Hungarian Masters Pre-Concert Letter

Hello Friends,

This concert will be an exploration of three great Hungarian composers: Kodály, Bartók and Dohnányi. Our visiting guest pianist form Cornell University, Miri Yampolsky, will join Steven Doane to perform the atmospheric Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op.4 by Zoltán Kodály. Miri is a wonderfully engaging and exciting artist and we are so pleased to feature her for the first time on our series. Miri and Tigran Vardanyan will close the first half with Béla Bartók’s  Rhapsody no.1 Violin and Piano. This work is an example of how Bartók incorporates Eastern-European fiddle music to create his iconic folk music style.
 
The second half features a work receiving its first performance at SCMR: Erno Dohnányi’s Piano Quartet in F# minor. The composer wrote this quartet when he was a teenager, yet the music showcases an immense range of emotion and offers a prescient glimpse of the compositional output to come from this young man.

Please feel free to join us for a complimentary wine tasting during intermission. The pre-concert chat is at 3:30pm and the performance begins at 4:00pm.

Warmly,
Erik Behr and Juliana Athayde
Artistic Directors