Sister Bay, Wis. (July 28, 2020) – Midsummer’s Music, Door County’s premiere chamber music series, debuts a virtual concert season August 5, featuring music by Haydn, Tchaikovsky, and Widor.
Titled Restless Passion, the program highlights music of both Haydn and Tchaikovsky, which is often animated by the folk musics with which they were familiar. Working within fairly conventional forms, they used these elements to stir passion, create longing, and instill a sense of restlessness – Haydn with his Gypsy finale to his G Major Trio and Tchaikovsky with the shifting meters of the Scherzo in his Second Quartet, the dissonant beginning, and the proud and ebullient folk-like melodies of his finale. Widor’s calming and charming Sèrènade is the perfect meditative antidote.
The free concerts will stream online at midsummersmusic.com, and on the Midsummer’s Music Facebook page and YouTube channel. Restless Passion will be hosted by Wisconsin Public Radio’s Norman Gilliland, and it will be broadcast in two segments, each being approximately 30 minutes. Part I, featuring Charles-Marie Widor’s Sèrènade in A Major for Piano Trio from Quatre Piéces en Trio, Op. 6, and Haydn’s Trio for Piano and Strings in G Major, H.XV:25, will play at 7:00 pm (CT) Wednesday, August 5, and 8:00 pm (CT) Friday, August 7. Part II with Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 2 in F Major, Op. 22, will play at 7:00 pm (CT) Thursday, August 6, and 8:00 pm (CT) Saturday, August 8. A matinée at 3:00 pm (CT) Sunday, August 9, will combine Parts I & II, along with live interviews with Artistic Director Jim Berkenstock and musicians.
Midsummer’s Music musicians for these performances are David Perry and Ann Palen (violins), Allyson Fleck (viola), Paula Kosower (cello), and Jennie Yu (piano).
Support from Nicolet National Bank and Sponsors Mary Hauser and Jerry Randall make it possible to provide the Restless Passions concerts at no cost to viewers.
Midsummer’s Music draws on the extraordinary talent of musicians from the Chicago Symphony, Chicago’s Lyric Opera, Milwaukee Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Aspen Music Festival, China National Symphony and the Ravinia Festival, among others.
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.