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For Calendar Listings:
Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Magic
Phantasie Trio Alice Verne-Bredt
Quartet No. 2 in E-flat Major, K. 493 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sextet in D Major, Op. 110 Felix Mendelssohn
June 15, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
June 16, 5:00 pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
June 18, 7:00 pm: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim
David Perry Leads Mendelssohn Octet—and More!
Octet in C Minor, Op. 15a (1850) Woldemar Bargiel
Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20 Felix Mendelssohn
June 19, 7:00 pm: Björklunden, Baileys Harbor
June 21, 7:00 pm: Sister Bay Moravian Church, Sister Bay
June 23, 5:00 pm: Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor
June 27, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
Dvořák and Brahms
Quintet No. 1 in A Major, Op. 5 Antonín Dvořák
Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34 Johannes Brahms
June 22, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
June 28, 7:00 pm: Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church, Ellison Bay
June 29, 7:00 pm: Wilson/Beck Residence Dinner Concert, Fish Creek
June 30, 5:00 pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
Beethoven, Haydn, and Schumann: Fairy Tales and Ghosts
Märchenerzählungen (Fairy Tales), Op. 132 Robert Schumann
Trio in C Major, Hob. XV:27 Franz Josef Haydn
Trio No. 5 in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1 (“Ghost”) Ludwig van Beethoven
July 5, 7:00 pm: Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church, Ellison Bay
July 6, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
July 7, 5:00 pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
Bastille Day Celebration: Join the party at each concert!
Suite en parties, Op. 91 (1927) Vincent d’Indy
Suite Basque, Op. 6 (1901) Charles Bordes
Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10 Claude Debussy
July 11, 7:00 pm: Music/Wine-paring concert—Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
July 12, 7:00 pm: Sister Bay Moravian Church, Sister Bay
July 13, 7:00 pm: Music/Wine-pairing concert—Björklunden, Baileys Harbor
July 14, 5:00 pm: Music/Wine-pairing concert—Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor
Bach to the Future
Selections from The Musical Offering, BWV 1079 Johann Sebastian Bach
Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140 [Will Healy, arr.] Johann Sebastian Bach
Root Position (MM Commission, 2023/2024) Will Healy
Selections Featuring Will Healy and George Meyer
July 18, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
July 19, 7:00 pm: Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church, Ellison Bay
July 21, 5:00 pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
Grieg Piano Concerto and Jeannie Yu
Crisantemi Giacomo Puccini
Quartet in G Minor, Op. 14 (1860) Emilie Mayer
Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16 [Per Tengstrand, arr.] Edvard Grieg
July 20, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
July 25, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
July 26, 5:00 pm: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim
July 27, 7:00 pm: Muse, Sturgeon Bay
Bruch and Brahms
Quartet in D Major, Op. 11, No. 1 (1795) Adalbert Gyrowetz
Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. Posthumous (1918) Max Bruch
Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111 Johannes Brahms
July 28, 5:00 pm: Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor
August 2, 7:00 pm: Courtney/Reschka Salon Concert with Grand Reception, Sister Bay
August 3, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
August 4, 5:00 pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
Romance and Rapture
Obsidian, rippled, moonlight, gleams (2019) Sakari Dixon Vanderveer
Quintet No. 2 in C Major, Op. 124 Mélanie Bonis
Sextet in C Major, Op. 37 (1935) Ernst von Dohnányi
August 27, 7:00 pm: Birch Creek Music Performance Center, Egg Harbor
August 28, 7:00 pm: Björklunden, Baileys Harbor
August 31, 3:00 pm: The Clearing Folk School, Ellison Bay
Beethoven Septet
Sextet (1898) John Ireland
Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20 Ludwig van Beethoven
August 29, 5:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
August 30, 7:00 pm: Sister Bay Moravian Church, Sister Bay
September 1, 5:00 pm: Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor
David Perry, Jeannie Yu: Chausson Concerto!
Quintet in F Major (1905) Théodore Dubois
Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet, Op. 21 Ernest Chausson
August 25, 5:00 pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
September 2, 3:00 pm: Labor Day Gala, Björklunden, Baileys Harbor
Coffee Talks: Free, engaging, informal lectures on music topics by Midsummer’s Music ensemble members, staff, and friends.
July 11, 1:00pm, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim: Impressionism and Depression: Music and Society in France 1870–1914 with Peter Conroy, PhD
July 19, 1:00pm, Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church, Ellison Bay: J.S. Bach Reimagined: Generations of Transcriptions with Will Healy, Composer-in-Residence