Sundays at Three 2008-09

Traverse City's Milliken Auditorium at the Dennos Museum Center resonates with masterful performances by noted musicians and chamber ensembles.

Milliken Auditorium

Artists and programs subject to change.

Regional artists join forces to perform two of the most beloved works in D Major ever written for string quartet. Felix Mendelssohn composed his Quartet No. 3, Op. 44 for the Crown Prince Gustav of Sweden and Alexander Borodin based his Quartet No. 2, containing the lyrical and popular Nocturne, on those of Mendelssohn in thematic structure and texture.

A rich palette of color and sound comes to life with performers Annie Chalex Boyle, violin, Gabriel Bolkosky violin, David Holland, viola and Debra Fayroian, cello in these beautiful string quartet classics!

Three friends—pianist Anastasia Dedik (Russia), clarinetist Boris Allakhverdyan (Armenia/Russia) and violinist-violist David Bogorad (Denmark)—came together while students at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio to create the Prima Trio. They soon triumphed at the 2007 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, winning the coveted Grand Prize as well as the Gold Medal in the Senior Division.

Their repertoire ranges from beloved standards such as Mozart´s Kegelstatt Trio to exotic gems of Aram Khatchaturian´s soulful Trio for Violin, Clarinet and Piano. The grand finale of their program includes Serenade for Three by American composer Peter Schickele (aka P.D.Q. Bach)—its uproarious, hoedown like finale never fails to draw a “laughing ovation”! Chamber Music North is proud to receive this young and very accomplished ensemble.

One of today’s most dynamic young concert artists, Canadian pianist Winston Choi is acclaimed for bringing a fresh approach and masterful understanding to his performances. Choi performs a program of elegance and beauty including Frédéric Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantasy, Claude Debussy’s Images and Maurice Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit.

Winner of the 2002 Orléans Concours International and Laureate of the 2003 Honens International Piano Competition, Winston Choi has appeared in recital at the National Arts Centre of Canada, the Glenn Gould Studio (Toronto), Carnegie-Weill Recital Hall (New York), Merkin Recital Hall, Kennedy Center (Washington D.C) and the Kravis Center in Florida. Frequently in demand throughout his native Canada, he has been awarded numerous grants from the Canada Council for the Arts.

winstonchoi.com

Praised by the Denver Post for their “electric” performances, the Euclid Quartet is a dynamic ensemble known for performances filled with personality and vibrant color. At appearances ranging from Carnegie Hall to school classrooms to radio and television broadcasts, this quartet has received high acclaim across the country. Recipients of prizes at major competitions around the world, Euclid holds the prestigious Quartet Residency at Indiana University South Bend.

Euclid’s program is classic and stalwart featuring Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 10 in E flat Major "Harp, Franz Schubert’s C Major Quintet and String Quartet No.1 Industrial Night Music by Australian composer Matthew Hindson; a hardy program for the winter time lull.

euclidquartet.net 

The quartet-in-residence of the acclaimed Chicago Chamber Musicians, the Chicago String Quartet is known for passionate performances of daunting masterpieces from the classical, romantic and modern eras. Combining "experience with understated virtuosity" (Chicago Tribune), the CSQ is that rare ensemble that can play as idiomatically and convincingly in one style of music as the next, shifting interpretive gears with an astounding nimbleness and precision.

Hear this remarkable quartet in a diverse program featuring George Crumb’s haunting Black Angels and the profoundly beautiful String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Opus 131 by Ludwig van Beethoven. This work was Beethoven's favorite from his late quartets and goes beyond anything he had previously written. It is said that upon listening to a performance of this quartet, Schubert remarked, “After this, what is left for us to write?”

Members of the Chicago based Prairie Winds team up with area star performers to render one of the most exquisite works written as a tribute of love. Wagner composed Siegfried Idyll as a birthday present to his wife, Cosima, after the birth of their son Siegfried in 1869. It was first performed on the morning of Christmas Eve in 1870 by a small ensemble on the stairs of their villa (Tribschen) in Lucerne, Switzerland; Cosima awoke to its opening melody.

It is this chamber version that Chamber Music North’s musicians play for Milliken audiences. Also included on the program are chamber works for strings and winds.