February 1, 2016—The University of Oregon’s well-regarded ChamberMusic@Beall concert series continues its winter offerings with two fantastic recitals on the UO campus.

 

Hot on the heels of a fiery bravura performance by pianist Olga Kern in early January, the series will next welcome to the Beall Concert Hall stage the American Brass Quintet on Sunday, Feb. 21; and the St. Lawrence String Quartet on Sunday, March 6. Both concerts are at 3 p.m.

 

Patrons can purchase reserved-seating tickets in advance on the Hult Center for the Performing Arts website or by claling the box office at 541-682-5000.

 

Audience members are also invited to free pre-concert "Musical Insights" talks at 2:10 p.m. on each date, delivered by UO music scholars in room 163 of the Frohnmayer Music Building, UO campus.

 

Repertoire for the Feb. 21 American Brass Quintet program will include “Three Venetian Canzoni” (edited by Raymond Mase), “Incisioni—Five Engravings in Brass” by Vittorio Rieti, “Shine for Brass Quintet” by Robert Paterson, “Brass Quintet No. 1 ‘Circus’” by Clint Needham, “Canons of the 16th Century” (edited by Raymond Mase), and “Colchester Fantasy (1987)” by Eric Ewazen.

 

Committed to the promotion of brass chamber music through education, the American Brass Quintet has been in residence at The Juilliard School since 1987 and the Aspen Music Festival since 1970. The American Brass Quintet is celebrated for peerless leadership in the brass world. As 2013 recipient of Chamber Music America’s highest honor, the Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award for significant and lasting contributions to the field, ABQ's rich history includes performances in Asia, Australia, Central and South America, Europe, the Middle East and all fifty of the United States; a discography of nearly sixty recordings; and the premieres of over one hundred fifty contemporary brass works. ABQ commissioned works are considered significant contributions to contemporary chamber music and the foundation of the modern brass quintet repertoire.

March 6: The St. Lawrence String Quartet

On March 6, the dynamic St. Lawrence String Quartet will reveal surprising nuances in the Schumann String Quartet in A Major, Op. 41, No. 3; and will give an in-depth exploration and performance of Haydn’s String Quartet in C Major, Op. 76, No. 3 (“Emperor”).

 

Established in 1989, the St. Lawrence String Quartet has developed an undisputed reputation as one of the world's great ensembles. The SLSQ performs around the world and has served as ensemble-in-residence at Stanford University since 1998. The St. Lawrence continues to build its reputation for imaginative and spontaneous music-making through an energetic commitment to the great established quartet literature, as well as the championing of new works by such composers. In recent seasons, SLSQ has paid special attention to Franz Josef Haydn with a series of concerts in which the foursome explores and unpacks the composer’s string quartets from various perspectives and then performs the works in their entirety.

The ChamberMusic@Beall series is known throughout Oregon for bringing renowned live chamber musicians to the ears of Willamette Valley music-lovers. The 2015-16 series will conclude with a performance by the Collegium Vocale Gent on April 17.

 

With the ChamberMusic@Beall series, the Oregon Bach Festival has established a year-round presence in the Willamette Valley musical landscape. The OBF partners with the UO School of Music and Dance in administering the series, hosted by the historic Beall Concert Hall located at 961 E. 18th Ave in Eugene, on the UO campus. The hall is an intimate venue known up and down the West Coast for its incredible acoustics.