Concert Calendar | Venue: Sanders Theatre | Subscribe online | Season brochure (pdf)
Dear Friends,
In Season 37 we are pleased to offer eight programs at Sanders Theatre. By your request there are three winter concerts at 3 p.m. Our first three in the fall and last two in the spring remain at 7:30, our normal evening time.
When asked who our favorite composer might be, we think the best response can be heard in our commitment to play the widest possible variety of your favorites, and to entice you to discover new dimensions and new favorites in each curated program.
Our programming explores relationships—stylistic, social, historical, seasonal—between composers and works; and, at the personal level, the exciting interactions among our member musicians and honored guests. The season is assembled from among the great works of the past, the classics of the present, and those that engage us in artistic challenges to come. In addition to masterpieces by Mozart, Schubert, and Brahms, the towering First Sonata for Violin and Piano by Béla Bartók returns to our stage after an absence of 26 years. Les Citations by Henri Dutilleux, a stunning virtuosic display inspired by two musical “war correspondents,” quotes music from the 16th through the 20th centuries. It appears along with others intended to honor veterans and show “sympathy with peace and justice” following the national holiday in November.
You will have the opportunities to witness two Boston premieres: the Sonata for Viola and Piano by John Harbison, and the latest gift to us all from the BCMS Commissioning Club, Joan Tower’s Viola Quintet entitled “Purple Rain.” We also perform for the first time works by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel and Clara Schumann, and in our season finale the brilliant First Piano Quintet by Grażyna Bacewicz.
Your continued and generous support for our series and our commitments to the wider community—through our work at Somerville High School, our annual chamber music workshop at MIT, our engagement of talented young players and thinkers through NEC’s visionary Entrepreneurial Musicianship Program, and your presence at our open rehearsals and residencies—allows us to make our favorites your favorites.
Many thanks,
Marcus A. Thompson, Artistic Director
