2023 Summer Festival Overview & Calendar

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11:00 am

Wednesday, August 2, 2023

August 2nd through August 13th

This summer we’ll push the limits in our ongoing exploration into the range and potential of the string quartet. Haydn’s convivial Opus 20, No. 3 (1772) is part of the set that established the string quartet as an independent genre. Shostakovich’s sparse 13th quartet (1969) swings to the other emotional extreme and is a paean to isolation from a man tormented relentlessly by the Soviets. Webern’s lush fin de siècle “Langsamer satz” (1905) features romantic music at its zenith just before the tonal structures that undergirded it began to collapse.

Indeed, three years later (1908), halfway through his Second Quartet, Schoenberg pushed tonality over the cliff, while also challenging the definition of what a string quartet is by adding a soprano (!?). Then this summer’s commissioned piece, “The Jury” (2023), by Pulitzer-nominated composer Jon Deak, erodes the line between music and theater. Based on a poem by Rhina P. Espaillat, the soprano stalks behind the musicians during the performance while the string players inhabit characters from the text. (Yes, I’m ridiculously excited about performing this.) Finally, the festival spotlights two solo violin works by Fritz Kreisler (Recitativo and Scherzo-Caprice from 1911) and Eugene Ysaye (Sonata No. 3 in D Minor “Ballade” written in 1923).

Link to downloadable PDF version of NCMF Summer 2023 Calendar
Click on the photo to download a printable pdf version of the calendar.

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Greater Newburyport Area

The Newburyport Chamber Music Festival is proud to receive the support of six cities and towns through their Local Cultural Councils: Amesbury, Merrimac, Newbury, Newburyport, Rowley, Salisbury, and West Newbury. We make a point each year of holding events in at least a few of those towns surrounding Newburyport, as well as in Newburyport, itself.

Map
program

Jon Deak

WORLD PREMIERE - “The Jury” for string quartet and soprano based on a poem by Rhina P. Espaillat


Josef Haydn

String Quartet in G Minor, Opus 20, Number 3

Fritz Kreisler

Recitativo and Scherzo, Opus 6

Arnold Schoenberg

String Quartet No. 2, Opus 10

Dmitri Shostakovich

String Quartet No. 13 in Bb Minor, Opus 138

Anton Webern

Langsamer Satz

Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe

Ballade Sonata Number 3 in D Minor, Opus 27 



Performers
Artistic Director

Viola

Festival Artist

Violin

Festival Artist

Violin

Festival Artist

Cello

Festival Artist

Soprano

Festival Artist

Composer-in-Residence

Festival Artist

Poet-in-Residence

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