SALON 1 | SEPTEMBER 24
Lyrical, tender, charming, warm, majestic… These are a just a few words that apply equally to Florence Price’s String Quartet in G Major and Beethoven’s Opus 127 Quartet in E Flat Major. Though separated by a century, each groundbreaking genius overcame adversity to create these two works which express profound humanity and beauty. Beethoven struggled to compose his Op. 127 through illness and complete deafness; Price (perhaps the most notable African American women composers of the early 20th Century) composed her gorgeous G Major Quartet despite enduring systemic racial disadvantages. Through these works, both artists show us a roadmap to beauty, triumph, and our better selves.
Florence PRICE, String Quartet in G Major
BEETHOVEN String Quartet in E-flat Major, op. 127
MUSICIANS
Liana Zaretsky, violin
Julia Cash, violin
Emily Rome, viola
Leo Eguchi, cello
Learn more about
Florence Price
TICKETS
SALON 2 | OCTOBER 8
After playing an enjoyable summer salon together, Lisa Goddard, Colin Davis, Anne Black, and Steven Laven return with a new program. Beethoven's String Quartet Op. 95, known as the "Serioso" quartet, is a compact piece on the cusp of Beethoven's late work, which pushes the boundaries of form and harmony further than ever before. William Grant Still's Lyric Quartette is a musical portrait of three of the composer's friends. Known as the "Dean of Afro-American Composers," Still's accomplishments include over 200 compositions, being the first African American to conduct a major orchestra (the L.A. Philharmonic), and collaborating with prominent literary and cultural figures in the Harlem Renaissance movement. The concert also includes James Lee III's Abraham’s Sons (in Memoriam Trayvon Martin). Intense and dramatic, this piece is dedicated to the family of Trayvon Martin. Mr. Lee musically depicts the scope of suffering and mourning inferred by the title of this elegiac solo piece. From one of Pro Arte's favorite living composers, Jessie Montgomery's Rhapsody No. 1 is the first in a series of virtuosic pieces for various solo instruments, which she premiered herself on violin in 2014.
BEETHOVEN String Quartet in F minor, op. 95 "Quartetto Serioso"
William Grant STILL Lyric Quartette
James LEE Abraham's Sons (In Memoriam: Trayvon Martin)
Jessie MONTGOMERY Rhapsody No. 1
MUSICIANS
Lisa Goddard, violin
Colin Davis, violin
Anne Black, viola
Steve Laven, cello
TICKETS
SALON 3 | OCTOBER 22
Please join the principal winds of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra for a fabulous program of quintet music, all by American composers. We are so excited about this concert! We will travel through a couple of standards, the gorgeous Summer Music by Samuel Barber, the perfectly danceable Partita by Irving Fine, and also visit a couple of pieces that may be less familiar. Umoja, meaning unity, written by one of our top young American composers, Valerie Coleman, and is more timely than ever. We go back in time a bit with an arrangement of Summerland by the formidable and under performed William Grant Still, originally written for solo piano in 1936. And we couldn’t resist throwing in a nod to Paris with some Gershwin just for fun, because who doesn’t need some fun these days? We hope you’ll enjoy the journey as much as we will.
BARBER Summer Music, Op. 31
FINE Partita
Valerie COLEMAN Umoja
STILL Summerland
GERSHWIN An American in Paris
MUSICIANS
Ann Bobo, flute
Nancy Dimock, oboe
Ian Greitzer, clarinet
Ron Haroutunian, bassoon
Robert Marlatt, horn
Learn more about
Valerie Coleman
TICKETS
SALON 4 | NOVEMBER 5
BEETHOVEN@250
PROGRAM:
BEETHOVEN: 7 Variations on
Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen from Mozart’s
Die Zauberflöte Wo046
BEETHOVEN: Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 5 No. 2
BEETHOVEN: Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 4 in C Major, Op. 102 No. 1
MUSICIANS:
Aron Zelkowicz, cello
Max Levinson, piano
TICKETS
As 2020 draws to a close, Pro Arte continues to celebrate Beethoven in honor of the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth. Beethoven's sonatas for cello and piano bookend the span of his artistic journey. The early G Minor Sonata is fiery and expansive yet steeped in the classical world. By contrast, the compact Sonata in C Major reveals the visionary sound world of Beethoven's later years. A charming set of variations based on a duet from Mozart's
The Magic Flute rounds out the program.
Pro Arte cellist Aron Zelkowicz is joined by special guest pianist Max Levinson, a Member Musician of the Boston Chamber Music Society.
SALON 5 | NOVEMBER 19
WALKER Lyric for Strings
BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048
DVORAK String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, op. 77
TICKETS
SALON 6 | DECEMBER 3
An all brass ensemble programming featuring a cornucopia of works including festive favorites alongside Baroque and Renaissance chestnuts.
MUSICIANS:
Dana Russian
Joseph Foley
Robert Marlatt
Hans Bohn
Kenneth Amis
TICKETS
