Midsummer Music’s resident string quartet performs Beethoven, Dvořák, and holiday favorites.
Sister Bay, Wis. (December 6, 2023) – The Griffon String Quartet, hailed for its “superb playing, palpable chemistry, spirit, and emotional connection,” will perform four pay-what-you-can holiday concerts in Green Bay and Door County. Featured musicians are Roy Meyer and Alex Norris, violins, Oryann Tsaig, viola, and Jesse Nummelin, cello.
The concerts begin and end with a selection of well-loved holiday pieces to put everyone in a festive spirit. Following the first set of holiday favorites, the quartet plays Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet No.16 in F Major, Op. 135, which is the composer’s final string quartet and his last complete opus of any genre. It is also the final work of the greatest cycle of string quartets in history. Though evoking the form and style of the earlier classical string quartet, Beethoven filled it with the blended contents of his entire career.
Antonín Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 13 in G Major, Op. 106, opens the second half of the concerts. The composer’s artistic touch is evident throughout the piece, masterfully morphing its distinctive opening flourishes into grand movements alternately embracing warmth, hope, despair, drama, and energy.
The concerts are at 5:00pm, December 14, at the Art Garage in Green Bay; 5:00pm, December 15, at Hope United Church of Christ in Sturgeon Bay; 3:00pm, December 16, at the Belgian Heritage Center in Brussels; and 3:00pm, December 17, at the Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor. Receptions offer concertgoers a chance to meet the musicians and enjoy some seasonal treats. Attendees to these concerts are asked to pay what they can.
While tickets are free for all three concerts, reservations can be made at midsummersmusic.com.
One of the most vibrant and engaging quartets of their generation, the Griffon String Quartet was formed in the fall of 2018 as a collaboration led by Midsummer’s Music. The GSQ enriches the lives of children and adults throughout northeast Wisconsin through concerts, workshops, and music education outreach. Extraordinary musicians who have performed with orchestras and ensembles around the globe, they are equally dedicated to music education and inspiring the next generation of music lovers. Each member of the Griffon String Quartet has advanced degrees and significant professional experience, both as educators and performers, and they have been recognized for “their youthful vigor, which is absolutely infectious!”
Midsummer’s Music was co-founded in 1990 by Jim and Jean Berkenstock, long-time Door County summer residents and principal orchestral players with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. What began as two concerts among friends has become one of the Midwest’s most anticipated chamber music series, bringing thousands of chamber music enthusiasts from around the globe to the magical Door County Peninsula.
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