Our
2022-2023 Concert Schedule
Programs are subject to change
Printable Schedule
(PDF): SJCMS
2022-2023 Brochure
October 15,
2022 (Saturday)
7:00 PM
|
Trio con Brio
Copenhagen (Denmark)
Beethoven,
Prokofiev, & Shostakovich!
“Unforgettable
playing” – BBC Music Magazine
“We can now see
the con Brio as the worthy successors of the legendary Beaux Arts Trio” – Diapason
Program notes for Beethoven Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op.70/No.2
Program notes for Shostakovich Piano Trio No.2 in E Minor, Op.67
|
November 20,
2022 (Sunday)
7:00 PM
|
Ensemble San
Francisco (Bay Area)
Beethoven,
Brahms, Shostakovich, & two new works!
“... a hip,
unstuffy, and malleable group of high-quality chamber musicians”
– SF Classical Voice
“... an amazing
amount of talent!” – Examiner.com
|
January 29,
2023 (Sunday)
7:00 PM
|
Pražák String
Quartet (Prague)
Audience
favorites play Haydn, Schulhoff, & Schubert!
An “engaging”
and “superb foursome” – Chicago Tribune
“Poetic ...
powerful performance” – LA Times
|
February 11,
2023 (Saturday)
7:00 PM
|
Van Kuijk
String Quartet (France) with Sean
Shibe (Scotland)
Mendelssohn,
Boccherini, Adčs, de Falla, Poulenc, & Castelnuovo-Tedesco!
“Style, energy
and a sense of risk. These four young Frenchmen made the music smile.” – The
Guardian
“... the most
interesting voice on the guitar for a generation”
– Gramophone Awards Issue
|
March 11,
2023 (Saturday)
7:00 PM
|
Esmé String
Quartet (South Korea, based in Germany)
Wigmore Hall
winners play beloved Borodin & Tchaikovsky Quartets!
They “play with
depth and maturity ...” – Suddeutsche Zeitung
“lyricism and
airy limpidity, ... profoundity and unexpected allure. 5 stars.”
– Diapason
|
April 23,
2023 (Sunday)
7:00 PM
|
Delphi Piano
Trio (Bay Area) – “Music, She Wrote”
Fanny
Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann, Lili Boulanger, Gabriela Frank
“spot-on ensemble
playing and a beautifully-blended sound” – SF Classical
Voice
“Rich committed
string tone, dazzling pianism, rhythmic flexibility”
– Sarasota Herald Tribune
|
Concerts
are held at St. Francis Episcopal Church, in the Willow Glen
area of San Jose, 1205 Pine Avenue at the corner of Newport Avenue.
No pre-concert talks will be provided for this season.
October 15, 2022 Trio con Brio
Copenhagen
PROGRAM
- BEETHOVEN
Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op.70/No.2 (1808)
- PROKOFIEV
Suite from 10 Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Op.75 (1937), arr. by Trio
con Brio Copenhagen
- SHOSTAKOVICH
Piano Trio No.2 in E Minor, Op.67 (1944)
MUSIC
Beethoven’s Trio is “relaxed,
even-keeled, benificent,...” and freshly expressive.
As
Prokofiev sought, his
ballet
score tells Shakespeare’s love story in music “immediately appealing
yet sounding like nothing written before.”
Shostakovich’s 1944 Trio is a
haunting elegy to the loss of a close friend and is his lament for the
victims of the Holocaust, news of which deeply affected
Shostakovich.
ARTISTS
Trio con Brio Copenhagen (combining two sisters, and a cellist- pianist
marriage) are in great demand as worldwide touring artists. Formed in
1999, and soon winning piano trio competitions, the Trio is now
acknowledged one of the finest in the world. Their Shostakovich &
Arensky CD won the 2022 German Record Critic’s Award. “Unforgettable
playing.” (BBC Music magazine). “We can now see the con Brio as the
worthy successors of the legendary Beaux Arts Trio.” (Diapason)
November 20, 2022 Ensemble San Francisco
PROGRAM
- Solbong KIM
From the Sixth Hour for Piano Quartet (2005)
- BEETHOVEN
Sonata for cello & piano No.4 in C Minor, Op.102/No.1 (1815)
- SHOSTAKOVICH
Five Pieces for Two Violins and Piano (arr. 1970 by Lev Atovmyan)
- Polina NAZAYKINSKAYA
Songs for Tasya (2021)
- BRAHMS
Piano Quartet No.1 in G Minor, Op.25, Gypsy Rondo (1861)
MUSIC
Kim “speaks a musical language
that is modern yet non- doctrinal.” (The Korea Times).
Beethoven’s “late” Op.102/No.1,
subtitled “Free Sonata,” is fantasy-like.
Shostakovich’s Five Pieces—
Prelude, Gavotte, Elegy, Waltz, Polka—are delightful.
Nazaykinskaya’s Songs for Tasya
is a dark lullaby and an anthem of courage.
Brahms’ marvelous and expansive
quartet thrills with its wild “Gypsy Style” ending.
ARTISTS
Top Bay Area musicians founded Ensemble San Francisco in 2013 to
perform on main stages—and for children, youth and elders. Ensemble San
Francisco, with its core four and guests, is “a hip, unstuffy, and
malleable group of high-quality chamber musicians” raves the SF
Classical Voice, with an “amazing amount of talent!” (examiner.com).
