The final weekend of Midsummer’s inaugural Autumn Music Fest features the Griffon String Quartet exploring Maurice Ravel’s creative harmonies and hues in two free concerts.
The final weekend of Midsummer Music’s inaugural Autumn Music Fest features the Griffon String Quartet in two free concerts exploring the creative harmonies and hues of legendary French composer Maurice Ravel, while also presenting one of the greatest string quartets by illustrious Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and an evocative 20th century piece by English composer Dame Elizabeth Maconchy.
Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major was completed in 1903 when the composer was 28 years old. He intentionally abandoned the French impressionist style for a return to classical standards, which accounts for critics of the time being divided on the piece’s merits. Nevertheless, by 1914 the work was so well established that it became a standard in chamber music repertoire.
Mozart’s String Quartet No. 15 in D Minor is the second of six quartets that he dedicated to Joseph Haydn, which are considered his greatest works in the quartet genre and the greatest quartets to have been composed until that time. This piece is unique among the six in that it is the only one in a minor key – written when minor keys were used sparingly due to perceived musical intensity – and this is truly one of Mozart’s most intense pieces.
String Quartet No. 3 by Maconchy was composed in 1938 at the age of 30. Its five moments can be performed in approximately 11 minutes. The stirring first movement is a rare reminder that she studied under the great Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose works Midsummer’s performs occasionally during its annual summer concert series.
The concerts are at 7:00pm, October 14, at Hope United Church of Christ in Sturgeon Bay and 3:00pm, October 15, at the Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor. Donations to support the mission of the Griffon String Quartet will be accepted at the door or online for both concerts. Free tickets can be reserved at midsummersmusic.com or by phone at 920-854-7088.
The Griffon String Quartet musicians are violinists Roy Meyer and Alex Norris, violist Madlen Breckbill, and cellist Jesse Nummelin.
The complete Autumn Music Fest calendar can be viewed at midsummersmusic.com.
Autumn Music Fest – running September 30 through October 15 – features six concerts with world-class musicians, drawing on the extraordinary talent of artists from the Chicago Symphony, Madison Symphony Orchestra, New Mexico Philharmonic, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, China National Symphony, the Apollo Music Festival, and the Ravinia Festival, among others. Additional concerts in the series include performances by Wisconsin’s renowned Pro Arte Quartet and Midsummer Music’s professional ensemble in residence, the Griffon String Quartet, at venues in Egg Harbor, Sturgeon Bay, and Green Bay.
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.
High-resolution photos can be downloaded at https://www.midsummersmusic.com/photos/.
Griffon String Quartet: https://www.midsummersmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/october-griffon-cmyk.jpg
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For calendar listings:
Autumn Music Fest, September 30 to October 15
The Lovers
Lindsay Flowers, Oboe; JJ Koh, Clarinet; Garret Ross, Piano
Trio in G Minor by Paul Gilson
Oboe Concerto No. 2 by Frigyes Hidas
Clarinet Sonata No. 2, Op. 120 by Johannes Brahms
The Lovers by Eun-Chul Oh
September 30, 7:00pm: Opening Night Gala, Salon Concert Trenchard Residence, Sister Bay
October 1, 4:00pm: Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
American
Pro Arte Quartet
String Quartet No. 22 in B-flat Major, K. 589 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 110 by Dmitri Shostakovich
String Quartet No. 12, Op. 96, “American” by Antonín Dvořák
October 7, 7:00pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
Mendelssohn Octet
Pro Arte Quartet/Griffon String Quartet
Mendelssohn Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20
String Quartet No. 22 in B-flat Major, K. 589 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 110 by Dmitri Shostakovich
October 8, 3:00pm: Tarlton Theater, Green Bay
Ravel Revealed: Harmonies & Hues
Griffon String Quartet
String Quartet D Minor, No. 15, K. 421 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
String Quartet No. 3 by Elizabeth Maconchy
String Quartet in F Major by Maurice Ravel
October 14, 7:00pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
October 15, 3:00pm: Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor