The culminating week of Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival’s (CCCMF) 40th anniversary season as Cape Cod’s premiere presenter of summer chamber music brings a trio of concerts with the residency of The Miró Quartet. Performances include
The Miró Quartet on Tuesday, August 20, Cotuit Center for the Arts, 4404 Falmouth Road, Cotuit; Romantic Strings on Wednesday, August 21, 7:30 pm, Dennis Union Church, 713 Main Street, Dennis; and Riches to Rags on Friday, August 23, 7:30 pm, First Congregational Church, 200 Main Street, Wellfleet. A pre-concert benefit reception will be held on Tuesday, August 20 at 5 pm at Willowbend Country Club, 130 Willowbend Drive, Mashpee.

A gathering of celebration, the final week of Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival’s 40th season coincides with 3 concerts by The Miró Quartet, celebrating its own 25th anniversary season. Its’ title concert The Miró Quartet opens the festivities in Cotuit following a residency pre-concert reception in Mashpee. The Quartet performs works by Mozart and Schumann and the exciting “Credo for String Quartet” by composer Kevin Puts.

Next on the schedule, Romantic Strings in Dennis offers works by Wolf, Glière and Franck. CCCMF Co-Artistic Directors Jon Manasse and Jon Nakamatsu add extra sparkle to the performance when they join violinist John Largess for Max Bruch’s “Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola and Piano, opus 83”. The Brahms “Quartet in C Minor for Piano, Violin, Viola and Cello, opus 60” (‘Werther’) features Jon Nakamatsu on piano.

The Wellfleet venue hosts the Festival’s 40th season finale, always a high-energy affair, and this concert is no exception! Riches to Rags offers a program of two jewels from Russia by Prokofiev and Shostakovich, alongside a contrast piece composed especially for CCCMF Co-Artistic Directors Jon Manasse and Jon Nakamatsu featuring four very American ‘rags’. The delightful composition Carrot Revolution is the creation of San Francisco based composer Gabriella Smith, whose original music is described as “high-voltage and wildly imaginative.” Smith says the name was inspired from a quote attributed to artist Paul Cezanne in a novel by Emile Zola: “The day will come when a freshly observed carrot will start a revolution.”
The Miró Quartet is one of America’s most celebrated and dedicated string quartets, and for the past twenty years has performed on the world’s most prestigious concert stages, earning accolades from passionate critics and audiences alike. Based in Austin, TX, and thriving on the area’s storied music scene, the Miró takes pride in finding new ways to communicate with audiences of all backgrounds while cultivating the tradition of chamber music.
The Quartet’s most recent season included performances for the New York Philharmonic with Gabriel Kahane; collaborations with Anton Nel, Clive Greensmith, and Martin Beaver; and appearances with the Detroit Chamber Music Society and the LMMC in Montreal. Other recent highlights include performances at the Phillips Collection, the Green Music Center, Chamber Music Northwest, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, as well as collaborations with David Shifrin, Andre Watts, and Wu Han.

Since 2003 the Miró has served as the quartet-in-residence at the University of Texas at Austin Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music. In 2005, the Quartet became the first ensemble ever to be awarded the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Miró Residency: The Miró Quartet
Daniel Ching, violin, William Fedkenheuer, violin, John Largess, viola, Joshua Gindele, cello
Program:
Mozart: Quartet in B-flat Major for Strings, K. 458
Puts: Credo for String Quartet
Schumann: Quartet in A Minor for Strings, Opus 41 No. 1

Miró Residency: Romantic Strings
Daniel Ching, violin, William Fedkenheuer, violin, John Largess, viola, Joshua Gindele, cello, Jon Manasse, clarinet, Jon Nakamatsu, piano
Program:
Wolf: Seranade in G Major for String Quartet
Glière: Quartet in A Major for Strings, Opus 2
Franck: Quartet in D Major for Strings, FWV 9
Bruch: Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola and Piano, opus 83
Brahms: Quartet in C Minor for Piano, Violin, Viola and Cello, opus 60

Miró Residency: Riches to Rags
Daniel Ching, violin, William Fedkenheuer, violin, John Largess, viola, Joshua Gindele, cello, Jon Manasse, clarinet, Jon Nakamatsu, piano
Program:
Prokofiev: Overture on Hebrew Themes for Clarinet, String Quartet and Piano, Opus 34
Shostakovich: Quintet in G Major for Piano and Strings, Opus 57
Smith: Carrot Revolution for String Quartet
Novacek: Four Rags for Two Jons

For more information about Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival’s 2019 season, performers, mission and venues, visit capecodchambermusic.org, or follow Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival on Facebook and Twitter.