January 29, 2023 Pražák String
Quartet
PROGRAM
- HAYDN
String Quartet in G Major, Op.77, No.1 (1799)
- Erwin SCHULHOFF
“Five Pieces for String Quartet” (1924)
- SCHUBERT
String Quartet in D Minor, D.810, (1824), “Death and the Maiden”
MUSIC
Haydn’s Op.77 final complete
quartets masterfully blend thematic, chordal and contrapuntal
part-writing with new heights of expressiveness, and sophisticated use
of folk melodies.
Czech Erwin
Schullhoff’s Five
Pieces are a suite of dances: Viennese Waltz, Serenade, Czech folk
music, Tango, and Tarantella.
Schubert’s lyrical, dramatic
Quartet No.14 draws on his song “Der Tod und das Mädchen” (1817).
ARTISTS
Welcome the Praˇzák’s fifth appearance here—an audience favorite
ensemble now renewed by two new Czech members. Since its founding in
1972 at Prague Conservatory, the Praˇzák’s acclaimed musicianship has
brought to world attention the unique Czech string quartet tradition.
The “engaging” and “superb foursome” (Chicago Tribune) has toured
worldwide for 30+ years, and released 50+ award-winning CDs on Praga/
Harmonia Mundi. “Poetic...powerful performance” (LA Times).
February 11, 2023 Van Kuijk
String Quartet with Sean
Shibe
PROGRAM
- MENDELSSOHN
String Quartet in F Minor, Op.80 (1847)
- BOCCHERINI
Guitar Quintet No.4 in D Major, G.448 (1798), “Fandango”
- ADČS
Habanera (2015) (guitar solo)
- de FALLA
Homenaje: Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy (1921) (guitar solo)
- POULENC
Sarabande (guitar solo)
- CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO
Guitar Quintet, Op.143 (1950)
MUSIC
Mendelssohn’s impassioned
Quartet is his emotional elegy for his sister Fanny’s death.
Boccherini’s “Fandango” Quintet
closes with the lively Spanish dance!
Shibe’s solos are gems: a dance from an
Adčs opera;
de Falla’s tribute to Debussy;
Poulenc’s hauntingly beautiful
Sarabande.
Meeting Segovia inspired
Castelnuovo-Tedesco
to write nearly 100 works for guitar.
ARTISTS
Van Kuijk’s international accolades include 2015 Wigmore Hall
Competition 1st prize-winners and European Concert Hall Rising Stars.
“Style, energy and a sense of risk. These four young Frenchmen made the
music smile.” (The Guardian).
Grammy-winning Scottish guitarist Sean Shibe performs worldwide:
UK/Europe, China, USA. “the most interesting voice on the guitar for a
generation” (Gramophone Awards Issue).
March 11, 2023 Esmé String Quartet
PROGRAM
- BORODIN
Quartet No.2 in D Major (1881)
- György LIGETI
Quartet No.1, “Métamorphoses nocturnes” (1953-54)
- TCHAIKOVSKY
Quartet No.1 in D Major, Op.11 (1871)
MUSIC
Borodin’s 2nd Quartet, composed
as an anniversary love letter to his wife, is full of deservedly loved
music.
Ligeti’s Quartet, with Bartók-
inspired tone and rhythms, in 12 short segments interestingly
transforms its major 2nd intervals.
Tchaikovsky’s folk-flavored 1st
Quartet, the first great Russian string quartet before Borodin, is
famed for its poignant, beloved Andante cantabile 2nd mvmt.
ARTISTS
The Esmé Quartet, since winning first and four special prizes at the
2018 prestigious Wigmore Hall Competition (London), is touring to
international acclaim. Based in Germany, the group was formed in 2016
at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne by four South Koreans who have
long been friends. “(They) play with depth and maturity...”
(Suddeutsche Zeitung). “lyricism and airy limpidity,...profoundity and
unexpected allure.” 5 stars. (Diapason).
April 23, 2023 Delphi Piano Trio
PROGRAM
- Lili BOULANGER D’un matin de printemps
[Of a spring morning] (1917)
- Clara Wieck
SCHUMANN Piano Trio in G
Minor, Op.17 (1846)
- Gabriela Lena
FRANK Four Folk Songs for
Piano Trio (2012)
- Fanny HENSEL (née Mendelssohn) Piano Trio
in D Minor, Op.11 (1846)
MUSIC
Celebrate music by women!
Revelatory music by two well-known musicians of the Romantic era,
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Felix’s
talented sister, and
Clara Wieck
Schumann, known as ‘Queen of the Piano.’
Lili Boulanger’s masterful tone
poem has expressive depth.
Contemporary California composer
Gabriela
Lena Frank’s lively and colorful Folk Songs draw inspiration
from her mother’s homeland, Peru.
ARTISTS
Praised for “spot-on ensemble playing and a beautifully-blended sound”
(SF Classical Voice), the Delphi Trio of Bay Area stars has performed
widely in Europe, Canada, and the U.S., and has become a powerfully
eloquent voice. Their debut album, Triptych, won Gramophone’s praise,
and their world premieres are acclaimed. “Rich committed string tone,
dazzling pianism, rhythmic flexibility” (Sarasota Herald Tribune).