Wisconsin’s famed string quartet to perform all-Beethoven program
Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “one of the greatest quartets of our time,” the Pro Arte Quartet will perform Sunday, September 15 at 3:00pm at the Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor in a concert presented by Midsummer’s Music Ltd. Comprised of internationally acclaimed musicians, David Perry and Suzanne Beia, violins, Sally Chisholm, viola, and Parry Karp, violincello, the quartet will perform an all-Beethoven program including the Quartet in G Major, Op. 18, No. 2, Quartet in F Minor, Op. 95, “Serioso,” and Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 130. Adult tickets are $29, students $10, children 12 are under free, and include a post-concert reception. Tickets can be ordered online at www.midsummersmusic.com or by phone at 920-854-7088.
The Pro Arte Quartet is believed to be the world’s oldest continuously performing string quartet and the first quartet to enjoy university ensemble-in-residence status. Founded in 1912, the Pro Arte Quartet served as the court quartet to Queen Elizabeth of Belgium. The Quartet was performing at the Wisconsin Union Theatre on the University of Wisconsin campus on May 10, 1940, when Belgium was overrun and occupied by Nazi forces, turning three of its original four musicians into war orphans. By October of that year, the group had officially become the UW Pro Arte Quartet.
In reviewing the Quartet’s Weill Recital Hall concert, the New York Times said they “were struck by the group’s sound: Perry, effusive and bright; Karp, magnanimous and rich; Beia and Chisholm, blending warming between them.” Violinist David Perry and violist Sally Chisholm are also long-standing members of Midsummer’s Music.
Says Midsummer’s Music President and co-founder Jim Berkenstock, “The Pro Arte musicians are masterful, energetic performers who exemplify both warmth and precision through their impressive skills. Listeners can become thoroughly engrossed in the ensemble’s beautiful, intense and passionate music.”
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. This event marks the tenth concert Midsummer’s Music has hosted at the Kress Pavillion in 2019 using the exceptional space on Church Street.
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.