Beginning Saturday, July 13, and running through Thursday, July 25, Midsummer’s Music presents six concerts celebrating the works of three Czech composers. The pieces include Trio in D Minor, Op. 27, “Quasi una balata” by Vítězslav Novák, Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 27, by František Škroup, and Trio in F Minor, Op. 65, by Antonín Dvořák performed by Midsummer’s Music artists JJ Koh, clarinet, David Perry, violin, Walter Preucil, cello, and Alyona A. Waldo, piano.
Novák, once hailed by eminent Czech conductor Václav Talich as “the greatest landscape painter of Czech music,” wrote his trio in 1902, at a time when he was seriously experimenting with more progressive compositional techniques beyond the realm of harmony. There is certainly enough turmoil and conflict to make this piece a musical depiction of Novák’s struggle between musical styles as he matured as a composer. Škroup dedicated his Trio in E-flat Major, which is stylistically reminiscent of Beethoven’s chamber music, to his associate, the pianist and composer Sigismund Goldschmidt. Of any Czech composer, Dvořák enjoyed the most successful and enduring international reputation. Composed in 1883, Dvořák’s F Minor Trio bears several striking similarities to the Novák trio, and both can be considered self-reflective works at points of crisis in the composers’ lives.
Following is the Czech and Triple Czech concert schedule:
Sunday, July 13, 7:30pm, Björklunden
Thursday, July 18, 7:00pm, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
Friday, July 19, 7:00pm, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Saturday, July 20, 7:00pm, Hope United Church of Christ
Sunday, July 21, 3:00pm, Kress Pavilion
Thursday, July 25, 7:00pm, Salon Concert in a Sister Bay private residence
From Wednesday, July 10, through Wednesday, July 17, Midsummer’s Music presents the Prescient Youth series of concerts featuring breathtaking works from young composers and child prodigies. The pieces to be performed are Felix Mendelssohn’s Quintet in A Major, Op. 18, written in 1826, when Mendelssohn was just 17 years old, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Quintet in F Sharp Minor, Op. 10, written in 1895 when the composer was 20, and the world premiere of Quintet for Winds by Midsummer’s own Composer-in-Residence, 21-year-old Jacob Beranek. Featured Midsummer’s Music musicians include Heather Zinninger Yarmel, flute, JJ Koh, clarinet, Margaret Butler, oboe, Nathan Hale, bassoon, Fritz Foss, horn, David Perry, violin, Vinicius Sant’Ana, violin, Stephanie Preucil, violin/viola, Allyson Fleck, viola, and Walter Preucil, cello.
Following is the Prescient Youth concert schedule:
Wednesday, July 10, 7:00pm, Woodwalk Gallery, with an optional 5:00pm pre-concert picnic
Thursday, July 11, 7:00pm, Salon Concert in a Sister Bay private residence
Friday, July 12, 7:00pm, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Sunday, July 14, 3:00pm, Kress Pavilion, with an optional post-concert wine pairing at Fireside Restaurant
Wednesday, July 17, 7:00pm, Salon Concert in a Fish Creek private residence
Tickets are $29 for adults, $10 for students, and children 12 and under are free. Premium prices apply for salon/home concerts, dinner concerts and other special events. Subscriptions consisting of four concert tickets and flex-packs of six or eight tickets are available. Tickets, subscriptions and flex-packs can be ordered online at midsummersmusic.com or by phone at 920-854-7088 for this series or the rest of the season which continues through September 2.
Midsummer’s Music draws on the extraordinary talent of musicians from the Chicago Symphony, Chicago’s Lyric Opera, Milwaukee Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Aspen Music Festival, China National Symphony and the Ravinia Festival, among others.
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.