Smetana's Quartet No. 1 in E minor for Strings, "From My Life"
Wed, Feb 28, 2024, 6:30 pm
Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio at CMS
1 hour, 15 minutes, no intermission
Just as Beethoven proclaimed that he would confront his deafness in his art, and did so in several works, Smetana graphically depicted the tinnitus, "that fateful whistling of the highest tones in my ear, which in 1874 was announcing my deafness”, in the finale of this autobiographical quartet.
This Inside Chamber Music lecture features a work from Winter Festival: Schumann Quartet on March 3, 2024.
Each lecture is supported by live performance excerpts from the featured work.
Program
Bedřich Smetana
(1824–1884)Quartet No. 1 in E minor for Strings, “From My Life”
(1876)
Bruce Adolphe
Viano Quartet
Resident lecturer and director of family concerts for CMS since 1992, Bruce Adolphe is a composer of international renown, much of whose output addresses science, history, and the struggle for human rights.
Resident lecturer and director of family concerts for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1992, Bruce Adolphe is a composer of international renown, much of whose output addresses science, history, and the struggle for human rights. His works are frequently performed by major artists, including Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Fabio Luisi, Joshua Bell, Daniel Hope, Angel Blue, the Brentano String Quartet, the Washington National Opera, the Metropolitan Opera Guild, the Human Rights Orchestra of Europe, and over 60 orchestras worldwide. Among his most performed works are the violin concerto I Will Not Remain Silent, the violin/piano duo Einstein’s Light, and Tyrannosaurus Sue: A Cretaceous Concerto.
Praised for their “virtuosity, visceral expression, and rare unity of intention” (Boston Globe), the Viano Quartet are one of the most sought-after performing young ensembles today and will join CMS’s Bowers Program from 2024 to 2027. Since winning first prize at the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition, they have traveled across the globe, captivating audiences in New York, London, Berlin, Vancouver, Paris, Beijing, Toronto, Lucerne, Los Angeles, and many other cities.
The quartet was named the inaugural June Goldsmith Quartet-in-Residence for the Music in the Morning series in Vancouver until 2025, where their focus will be to commission new works and lead extensive community engagement initiatives. The quartet has also held residencies at the Curtis Institute, Colburn Conservatory, Northern Michigan University, and Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University.
Summer 2023 brings re-invitations to Chamber Music Northwest, the Bravo!Vail Festival and BISQFest, along with appearances at the Intimacy of Creativity Festival in Hong Kong, Ottawa Chamberfest, Minnesota Beethoven Festival, and others. During the 2023–24 season the quartet can be heard in Canada and around the US.