Ives Quartet Announces Spring Concert Series
Media Contact: Pam Lampkin
Tel: 650.224.7849 info@ivescollective.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 10, 2009
IVES STRING QUARTET ANNOUNCES 2009-2010 SEASON
DYNAMIC ENSEMBLE EXPLORES “THE NATURE OF PLAYING” IN THREE CONCERTS AND A SALON SERIES
OCTOBER 24-MAY 23 IN PALO ALTO AND SAN JOSE
Palo Alto, CA – The Ives String Quartet will celebrate and explore “The Nature of Playing”—of music and how the innately human need for play infuses and informs the creative process of composers and performers—in six performances of three mainstage programs and two salon events in its 2009-2010 home season. Performances will be given in Palo Alto and San Jose at intimate venues that foster a close connection between performers and audience. A hallmark of Ives Quartet concerts is lively discussion of the works and composers featured, and this season the artists will delve into how play and the interplay of musicians and audiences is central to the art of creating and performing music. Featured composers on the season include Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Porter, Schubert, Brahms and a new quartet by Nathaniel Stookey The Ives Quartet comprises Bettina Mussumeli and Susan Freier, Violins; Jodi Levitz, Viola; and Stephen Harrison, Cello, and the season runs October 4 and 9; January 31 and February 5; and May 21 and 23 with two performance each of three different programs at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Palo Alto and at Le Petit Trianon in San Jose.
The Quartet sums up the season and theme: “Play defines who we are as human beings–how we learn, grow and love. It excites, engages, inspires and renews us and is essential to our experience as a creative species.
“To a string quartet, play of course means performing music with an audience. But play is also central to how we select, learn and make interpretive choices about music. What brings it all together is the vital interplay of musicians and audience members in those vibrant, inclusive and unique moments when the ephemeral nature of what we do takes life in performance. Join us for an exhilarating season of play and playing. Together we will explore the creative process between composers, performers and our audience.”
2009-2010 Season “The Nature of Playing”
Program 1
Putting the Pieces Together
Sunday, October 4, at 7 p.m. at Le Petit Trianon, San Jose
Friday, October 9, at 8 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Palo Alto
PROGRAM: MOZART: Quartet in D major, K.499 “Hoffmeister”; QUINCY PORTER: Quartet No. 9; MENDELSSOHN: Quartet in E minor, Op.44, No. 2
Each of the Ives Quartet’s concerts adds up to more than the sum of the works the players choose to perform. This program gives insight into how musicians select what they play—the joys and risks–and how each piece relates to one another as the Ives Quartet follow the threads of music history and the creative processes at play.
Program 2
Playing Well With Others
Sunday, January 31, at 7 p.m. at Le Petit Trianon, San Jose
Friday, February 5, at 8 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Palo Alto
PROGRAM: BEETHOVEN: Quartet in E-flat major, Opus 127 No. 1; BRAHMS: Sextet No. 1 in B-flat major, Opus 18 with guest artists Tanya Tompkins and Leslie Tompkins
Musicians love to make music with others and there is nothing more thrilling than an evening of glorious chamber music played by friends who clearly revel in the joy of playing. The Ives Quartet welcomes guest artists and sisters Tanya and Leslie Tompkins for a close-knit and ebullient evening of music.
Program 3
Playing for the Future
Friday, May 21, at 8 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Palo Alto
Sunday, May 23, at 7 p.m. at Le Petit Trianon, San Jose
PROGRAM: BEETHOVEN: String Quartet in F major, Op.18, No. 1; NATHANIEL STOOKEY: String Quartet No. 2 “ Musée Mécanique”; SCHUBERT: String Quartet in D minor, D/810, “Death and the Maiden”
How did audiences of Beethoven’s and Schubert’s times experience their music and how do contemporary audiences perceive the work of living composers? Part of playing music—and listening to it!—is engaging in a process and a legacy that is generations old and stretches into the unimaginable future. One aspect of this program explores the immensely rewarding experience of playing and hearing music by a living composer.
Music in Context Salon Series
In addition to the mainstage series, the Ives Quartet will present an informal and intimate Music in Context salon series of two concerts at an historic Palo Alto home at which Gertrude Stein’s family spent summers and hosted salons of their own. Each afternoon of music, conversation, food and drink will include an exploration of the Quartet’s creative process used to prepare works for the mainstage series. November 8 will features Quincy Porter and Gertrude Stein; May 16 will focus on Nathaniel Stookey.
About the Ives Quartet
Superb artistry, performance passion, a spirit of musical adventure, warmth of tone and interpretation and smart programming have been hallmarks of the Ives Quartet’s decade of music making.
Inspired by the passionate artistic commitment and unique temperament of American composer Charles Ives (1874–1954), the Ives Quartet creates powerful live-music experiences through the presentation of fresh and thoughtful interpretations of carefully curated repertory to American and international audiences. It has established a reputation for passion, high-voltage playing, and provocative programming, winning accolades for performances that show both “super-refinement” and “visceral, rock-and-roll intensity.”
The Quartet’s musicians enjoy dual careers in the US and Europe, making Ives Quartet concerts an inviting combination of old-world sophistication and a uniquely pioneering American panache that audiences and critics find irresistible.
Ives Quartet at Music at Kohl Mansion
The Ives Quartet will perform on the prestigious Music at Kohl Mansion Series in Burlingame with guest clarinetist Jerome Simas Sunday, March 14, at 7 p.m. Jerome Simas, who has held Principal and Acting Principal positions with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, Oakland East Bay Symphony, California Symphony and the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, joins the Ives Quartet in a performance of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet in b minor, Op. 115. For information and tickets, visitwww.musicatkohl.org/tickets or phone: (650) 762-1130.
Subscriptions and Tickets
Ives Quartet season subscriptions are priced $30-$60; single tickets for individual concerts are priced $15-$25 and may be purchased athttp://www.ivescollective.org/tickets.htm or by calling 650-224-7849.
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Gen: $25, Senior: $20, Student: $15 (13-18)
Children 12 and under FREE.
This season, the Ives String Quartet will celebrate and explore “The Nature of Playing”—of music and how the innately human need for play infuses and informs the creative process of composers and performers.
Each of the Ives Quartet’s concerts adds up to more than the sum of the works the players choose to perform. This program gives insight into how musicians select what they play—the joys and risks–and how each piece relates to one another as the Ives Quartet follow the threads of music history and the creative processes at play.