Season 9
2023/2024
Intimate Letters concludes our 9th season with two landmark quartets from the 19th and 20th centuries. Janacek's "Intimate Letters" is a portrait of passionate, unreciprocated love, seen through the hundreds of letters the composer exchanged with a much younger, married woman. The torment of love is an ever-present theme in Schubert's music, especially in his lieder, which open the program. We conclude our season with his stunning and expansive Quartet in G Major, Schubert’s last string quartet.
Eugene – May 5 @ 3 pm (also virtual)
Eugene – May 7 @ 7:30 pm (also virtual)
Corvallis – May 10 @ 7:30 pm
Portland – May 11 @ 7:30 pm
Salem – May 12 @ 3 pm
Dreams and Prayers opens our 9th season with a piece written for Delgani, a gift from Iranian composer Reza Vali, who bases his musical "calligraphies" on classical Persian modes. Smetana's autobiographic "From My Life" depicts the hopes and dreams of a young composer and the subsequent loves and losses of his life. On the second half, clarinetist Wonkak Kim joins Delgani for Osvaldo Golijov's The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, a mystical epic inspired by Jewish music, history, and language.
Eugene – October 22 @ 3 pm (also virtual)
Eugene – October 24 @ 7:30 pm (also virtual)
Corvallis – October 27 @ 7:30 pm
Portland – October 28 @ 7:30 pm
Salem – October 29 @ 3 pm
Blueprints explores connections between composers across hundreds of years and the remarkable music that is born from inspiration. The sixth quartet of Beethoven's first set (Op. 18) culminates in "La Malinconia," and the ensuing struggle between despair and joy inspires Caroline Shaw's 2016 Blueprint. Another pairing of works completes the program - Britten's Second Quartet with its massive "Chacony," an homage to English Baroque composer Henry Purcell.
Eugene – February 4 @ 3 pm (also virtual)
Eugene – February 6 @ 7:30 pm (also virtual)
Corvallis – February 9 @ 7:30 pm
Portland – February 10 @ 7:30 pm
Salem – February 11 @ 3 pm
String Circle features composer and violist Kenji Bunch on his own string quintet, a love letter to American fiddle, folk, and popular music. The program opens with a joyous late quartet by Haydn, and Bunch returns to the stage in the second half for Brahms's first Viola Quintet, one of the composer's most richly beautiful works for strings.
Eugene – March 17 @ 3 pm (also virtual)
Eugene – March 19 @ 7:30 pm (also virtual)
Corvallis – March 22 @ 7:30 pm
Portland – March 23 @ 7:30 pm
Salem – March 24 @ 3 pm