MARLBORO-For Week Four, the first three-concert weekend of its 75th anniversary season, Marlboro Music presents a trio of richly varied, deeply rehearsed programs spanning three centuries of chamber music, as well as free open rehearsals throughout the week in Persons Auditorium, 2472 South Rd.
Co-Artistic Director Mitsuko Uchida and 27 more resident musicians will take the stage across the three programs. Performances and open rehearsals will continue through Aug. 16.
The weekend opens on Friday, Aug. 7, with Marlboro’s annual Town Benefit Concert, an event whose proceeds go entirely to Marlboro town organizations. The program begins with the String Quartet in One Movement, Op. 29, by Marlboro co-Founder Adolf Busch, performed by violinists Felicitas Schiffner and Itamar Zorman, violist Sally Chisholm, and cellist Elena Ariza in celebration of Busch’s 135th birthday.
The evening continues with Vaughan Williams’s celebrated song cycle, “On Wenlock Edge,” for tenor and piano quintet, performed by tenor Eric Finbarr Carey, pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute, violinists Alex Redington and Angela Sin Ying Chan, violist Cara Pogossian, and cellist Dilshod Narzillaev.
The program closes with Dvořák’s Piano Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 87, B. 162, performed by Chan, pianist Juho Pohjonen, violist Beth Guterman Chu, and cellist Chase Park.
Saturday evening’s program pairs Schubert’s “Vier Gesänge aus ‘Wilhelm Meister,’” D. 877 — four searching settings of Goethe’s poetry, performed by Uchida and soprano Bridget Esler — with Beethoven’s Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3, with pianist Solomon Ge, violinist Mark Steinberg, and cellist Annie Jacobs-Perkins.
After intermission, Esler returns for selections from Haydn’s vocal quartets, joined by Carey, mezzo-soprano Veronica Siebert, baritone Brandon Bell, and pianist Lydia Brown. The evening concludes with Beethoven’s String Quartet in F major, Op. 135, performed by violinists Clara Neubauer and Stephanie Zyzak, violist Pogossian, and cellist Nagyeom Jang.
Sunday’s program begins with Clara Schumann‘s Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17, performed by Pohjonen, Schiffner, and cellist Marcy Rosen. Kaija Saariaho’s From the Grammar of Dreams, for two sopranos, follows, performed by Esler and Lucy Fitz Gibbon. Concluding the weekend is Dvořák’s String Quintet in G major, Op. 77, B. 49, performed by Zorman, Chisholm, Jacobs-Perkins, violinist Yebin Yoo, and double bassist Tobias Vigneau.
Tickets ($20–$40) are available for Friday and Saturday evenings’ concerts and may be purchased at marlboromusic.org or by calling the Marlboro Box Office at 802-258-9331. Sunday’s performance is sold out. A waiting list is maintained for returned tickets. For more information, contact the Marlboro reception desk at 802-254-2394 or info@marlboromusic.org.
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.