Ludwig van Beethoven | String Quartet in A minor, Op 132 (1825)

Ethel Smyth | String Quartet in E minor, Andante (1912) 

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At the end of his life, Beethoven, by that point fully deaf, focused his remaining creative energies on the string quartet repertoire, writing some of his most personal and spiritual works in his final years on earth. In the summer of 1825, recovering from a long and painful illness, inscribed the following title to the third movement: “Song of Thanksgiving to the Deity from a convalescent in the Lydian mode.”  Also featured on this program is the work of Dame Ethel Smyth, an acclaimed but underrecognizd composer and advocate for women’s rights. Smyth’s E minor Quartet was inspired by the late quartets of Beethoven.

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Kristin Lee, violin
James Garlick, violin
Noah Geller, viola
Ani Aznavoorian, cello

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Ludwig van Beethoven | Seven Variations on a Theme from the Magic Flute, WoO 45 (1801)
Ludwig van Beethoven  | Piano Sonata in A-flat major , Op 110 (1821)
Reinaldo Hahn | Piano Quintet in F-sharp minor (1921)

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Jeremy Denk continues our journey into the transcendent late works Beethoven, presenting one of his last works for for the instrument, his Op 110 piano sonata. Denk also lead also through present the infrequently-heard piano quintet of Reinaldo Hahn, the Venezuelan-born composer and conductor who was a major inpiration and lover of the literary giant Marcel Proust.

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Jeremy Denk, piano
Kristin Lee, violin
James Garlick, violin
Noah Geller, viola
Richard O’Neill, viola
Ani Aznavoorian, cello​

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JS Bach | Selections from Art of the Fugue     
Philip Glass | String Quartet No 3 “Mishima” (1985)
Gabriela Lena Frank | Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout (2001)

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​In our second installment of our exploration of the string quartet, we present three diverse masterworks, by JS Bach, Philip Glass, and our 2025 composer-in-residence Gabriela Lena Frank, who was named by the Washington Post as being one if the top 35 most influential women in music history, period! We are thrilled to present her String Quartet, Lendendas: An Andean Walkabout as well as Philip Glass’s meditative third quartet, “Mishima.”  We also present selections from Bach’s Art of the Fugue was written in the last decade of his life and left unfinished at the time of his death, is a marvelous exploration of the possibilities of contrapuntal writing. 

Rachel Lee Priday, violin
James Garlick, violin
Richard O’Neill, viola
Efe Baltacıgıl, cello
Gabriela Lena Frank, composer-in-residence

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Ludwig van Beethoven | Duet with two Obligato Eyeglasses Viola and Cello, WoO 32 (1796)
Gabriela Lena Frank | Sonata Serrana No 1 for four hands (2012)
Gabriel Faure | Piano Quartet in C minor, Op 15 (1880)

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Our 2025 finale features Jeremy Denk and our 2025 composer-in-residence Gabriela Lena Frank sharing the keyboard in her dazzling Sonata Serrana No 1 for four hands.  We close the season with Gabriel Faure’s stormy C minor Piano Quartet of Gabriel Faure.​

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Jeremy Denk, piano
Gabriela Lena Frank, composer-in-residence and piano
James Garlick, violin
Richard O’Neill, viola
Efe Baltacıgil, cello

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