Subscription Series

Sunday, 5 October, 2008 at 7 p.m.
Monday, 6 October, 2008 at 8 p.m.
Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall
ST. LAWRENCE STRING QUARTET

Sunday, 2 November, 2008 at 7 p.m.
Monday, 3 November, 2008 at 8 p.m.
Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall
QUARTET FOR THE END OF TIME

Sunday, 18 January 2009 at 7 p.m.
Monday, 19 January 2009 at 8 p.m.
Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall
PACIFICA STRING QUARTET

Sunday, 1 March, 2009 at 7 p.m.
Monday, 2 March, 2009 at 8 p.m.
Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall
TRIO CON BRIO COPENHAGEN

Sunday, 26 April, 2009 at 7 p.m.
Monday, 27 April, 2009 at 8 p.m.
Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall
APOLLO’S FIRE BAROQUE ORCHESTRA

ST. LAWRENCE STRING QUARTET
with Barry Shiffman, viola and Marina Hoover,
cello 20th Anniversary Tour

Sunday, 5 October, 2008 at 7 p.m.
Monday, 6 October, 2008 at 8 p.m.

Subscription Concert No. 1

Now in their 20th Season, the St. Lawrence String Quartet has established itself among the world-class chamber ensembles of its generation. In 1992, they won both the Banff International String Quartet Competition and Young Concert Artists Auditions, launching them on a performing career that has brought them across North and South America, Europe and Asia. The long awaited initial recording of the St. Lawrence Quartet, Schumann’s First and Third Quartets, was released in May 1999 to great critical acclaim. The CD received the coveted German critics award, as well as Canada’s Juno Award. Having been privileged to study with the Emerson, Tokyo and Juilliard String Quartets, the St. Lawrence Quartet are themselves passionate educators and are the Ensemble in Residence at Stanford University. As part of their 20th Anniversary Tour, the Quartet is joined by founding members, Barry Shiffman and Marina Hoover.

Note: Commissioned by the Calgary Pro Musica Society to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the St. Lawrence String Quartet and to to commemorate Pro Musica’s move to the Rozsa Centre.

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QUARTET FOR THE END OF TIME
“Olivier Messiaen Centenary Concert”

Sunday, 2 November, 2008 at 7 p.m.
Monday, 3 November, 2008 at 8 p.m.

Subscription Concert No. 2

Special Pre-Concert talk with the artists at 6:15 P. M. on Sunday and 7:15 P. M. on Monday in the Husky Oil Great Hall, Rozsa Centre

Comprised of four of Canada’s leading chamber musicians, the Quartet for the End of Time takes its name from the seminal work by Olivier Messiaen. To celebrate the centenary of Messiaen’s birth, the Quartet performs its namesake work coupled with a new commission by the gifted Canadian composer Nicolas Gilbert, in homage to Messiaen. The Quartet for the End of Time may be the most remarkable piece of chamber music written in the past century. Olivier Messiaen wrote it in a prisoner camp on the Czech-German border during the second world war, where it received its first performance. Prize-winning and with international pedigrees, Louise Bessette, Simon Aldrich, Jonathan Crow and Yegor Dyachkov bring rich musical skill, insight and performance gifts to these works.

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PACIFICA STRING QUARTET
With Erik Rönmark, Saxophone

Sunday, 18 January 2009 at 7 p.m.
Monday, 19 January 2009 at 8 p.m.

Subscription Concert No. 3

Recognized for its virtuosity, exuberant performance style, and often daring repertory choices, the Pacifica Quartet has carved out a compelling musical path. Since the group first came together in 1994, the ensemble has swept top prizes in several leading international competitions from the Cleveland Quartet Award to the Naumburg. In 2006, the Pacifica was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant – only the second chamber music ensemble ever to be selected. In 2002, the Pacifica was appointed a member of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s CMS Two program for gifted young musicians. The Pacifica Quartet tours extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia, performing in the world’s major concert halls. The members of the Pacifica Quartet live in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, where they were appointed to the faculty of the University of Illinois in 2004 and serve as Faculty Quartet in Residence.

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TRIO CON BRIO COPENHAGEN

Sunday, 1 March, 2009 at 7 p.m.
Monday, 2 March, 2009 at 8 p.m.

Subscription Concert No. 4

Since its formation in Vienna in 1999, Trio Con Brio Copenhagen has quickly become know as one of the most exciting young piano trios performing today. Formed by the Korean sisters Soo-Jin Hong and Soo-Kyung Hong and the Danish pianist Jens Elvekjaer, the Trio first drew international attention with their success at the ARD-competition in Munich in 2002. In September 2005 the Trio con Brio Copenhagen received the prestigious Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award. The award includes a CD-recording and an extensive tour of 20 major US venues including Carnegie Hall, New York. Trio con Brio has toured extensively and recent seasons have included performances in Germany, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Canada and Korea. Trio con Brio Copenhagen teaches regularly at the Trondheim International Chamber Music Festival and at the Music Academy in Kristiansand, Norway.

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APOLLO’S FIRE BAROQUE ORCHESTRA

Sunday, 26 April, 2009 at 7 p.m.
Monday, 27 April, 2009 at 8 p.m.

Subscription Concert No. 5

Taking its name from the classical god of music and the sun, Apollo’s Fire is dedicated to the performance of 17th- and 18th-century music on the period instruments for which it was written. Music Director Jeannette Sorrell gathers a select pool of dynamic and creative early-music artists from throughout North America and Europe. The ensemble has been praised internationally for stylistic freshness and buoyancy, animated spontaneity, technical excellence, and for the creativity of it’s programming. Sorrell and her colleagues take as their mantra the baroque ideal that music is about communication, and the role of the performer is to evoke various emotions in the listeners. This program shows how the Baroque Masters exploited the virtuosity of the orchestra to evoke the Struggles of Nature. Hold on to your hats as Apollo’s Fire negotiates the earthquake and volcanic eruption scene form Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes and Rebel’s extraordinary Chaconne of Fire from his depiction of creation, Les Elémens. A storm at sea from Vivaldi rounds out this program of turbulent orchestral showpieces.

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Geoff Nuttall, violin
Scott St. John, violin
Lesley Robertson, viola
Christopher Costanza, cello

Program:
Strauss:
Prelude to Capriccio, Op. 85
Haydn:
Quartet in F Major, Op. 77, No. 2
Elizabeth Raum:
Table at the Bushwakker
This work was co commissioned to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the St. Lawrence String Quartet by the Calgary Pro Musica Society on the occasion of its move to the Rozsa Centre and by CBC Radio
Dvorak:
Sextet in A Major, Op. 48

Sponsor:          
Anonymous

Co-sponsors:   
Louise & Marlin Moore
Mr. F. R. Matthews, Q.C.
Dr. Ronald Dougan

Louise Bessette, piano
Simon Aldrich, clarinet
Jonathan Crow, violin
Yegor Dyachkov, cello

Program:
MESSIAEN CENTENARY CONCERT
Nicolas Gilbert:
The Time of the Impossible
Messiaen:
Quartet for the End of Time

Ensemble sponsor
RBC Foundation/RBC Dominion Securities

Sponsor
Mr. F. R. Matthews, Q.C.

Co-sponsors:
Dr. Martha Cohen, C.M.
Ms. Evelyn Fisher