Johannes Brahms left a big shadow for composers who followed. We can see a wonderful example in the Clarinet Quintet by Somervell that shares our next program with the Brahms String Quintet in F Major. But Brahms was also operating in a complicated penumbra himself. Born in 1833, he was… [Read More]

Virtuoso guitarist and Door County favorite Eric Lewis teams up with Midsummer’s Composer-in-Residence Will Healy to present two incredible concerts with four world premieres. Midsummer’s Music, Wisconsin’s oldest summer chamber music series, continues its 2023 concert season with an electrifying program starring Door County favorite Eric Lewis, a virtuoso guitarist… [Read More]

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was born 150 years ago. We are celebrating this anniversary by playing one of his few chamber music works, Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 9, which contains the inscription, “In Memory of a Great Artist.” The “Great Artist” was his friend and mentor,… [Read More]

Pairing well known composers with more obscure composers, composers of color, and women composers is a Midsummer’s Music hallmark. Midsummer’s Music is a leader among chamber music organizations in presenting works by lesser-known composers – especially composers of color and women composers – often alongside household names like Beethoven and… [Read More]

“Too long denied sufficient hearings, these three women present contrasting styles and convincingly moving musical statements, full of power and élan, demanding that they be heard.” A coveted text in any musicologist’s library is the Cobbett Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music. Thanks to MM artistic director Jim Berkenstock, I own… [Read More]