Fantasy and Fury: Music of the Romantic

Premium Seating Package: $116
Aisle Seating Package: $123 

Raptures and storms, ecstasy and despair, the Romantic era of music captures human emotion like no other.  This collection of concerts showcases composers at the height of their creative powers, offering works that are both deeply personal and universally resonant. The series features Schumann’s Fairy Tale Pictures; Brahms’s radiant String Quintet No. 1; Elgar’s blazing, expansive Piano Quintet, composed in 1918 in the shadow of World War I; and a work for orchestra by Dvorak, who drew on his Czech nationalism and the folk music of  Moravia and Bohemia to create music of profound emotional weight.    

Musical Dialogues: Bach and Beyond

Featuring Jonathan Brown, Viola; Margaret Batjer, Violin; and Tatjana Masurenko, Viola

Sunday, October 12 at 4 pm
Thayer Hall 

This intimate afternoon concert explores the delicate balance of voices found in chamber music. The centerpiece of the program is Bach’s The Art of the Fugue, in which each instrument’s interpretation of the theme is expertly woven together into a kaleidoscopic masterwork. Interspersed between these dazzling dialogues are short pieces exploring Bach’s music through a contemporary lens. The second half of the concert continues the conversation between past and present when Schumann’s imaginative “Fairy Tale Pictures” is paired with György Kurtág’s late 20th century response—a work using the same instrumentation and heavily referencing Schumann’s compositional style. Beethoven’s complex Grosse Fuge closes the performance.   

Program Information
BACH  Art of the Fugue, No. 1
GYÖRGY KURTÁG  Aus der Ferne III
BACH  Art of the Fugue, No. 7
SHULAMIT RAN   Bach-Shards
BACH  Art of the Fugue, No. 10 
GUBAIDULINA  Reflections on the Theme B-A-C-H
BACH  Art of the Fugue, No. 14
FANNY MENDELSSOHN  Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano
SCHUMANN  Märchenbilder (“Fairy Tale Pictures”) for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano
GYÖRGY KURTÁG  Hommage a R. Schumann for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano
BEETHOVEN  Grosse Fuge for String Quartet 

Habsburg Harmonies: Haydn, Ligeti, and Brahms

Featuring Clive Greensmith, Cello; Demarre McGill, Flute; and Martin Beaver, Violin

Sunday, November 23 at 4 pm
Thayer Hall 

Travel across the centuries in this program of vibrant chamber works rooted in the rich Austro-Hungarian musical tradition. First, Haydn’s “Quinten” string quartet masterfully darts from major to minor as each movement transforms and embellishes the central theme. The winds then take center stage for Ligeti’s whimsical Six Bagatelles, a piece saturated with Hungarian folk melodies, before two violins, two violas, and a cello close out the concert with Brahms’s radiant and warm String Quintet No. 1. 

Program Information
HAYDN  String Quartet Op. 76, No. 2
LIGETI  Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet
BRAHMS  String Quintet No. 1 in F Major 

Recovered Voices: Exploring Czech Masterworks

Saturday, March 7 at 7 pm
Zipper Hall

James Conlon, Conductor
RVC Ensemble   

James Conlon, one of today’s most versatile and respected conductors, leads the RVC Ensemble (Recovered Voices at Colburn Ensemble), in a love letter to Bohemian melodies. The program begins with a piece from the godfather of Czech music himself. Dvořák’s serene Nocturne in B Major is a short lyrical work with hypnotic orchestration. The concert then turns to two 20th century Czech composers whose personal and professional relationship often inspired each other’s work. In her tragically short career, Vítězslava Kaprálová wrote nearly 50 compositions brimming with humor, energy, and warmth—one of her most inspired works being the spirited piano concerto on this program. The concert concludes with an orchestral tour de force by Bohuslav Martinů, Kaprálová’s mentor, friend, and lover. 

The Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices is a unique Colburn resource that encourages greater awareness and more frequent performances of music by composers whose careers and lives were tragically cut short by the Nazi regime in Europe. 

Program Information
DVOŘÁK  Nocturne in B Major
KAPRÁLOVÁ  Partita for Piano and Strings
MARTINŮ  Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano, and Timpani 

Quintet Conversations: From Mozart to Modern, with Jeremy Denk, Piano

Featuring Andrew Bain, Horn 

Sunday, April 26 at 4 pm
Thayer Hall 

Jeremy Denk, a MacArthur Genius Grant-winning pianist that “you want to hear no matter what he performs” (New York Times), joins Colburn faculty and students in this program of electric quintets. Opening the concert is Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds, a work that masterfully balances the piano against oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon in what the composer described as “the best thing I have written in my life.” Edward Elgar’s Piano Quintet, composed in 1918 in the shadow of World War I, starts on an eerie tone before modulating towards a brighter, more symphonic end. In between these masterworks is Valerie Coleman’s Tzigane, a “passionate journey through woodwind virtuosity” inspired by Ravel’s similarly named Hungarian rhapsody for violin. 

Program Information
MOZART  Quintet in E-flat Major for Piano and Winds
VALERIE COLEMAN  Tzigane for Wind Quintet
ELGAR  Quintet in A Minor for Piano and String Quartet