The Griffon String Quartet’s popular free “Gather with the Griffon” miniconcert series returns to Door County, WI, starting October 22. Designed for midday audiences, the programs engage the mind and spirit through music and conversation.
The one-hour Gather with the Griffon miniconcert starts at 1:00pm at MUSE, a community music school and performance venue in Sturgeon Bay. According to the Muse website, “MUSE is a hub—a central location—where those with different musical interests, abilities and skills can meet, learn from one another, inspire each other, and further the already incredible musical community that exists in Door County.”
The October 22 concert features selections from Austrian composer Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 74, No. 3 “Rider,” contemporary American composer Caroline Shaw’s Ritornello, and Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera’s String Quartet No. 1. The musicians are Roy Meyer and Alex Norris, violins, Oryann Tsaig, viola, and Jesse Nummelin, cello.
Programs are funded in part by grants from the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation, the Wisconsin Arts Board, and Little Eddie Big Cup (Door County Community Foundation).
One of the most vibrant and engaging quartets of its generation, the Griffon String Quartet was formed in the fall of 2018 as a collaboration led by Midsummer’s Music. GSQ enriches the lives of children and adults throughout northeast Wisconsin through concerts, workshops, and music education outreach. The extraordinary musicians, who have performed with orchestras and ensembles around the globe, 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 they have 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.
A high-resolution Griffon String Quartet photo can be downloaded here.
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For calendar listings:
Autumn Music Fest
Haydn and Ginastera’s Haunted Ride
Griffon String Quartet
String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 74, No. 3 “Rider” • Joseph Haydn
Ritornello • Caroline Shaw
String Quartet No. 1 • Alberto Ginastera
October 12, 7:00pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
October 13, 3:00pm: Muse, Sturgeon Bay
Autumn Music Fest
Brahms and Beethoven
David Perry, violin, and Jeannie Yu, Piano
Violin Sonata in G Major, No. 1 • Johannes Brahms
Midsummer Moon • Rebecca Clarke
Piano Sonata No. 20 in G Major, Op. 49, No. 2 • Ludwig van Beethoven
October 19, 7:00pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
October 20, 3:00pm: Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
Gather with the Griffon
“Gather with the Griffon” miniconcerts are designed for midday audiences. B Double Sharp programs engage the mind and spirit through music and conversation.
Program: Selections from the Griffon’s October concerts
Roy Meyer and Alex Norris, Violins, Oyrann Tsaig, Viola,Jesse Nummelin, Cello
October 17, 12:00pm: First Presbyterian Church, Green Bay
October 22, 1:00pm: MUSE, Sturgeon Bay
Griffon String Quartet Concert
String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 74, No. 3 “Rider” • Joseph Haydn
Ritornello • Caroline Shaw
String Quartet No. 1 • Alberto Ginastera
October 26, 7:00pm: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Green Bay
Early to Moderate Stages of Dementia
Griffon String Quartet
Midsummer’s Music and Third Avenue PlayWorks in Sturgeon Bay will host Clara Takarabe, violist and clinical music researcher with the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, for a series of clinical music performances and talks throughout Door County. The Musical Museum is a dementia-informed life-enrichment program featuring musical performances by Takarabe and the Griffon String Quartet intertwined with commentary and discussion around sound, music and poetry. The program takes care to acknowledge intellectual and social needs of this stage of life.
November 13, 2:00pm: Third Avenue PlayWorks, Sturgeon Bay
November 14, 2:00pm: Peninsula School of Art, Fish Creek
Gather with the Griffon
“Gather with the Griffon” miniconcerts are designed for midday audiences. B Double Sharp programs engage the mind and spirit through music and conversation.
Program: Selections from the Griffon’s repertoire
Roy Meyer and Alex Norris, Violins, Oyrann Tsaig, Viola,Jesse Nummelin, Cello
October 21, 12:00pm: First Presbyterian Church, Green Bay
December 10, 1:00pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
Griffon String Quartet Holiday Concerts
A selection of holiday favorites
String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor • Ralph Vaughan-Williams
String Quartet Op. 131, No. 14 in C-sharp Minor • Ludwig van Beethoven
Enjoy light seasonal refreshments at the post-concert reception.
Roy Meyer & Alex Norris, violins, Oryann Tsaig, viola, Jesse Nummelin, cello
December 12, 6:30pm: Belgian Heritage Center, Brussels
December 13: 5:00pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Ba
December 14: 3:00pm: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Green Bay
December 15: 3:00pm: Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor