Ipswich Chamber Music Society celebrates 100th Anniversary

March 15: Centenary Gala Concert, featuring the Villiers Quartet and students from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Including Haydn’s ‘Fifths’ quartet, played at the very first ICMS concert in October 1925, Vivian Fung’s String Quartet No 1 and Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings, Op. 20.

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The second of the Villiers Quartet’s Late Schubert Series pairs the great Austrian composer’s ‘Death and the Maiden’ with three recent pieces by women composers. St Hilda's music student Ariana Pethard’s ‘The Dance of Persephone’ has been commissioned especially for this concert as a response to ‘Death and the Maiden’, with the composer playing the piano part. It's also a rare opportunity to hear Alisa Dixon's fascinating song cycle 'The Spirit of Love'; her strikingly dissonant harmonic language, reminiscent in places of Fauré, Bartók and Britten, is used to convey dark and conflicting emotions.

Program:

Vivian Fung, String Quartet No. 1 (2004)
Ariana Pethard, The Dance of Persephone for piano and string quartet (wp)
Alisa Dixon, The Spirit of Love — 3 Songs for soprano and string quartet (2020)
Schubert, String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810 (Death and the Maiden)

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Named after Villiers Street in London, the Villiers Quartet encompasses the grand and iconic spirit of the extraordinary music tradition in Britain and has been praised for “exquisite ensemble playing” (Seen & Heard International), and their absolute “commitment and virtuosity” (The Sunday Times). The Villiers Quartet is the Quartet-in-Residence at the Jacqueline Du Pré Music Building at Oxford University.

Program:

Haydn: Quartet in G Major, Op. 76 No. 1
Fung: Quartet No. 1
Ravel: Quartet in F major

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The Jasper String Quartet has included Fung Quartets throughout many tour seasons and this upcoming October 2023, JSQ will be releasing their next album, showcasing Vivian Fung’s first four string quartets. Recorded on the Sono Luminus label, this album continues to build the relationship the quartet has with Fung.

Tickets are free, but register online to reserve a seat!

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2023 Hilton Head Chamber Music Institute: Final Program #1

Program:
Felix Mendelssohn, Quartet in F minor, Op. 80; III. Allegro vivace assai
Sergei Prokofiev, Quartet No. 2 in F major, Op. 92; III. Allegro
Vivian Fung, Quartet No. 1; I. Animato & III. Pizzicato
Robert Schumann, Quartet in A minor Op. 41 No. 1; I. Introduzione: Andante espressivo-Allegro; II. Scherzo
Felix Mendelssohn, Octet in E flat Major, Op. 20; IV. Presto

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Here and Now Series  

Complete String Quartets by Vivien Fung – all four quartets performed for the first time in one concert

• String Quartet No. 1

  I. Animato

  II. Interludium

  III. Pizzicato (may be performed as a separate work for string quartet)

  IV. Moto Perpetuo – Presto Possible

• String Quartet No. 2

  I. Introduction

  II. Of the Wind

  III. Of Birds and Insects

  IV. Interlude – With Calmness: “Klangfarbenmelodie”

  V. Of Tribes and Villages

  VI. Postlude: Of Ghosts and Memories

• String Quartet No. 3

• String Quartet No. 4 “Insects and Machines”

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Pianist Archie Chen, a graduate of Spokane’s Mead High School, is a charismatic and commanding performer of solo and chamber music repertoire and is noted for his warm, varied tone, and his unusual and compelling interpretations. His performances have led him throughout the United States, Asia, the Middle East and Europe, where he served as Assistant Professor of Piano at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and founder of the Dublin International Piano Festival & Summer Academy. He will join the SSQ for Antonin Dvorak’s Piano Quintet No. 2. Also on the program is music by Ludwig von Beethoven and contemporary Canadian composer Vivian Fung.

Ludwig von Beethoven: String Quartet in C Minor, Op. 18, No. 4

Vivian Fung: String Quartet No. 1

Antonin Dvorak: Piano Quintet No 2 in A Major, Op. 81

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Jessie Montgomery | Strum
Vivian Fung | Quartet No. 1
Claude Debussy | String Quartet in G Minor

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