February 20, 2011, Sunday - Accordo at Southern Theater (2 nights)

Times:
Sunday, February 20 - 7:00pm
Monday, February 21 - 7:30pm

Location: The Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Avenue South

Named “best new chamber ensemble 2009” by the Star Tribune, Accordo returns for a second season in the Southern’s intimate space.

The ensemble features principal players from the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra, including Steven Copes, Ruggero Allifranchini, Maiya Papach, Ron Thomas and Tony Ross.

Schubert: String Trio in Bb Major, D. 471
Martinu: Duo #1 for Violin and Cello, H. 157
Kodaly: Serenade for Two Violins & Viola, Op. 12
Mendelssohn: Viola Quintet #1 in A Major, Op. 18
with Rebecca Albers, viola & Kyu-Young Kim, violin

Program notes:
Mendelssohn at his finest is represented in his lyrical A Major String Quintet, complete with virtuoso writing for the strings and a scherzo reminiscent of his Midsummer Night's Dream. A short but sweet Schubert String Trio starts the program, and two rarely heard works written in the years after WWI from by Martinu and Kodaly fill out the first half of the program. Kodaly's close colleague and fellow Hungarian Bela Bartok praised his colorful Serenade for Two Violins & Viola of 1920 as "extraordinarily rich in melodies," and his music as "the most perfect embodiment of the Hungarian spirit." Czech composer Martinu's Duo #1 for Violin & Cello, written in Paris in 1927, shows the strong influence of Stravinsky's neoclassical style and Ravel's Duo, written only a few years before.