Sister Bay, Wis. (July 5, 2023) – Midsummer’s Music earns high praises for presenting works by lesser-known composers – especially composers of color and women composers – often alongside household names like Bach and Mozart. With its Emperor Concerto & Jeannie Yu program, audiences will hear one exhilarating quartet by a relatively obscure composer, backed up by sumptuous works from Beethoven and Haydn with virtuosos pianist Jeannie Yu and flutist Heather Zinninger.
Yu masterfully takes on Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto, which dates from May 1809, when Napoleon’s army was besieging Vienna, along with the Austrian Imperial family and all of the court. Beethoven, like many Viennese, sheltered underground. After the Austrian forces surrendered, Beethoven departed the city and resumed composing, producing two back-to-back masterpieces, including his Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73, also known as “Emperor,” due to its imperious grandeur.
Austrian composer Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 94 in G Minor – more commonly called the “Surprise Symphony” – is so nicknamed for the “surprise,” a startlingly loud chord that interrupts the otherwise soft, gentle flow of its second movement. The “surprise” was not part of the original score, and Haydn added it on a whim for its London premiere in 1792. Colorful anecdotes offer speculations on the origin of the surprise, with one of the most popular being to awaken a drowsy patron during the concert. Zinninger is featured in the chamber version of the piece, as well as the next work.
Nearly all of Finnish-Swedish composer Bernhard Henrik Crusell’s compositions include the clarinet; however, his Quartet in D Minor, Op. 8, is an arrangement he wrote for flute and strings of his third Clarinet Quartet at the request an important French diplomat. Throughout the 19th century, it was a very popular Romantic piece and was performed quite frequently.
In addition to Yu and Zinninger, program musicians are David Perry and Sahada Buckley, violins, Allyson Fleck, viola, Mara McClain, cello, and Drew Banzhaf, bass.
Performances are 7:00pm, July 15, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Sister Bay, sponsored by Roy & Betsy Gill; 5:00pm, July 16, at Hope United Church of Christ in Sturgeon Bay, in memory of James Hoehn, MD, and sponsored by Sandy Zingler; 7:00pm, July 19, at the Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor, sponsored by Elmer Lewis in memory of Ann Lewis; and 7:00pm, July 21, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Ephraim, sponsored by Arlene Johnson & Chris Weidenbacher.
A complete 2023 summer brochure can be downloaded at www.midsummersmusic.com.
Tickets are $38 for adults, $17 for students, and children 12 and under are free with an adult. Premium prices apply for special events. Flex-packs of six tickets for the price of five tickets are also available. Tickets can be ordered at www.midsummersmusic.com or by phone at 920-854-7088.
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.