Bridge Chamber Music Festival - Festival Concert II

Festival Concert II features the Bridge Chamber Players and Andrea Een, Hardanger fiddler with violinists Taichi Cen, Francesca Anderegg and Hector Valdivia, violist Charles Gray, cellist David Carter, and pianist Nicola Melville. The program consists of W. A. Mozart's Quintet for Strings in D major, K. 593 and Johannes Brahms’ Piano Quartet in A major, Op. 26, as well as traditional Norwegian Hardanger fiddle tunes. The concert will be held at Urness Recital Hall at St. Olaf College, 7:30 p.m on August 21.

Of interest for this concert: Andrea Een recently retired from the violin faculty after over 30 years of teaching. During her teaching career she taught violin, viola, conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra, and founded a thriving studio for Hardanger fiddle students. This repertory is all taught through oral tradition. Dr. Een is also a respected composer of Hardanger fiddle tunes. Mozart's Quintets form a unique part of his chamber music output, calling for a string quartet plus an extra viola (which was his own instrument) adding a special and notable richness to the sound. It's often said that composers wrote chamber music for their own enjoyment, and this wonderful quintet, one of Mozart's last works, is a great example of this sublime essence. By contrast, the Piano Quartet of Johannes Brahms is a work of youthful vigor and considerable passion, featuring a bold Hungarian theme for its finale.

Content provided by David Carter.