Tuesdays @ 8 to Focus on Haydn
http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/062309tuesdays_8_to_focus_on_haydn/
By Tim Dougherty
Concerts will continue to offer an expansive take on chamber music
The Music Academy of the West will commemorate the 200th anniversary of Franz Joseph Haydn’s death by presenting one of his brilliant piano trios at each of the Academy’s six Tuesdays @ 8 concerts this summer. The storied Tuesdays @ 8 chamber music series features performances by Academy Fellows, faculty and guest artists. Series concerts take place at 8 p.m. on Tuesdays at the Lobero Theatre.
A pioneering force in 18th century music, Haydn was extraordinarily prolific and imaginative, composing more than 100 symphonies, 60 string quartets and 30 piano trios (the three musical forms most transformed by his gifts), as well as operas, church music and more. According to Richard Feit, vice president for artistic programs and operations at the Music Academy, the piano trios featured this summer account for a relatively rare – and especially delightful – corner of the Haydn canon.
“These seldom-heard little gems are in effect mini piano concerti, with the violin and cello in supporting roles,” he said. “In contemporary terms, the violin and cello serve to provide upper- and lower-register accents, respectively, almost like a tweeter and a woofer in a speaker system, leaving the piano to give full expression to Haydn’s harmonic and melodic genius. These are not to be missed.”
As in previous years, the 2009 Tuesdays @ 8 series will challenge traditional conceptions of chamber music by highlighting the venerable genre’s vast – and often overlooked – compositional range. Series highlights this season, for instance, will include works by such composers as Jean Françaix, György Ligeti, Frank Bridge, Henri Dutilleux, Tom Johnson and Dave Hollinden. The series also will include pieces by Witold Lutosławski, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Leos Janáček, Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, and Jacques Ibert.
Chamber music traditionalists also will be well served, as the 2009 Tuesdays @8 series will include compositions by the likes of Mendelssohn, Smetana, Brahms, Strauss, and Beethoven in addition to Haydn. In fact, The Academy also will commemorate the 200th anniversary of Mendelssohn’s birth with performances of his works on July 14 and 21. Guest performers this season will include the famed Takács Quartet on July 28, whose members will be in residence at the Music Academy during the summer.
The series will kick off June 30, with a program featuring Françaix’s “Wind Quintet No. 1,” Ligeti’s “Five Pieces for Piano Four Hands,” Haydn’s “Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello in D Minor, Hob. XV:23,” Bridge’s “Phantasie Quartet for Piano and Strings in F-sharp Minor, H. 94” and Strauss’ “Sonata for Violin and Piano in E-flat Major, op. 18.” Other Tuesday @ 8 concerts include:
July 7
» Prokofiev “Sonata for Cello and Piano in C Major, op. 119”
» Bartók “Contrasts”
» Shostakovich/Reynolds “String Quartet No. 12 in D-flat Major, op. 133, arranged”
» Haydn “Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello in C Minor, Hob. XV:13”
July 14
»Henri Dutilleux “Sarabande et Cortège”
»Janáček “Capriccio”
»Haydn “Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello in F-sharp Minor, Hob. XV:26”
»Paul Hindemith “Kleine Kammermusik, op. 24 no. 2”
»Mendelssohn “Sextet for Piano and Strings in D Major, op. 110”
July 21
»Villa-Lobos “Bachianas brasileiras, No. 6”
»Stravinsky “L’histoire du soldat”
»Haydn “Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello in G Minor, Hob. XV:19”
»Mendelssohn “Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello No. 2 in C Minor, op. 66”
July 28
Tom Johnson “Failing: A Very Difficult Piece for String Bass”
Lutoslawski “Dance Preludes”
Hollinden ” Platinum”
Haydn “Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello in E Major, Hob. XV:28”
Brahms “String Sextet in B-flat Major, op. 18”
August 11
Ibert/Opland “Quatre Chansons de Don Quichotte”
Beethoven “Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat Major, op. 16”
Haydn “Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello in G Major, Hob. XV:25”
Smetana “Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello in G Minor, op. 15”
Patrons can purchase a discounted series pass, which includes a single ticket to each Tuesdays @ 8 recital, for $168. Individual tickets cost $33. Patrons age 40 and younger can purchase tickets on the day of each recital for just $15, pending availability. Children age 12 and younger will be admitted free.
The Lobero Theatre is located at 33 East Canon Perdido Street in Santa Barbara. The series is generously supported by a gift from Manchester Capital Management.
Click here or call 805.969.8787 for tickets and more information.
— Tim Dougherty is the communications manager for the Music Academy of the West.
http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/062309tuesdays_8_to_focus_on_haydn/