Summer Evenings II
Sat, July 13, 2024, 5:00 pm
Alice Tully Hall
2 hours, including intermission
CMS’s summer tradition returns. Get this year’s hottest ticket, featuring beloved chamber works in the cool atmosphere of Alice Tully Hall. Stay after the performance and get to know the artists in the lobby with a complimentary glass of wine.
Program
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756–1791)Quartet in B-flat major for Strings, K. 458, “Hunt”
(1784)Quick Note
Mozart's "Hunt" Quartet earned its title due to a delightful anecdote suggesting that its opening theme was inspired by a hunting horn call.
Listen for the playful interplay between the instruments, resembling the excitement and energy of a hunting expedition, especially in the hunting horn-inspired motifs in the first movement.
Felix Mendelssohn
(1809–1847)Quartet in E-flat major for Strings, Op. 12
(1829)Quick Note
In this quartet, composed when Mendelssohn was just 20 years old, the influence of Beethoven is evident, yet his distinctive voice shines through.
Listen for Mendelssohn's melodic brilliance, emotional depth, and virtuosic interplay throughout the quartet, from the lyrical themes of the opening movement to the lively scherzo, tender slow movement, and exhilarating finale.
Johannes Brahms
(1833–1897)Quintet in F minor for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 34
(1864)Quick Note
Anna Geniushene
Escher String Quartet
Anna Geniushene’s fresh, layered, and powerful interpretations defined her participation at the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition—and won her the coveted silver medal and the adoration of fans around the globe. Critics praised her “powerhouse sound, forceful musical personality, and sheer virtuosity” (Musical America) and likened her performance to “Cliburn at his best” (Gramophone). Born in Moscow on New Year’s Day in 1991, Anna made her recital debut just seven years later in the small hall of the Berlin Philharmonic. She has since developed a versatile career, with performances in major world venues such as the Town Hall in Leeds, National Concert Hall in Dublin, Museum of Arts in Tel Aviv, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, and Sala Greppi in Bergamo. A dedicated chamber musician, she has performed piano duo repertoire with her husband, Lukas Geniušas, and has collaborated with the Quartetto di Cremona. The 2024 season features her debut in Washington, DC, and multiple engagement across the United States; an Asian tour including solo recitals in Singapore, China, and Taiwan; the season opening in Florence with Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto under Gabor Takacs-Nagy; her debut at the Vienna Konzerthaus; and the beginning of her tenure in CMS’s Bowers Program.
The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. A former BBC New Generation Artist and recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its hometown of New York, the ensemble appears frequently with CMS.
Highlights of the 2024–25 season find the Quartet performing in many of the great venues and organizations in the United States, including Alice Tully Hall, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Shriver Hall Concert Series, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, University Musical Society at University of Michigan, Spivey Hall, and Chamber Music Houston. In addition to their North American engagements, the Quartet returns to Wigmore Hall for a BBC live broadcast recital as well as other engagements in Germany and continental Europe.
The Quartet has made a distinctive impression throughout Europe, with recent debuts including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, London’s Kings Place, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall, Les Grands Interprètes Geneva, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and Auditorium du Louvre. The group has appeared at festivals such as the Heidelberg Spring Festival, Budapest’s Franz Liszt Academy, Dublin’s Great Music in Irish Houses, the Risør Chamber Music Festival in Norway, the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, and the Perth International Arts Festival in Australia. The Quartet continues to flourish in its home country, performing at the Aspen Music Festival, Bravo! Vail, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Bowdoin Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, OKM Festival, Chamber Music San Francisco, Music@Menlo, and the Ravinia and Caramoor festivals.
Beyond the concert hall, the Quartet is proud to announce the creation of a new nonprofit entity, ESQYRE (Escher String Quartet Youth Residency Education). ESQYRE’s mission is to provide a comprehensive educational program through music performance and instruction for people of all ages. The quartet has also held faculty positions at Southern Methodist University and the University of Akron.
Within months of its inception in 2005, the ensemble came to the attention of key musical figures worldwide. Championed by the Emerson String Quartet, the Escher quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be Quartet in Residence at each artist’s summer festival.
The Escher String Quartet takes its name from the Dutch graphic artist M. C. Escher, inspired by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole.