2013-14 Repertoire
“Out of Africa”
Felix Mendelssohn: Quartet in F minor, Op.80
Arnold Van Wyk: Five Elegies for String Quartet
Franz Schubert: Quartet in D minor, “Death and the Maiden”
The Arianna Quartet kicks off their 2013-14 concert season in style with a concert featuring works the quartet recently included in a tour in South Africa. The program opens with Felix Mendelssohn’s final complete work, his sizzling Quartet in F minor, Op.80, and is followed by a rarely heard work by South African composer Arnold van Wyk. Van Wyk’s emotionally diverse work for string quartet, Five Elegies (1941), is one of the most significant works by a South African composer in the 20th century, and a newfound treasure for the ASQ. Franz Schubert’s monumental Quartet in D minor, “Death and the Maiden”, one of the true tour de force works of the string quartet repertoire, closes the ASQ’s first concert.
“Alumni Jubilee Concert”, with the Arianna String Quartet
The Arianna Quartet celebrates UMSL’s 50th anniversary with an evening of showcasing the talents of former students of the ASQ. Alumni of the Arianna Quartet’s string program at UMSL who have achieved careers as performers, music educators and pedagogues, join the members of the ASQ for a concert of string quintets, sextets, octets and chamber orchestra repertoire. Come join the Arianna Quartet for this chamber music party celebrating a tradition of excellence at UMSL!
“Spanning the Globe” featuring Alex Klein, oboe
Hugo Wolf: “Italian Serenade”
Antal Dorati: Oboe Quintet
Arthur Bliss: Oboe Quintet, Op.44
Alberto Ginastera: String Quartet No.1
The Arianna Quartet welcomes world-renowned oboe virtuoso Alex Klein to St. Louis and the Lee Theater stage for an unforgettable sonic journey through a program of eclectic and expressively dynamic repertoire. The ASQ opens with Hugo Wolf’s alluring “Italian Serenade”, an ebullient champagne filled glimpse from the chill of northern Europe to the sultry style of southern Italy, and closes program with Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera’s riveting Quartet No.2. As the centerpiece of the evening, Mr. Klein joins the Arianna Quartet in performances of two stirring masterpieces for oboe and strings, by Antal Dorati and Arthur Bliss. Don’t miss this rare concert opportunity!
“A Night at the Opera” with Stella Markou, soprano
W.A. Mozart: Quartet in C Major, K.465 “Dissonant”
Favorite Opera Arias with Stella Markou
Giacomo Puccini: “Crisantemi”
Giuseppe Verdi: Quartet in E minor
It’s a night at the opera with the ASQ! The Arianna Quartet presents an evening of love, loss, and life and death (and everything in between!) with a program featuring works for string quartet by the some of music’s greatest opera composers. Mozart’s timeless sense for dramatic character, harmonic innovation, expressive beauty are all on display as the ASQ performs his poignant “Dissonant” quartet. Puccini’s elegiac miniature for string quartet, “Chrysanthemums”, tells a story of wistful remembrance, and features the lyricism of Puccini’s operatic writing that we all know and love. Stella Markou joins the ASQ for a set of virtuoso highlights from a few of the most beloved operas in music, and the ASQ brings the curtain down on the evening with Giuseppe Verdi’s only string quartet, a breathtaking instrumental achievement bursting with operatic overtones.
“High Five” with Zuill Bailey, cello
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quintet, Op.47 “Kreutzer”
Anton Webern: Five Pieces for String Quartet
Franz Schubert: String Quintet in C Major, Op. posth.163
The Arianna Quartet presents their fifth and final concert of the season with a “High Five”! Virtuoso cellist Zuill Bailey joins the Arianna Quartet in Beethoven’s rarely heard string quintet arrangement of his beloved “Kreutzer” Violin Sonata, offering a unique and fresh perspective into the mind of the great composer. The ASQ follows Beethoven with Webern’s eloquently concise Five Pieces for String Quartet, a musical looking glass that peers into the changing world and expanding harmonies of the early 20th century. The ASQ closes the season in celebratory style with a performance of Franz Schubert’s enduring epic, the String Quintet in C Major, a one of a kind tonal rendering of humankind’s magnificent fragility and power.