Upcoming Concerts & Events
Past Seasons
2018 - MIDWINTER BEETHOVEN
Continuing our annual exploration of Beethoven's "late" quartets
Program:
Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 11
String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 130
Performers:
James Keene and Ellen McGehee - Violins Stephen Fine - Viola | James Jaffe - Cello Ian Scarfe - Piano | Karla Avila, Clarinet |
Tuesday, January 9, 7:00pm
Hyampom Community Hall, HYAMPOM Wednesday, January 10, 7:00pm Trinity Alps Performing Arts Center, WEAVERVILLE Thursday, January 11, 7:00pm Morris Graves Museum of Art, EUREKA Saturday, January 14, 2:00pm The Century Club of California, SAN FRANCISCO (this is a ticketed event, info and tickets here) Program: All-Beethoven Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 11 (1797) String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 130 (1825) |
This January, the Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival will begin its eighth season. Founded in 2011 by pianist Ian Scarfe and violinist Ellen McGehee, this organization has grown to become one of the most prolific presenters of classical music in Northern California. With a focus on rural Trinity County and other communities in the “North State”, the festival has presented over 200 events, including free concerts, school programs, and summer camp projects for kids.
On January 9, 10, and 11, audiences in Hyampom, Weaverville, and Eureka will be treated to concerts featuring Scarfe and McGehee alongside Trinity County resident and clarinettist Karla Avila, violinist James Keene from New Jersey, violist Stephen Fine from Florida, and San Francisco-based cellist James Jaffe.
This “Midwinter Classics” program is the third installment in their annual exploration of the late quartets of Beethoven, with the Festival bringing a quartet of string players from across the United States to participate in a two-week-long retreat and tour.
This year the focus will be on Beethoven's Quartet in B-flat Major, Op 130, a work famous for its tightly organized narrative drama and intensely personal psychological affect. Despite its sprawling six-movements, with wildly different characters, the quartet shows Beethoven concentrating and distilling all of his musical skills into near perfection, with a total balance of architecture and storytelling.
It is also perhaps one of the only examples in history where Beethoven listened to and responded to criticism about one of his works. This work originally concluded with an enormously difficult “Great Fugue” that both performers and listeners found overwhelming and wearying. After being encouraged to scrap this monstrously challenging fugue, Beethoven offered a rare compromise, and composed an alternate finale. The work was published with this alternate finale, a wild scampering dance that is hardly a walk in the park, and Beethoven published his “Great Fugue” separately, so that performers and audiences now can choose from the two different versions. This performance of the work will feature his revised ending – the Festival plans to return to this work and perform it again with the “Great Fugue” in the winter of 2021.
Also on the program will be an early work by Beethoven, his Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 11, written for clarinet, cello, and piano. Showing a completely different side of the composer, this early trio is light-hearted and joyous, and seemingly a parody of Viennese comic-opera stereotypes. Yet nonetheless, audiences will clearly hear Beethoven's style in this, as he uses his familiar variety of ways to shock and surprise his listeners.
The concert will feature discussion of the music and the composer, and opportunities to meet and speak with the performers. Concerts are free and open to the public, although all should be prepared to make a contribution at the door. This organization receives over 90% of its annual funding from individual donors, so please be generous!
On January 9, 10, and 11, audiences in Hyampom, Weaverville, and Eureka will be treated to concerts featuring Scarfe and McGehee alongside Trinity County resident and clarinettist Karla Avila, violinist James Keene from New Jersey, violist Stephen Fine from Florida, and San Francisco-based cellist James Jaffe.
This “Midwinter Classics” program is the third installment in their annual exploration of the late quartets of Beethoven, with the Festival bringing a quartet of string players from across the United States to participate in a two-week-long retreat and tour.
This year the focus will be on Beethoven's Quartet in B-flat Major, Op 130, a work famous for its tightly organized narrative drama and intensely personal psychological affect. Despite its sprawling six-movements, with wildly different characters, the quartet shows Beethoven concentrating and distilling all of his musical skills into near perfection, with a total balance of architecture and storytelling.
It is also perhaps one of the only examples in history where Beethoven listened to and responded to criticism about one of his works. This work originally concluded with an enormously difficult “Great Fugue” that both performers and listeners found overwhelming and wearying. After being encouraged to scrap this monstrously challenging fugue, Beethoven offered a rare compromise, and composed an alternate finale. The work was published with this alternate finale, a wild scampering dance that is hardly a walk in the park, and Beethoven published his “Great Fugue” separately, so that performers and audiences now can choose from the two different versions. This performance of the work will feature his revised ending – the Festival plans to return to this work and perform it again with the “Great Fugue” in the winter of 2021.
Also on the program will be an early work by Beethoven, his Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 11, written for clarinet, cello, and piano. Showing a completely different side of the composer, this early trio is light-hearted and joyous, and seemingly a parody of Viennese comic-opera stereotypes. Yet nonetheless, audiences will clearly hear Beethoven's style in this, as he uses his familiar variety of ways to shock and surprise his listeners.
The concert will feature discussion of the music and the composer, and opportunities to meet and speak with the performers. Concerts are free and open to the public, although all should be prepared to make a contribution at the door. This organization receives over 90% of its annual funding from individual donors, so please be generous!
