photo by J. Adam Fenster
McGRATHPR.com – Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival hosts a three-concert, weeklong residency with The Ying Quartet – an imaginative Festival favorite ensemble since 2011. The performance residency, held on August 8, 9 and 12, is a top highlight of the Festival’s 43rd summer season of presenting quality chamber music on Cape Cod.
Grammy® Award-winning Ying Quartet occupies a position of unique prominence in the classical music world, combining brilliantly communicative performances with a fearlessly imaginative view of chamber music in today’s world. Now in its third decade, the Quartet has established itself as an ensemble of the highest musical qualifications. Their performances regularly take place in many of the world’s most important concert halls; at the same time, the Quartet’s belief that concert music can also be a meaningful part of everyday life has also drawn the foursome to perform in settings as diverse as the workplace, schools, juvenile prisons, and the White House. In fact, the Ying Quartet’s constant quest to explore the creative possibilities of the string quartet has led it to an unusually diverse array of musical projects and interests.
Then Ying Quartet’s weeklong residency launches with “Concerto Gala” on Monday, August 8, 5 pm, at First Congregational Church in Chatham. The concert boasts Festival premieres of two great concertos in their chamber music versions. Artistic Directors Jon Manasse and Jon Nakamatsu shine in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto (arranged for clarinet and string sextet by Marnix van den Berg) and Beethoven’s 4th Piano Concerto (arranged in Vienna during Beethoven’s lifetime for piano and string quintet). This concert is followed by a fundraising reception at the beautiful Wequassett Inn and Golf Resort.
The pace quickens on Tuesday, August 9, 5 pm, at Cotuit Center for the Arts with The Ying Quartet’s performance of Haydn’s String Quartet in G Minor, known as “The Rider” or “The Horseman,” due to its galloping finale. Two delightful rags by American composer John Novacek make their first Festival appearance, followed by Dvorak’s ever-popular “Slavonic” String Quartet in E-flat Major.
On Friday, August 12, at 5 pm,The Ying Quartet is joined by the Festival’s former Artistic Director, pianist Brian Zeger, for a colorful program opening with Haydn’s Piano Trio in A Major from the composer’s golden London years of the early 1790s, followed by a piece from Chinese American composer Zhou Long as he evokes the poem of Liǔ Zōngyuán (773 – 819), “An Old Fisherman,” which reads:
An old fisherman spent the night here, under the western cliff;
He dipped up water from the pure Hsiang and made a bamboo fire;
And then, at sunrise, he went his way through the cloven mist,
With only the creak of his paddle left, in the greenness of mountain and river.
…I turn and see the waves moving as from heaven,
And clouds above the cliffs coming idly, one by one.
The program concludes with one of the towering masterpieces of chamber music, the Piano Quintet in F Minor by Johannes Brahms.
This season, in the interest of public health and safety, and by popular demand, concerts are programmed to be 60 to 80 minutes in length without intermission, beginning at 5 pm, with the exception of the free public concert on August 16 at 7 pm
Tickets for the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival concerts are $40 general admission on August 2, 3, 9, 12 and 17; $55 general admission on August 5 and 19. All concerts offer $15 admission for college students (with ID); and free admission for attendees 18 and under. The August 16 concert at the National Seashore is free admission for all. Tickets for the 2022 season can be purchased by phone at 508-247-9400 and online at capecodchambermusic.org. Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival health and safety protocols for this season will be announced prior to the first concert, following state and local mandates. For more information, visit capecodchambermusic.org, or follow Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival on Facebook.
The Ying Quartet’s Three-Concert Residency:
Concerto Gala
Monday, August 8, 5 pm, First Congregational Church of Chatham, 650 Main St., Chatham
Jon Manasse, clarinet; Jon Nakamatsu, piano; Ying String Quartet
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Concerto in A Major for Clarinet and Orchestra, K. 622
(arr. for clarinet and string sextet by Marnix van den Berg)
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Concerto No. 4 in G Major for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 58
Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival’s Artistic Directors
(arrangement – Vienna, early 19th century – for piano and string sextet)
Artistic Directors Jon Manasse and Jon Nakamatsu are featured with the Ying String Quartet in Festival premieres of Beethoven’s 4th Piano Concerto and Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in their chamber music versions.
An Evening with the Ying
Tuesday, August 9, 5 pm, Cotuit Center for the Arts, 4404 Falmouth Rd., Cotuit
Ying String Quartet
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN String Quartet in G Minor, Opus 74 No. 3 (“Rider”)
JOHN NOVACEK Two Rags for String Quartet (The Drifter, Intoxication)
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat Major, Opus 51 (B. 92) (“Slavonic”)
Haydn’s String Quartet in G Minor (“Rider”) is followed by two delightful rags by John Novacek. The program concludes with Dvořák’s “Slavonic” String Quartet in E-flat Major.
The Ying and Brian Zeger
Friday, August 12, 5 pm, First Congregational Church of Wellfleet, 200 Main St., Wellfleet
Brain Zeger, piano; Ying String Quartet
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN Trio in A Major for Piano, Violin and Cello, Hob. XV:18
ZHOU LONG The Old Fisherman
JOHANNES BRAHMS Quintet in F Minor for Piano and Strings, Opus 34
Brian Zeger joins the Ying for a program including Haydn’s Piano Trio in A Major, Zhou Long’s “An Old Fisherman,” and the great Piano Quintet in F Minor by Johannes Brahms.
About Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival
Hailed by The New York Times as “A Triumph of Quality,” Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival (CCCMF) has been a presenter of chamber music and a major contributor to the cultural life of Cape Cod since its founding in 1979 by the late pianist Samuel Sanders, a longtime collaborator with Itzhak Perlman. The Festival’s current Artistic Directors Jon Manasse (clarinetist) and Jon Nakamatsu (pianist) represent the top ranks of American chamber music. In addition to its annual summer season of concerts, outreach programs and an annual benefit concert in New York, CCCMF partners with local cultural organizations.
For more information, visit capecodchambermusic.org, or follow Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival on Facebook.
