A Most Unusual Brahms Festival

Gallery Concerts celebrates the 175^th Anniversary of the Birth of Johannes Brahms—a fitting occasion to discover some of the lesser-known gems by this musical genius and his contemporaries, all performed with period instruments, including “The Governor’s Chickering.”

 

November 15^th & 16^th     Brahms Girls

Ya-Li Lee Cheng, soprano, Sarah Barratt Markovits, soprano, Sarra Sharif, mezzo soprano, Melanie Stevens, mezzo soprano,  Stacey Sunde, mezzo soprano, Nancy Zylstra, director

They all had crushes on the handsome young Brahms, and the feeling was mutual!  Recapture the poignant musical moment when the greatest joy in Brahms’s life was conducting his little choir of young ladies in Hamburg.  Brahms Girls, Seattle’s brand new  a cappella solo vocal women’s quartet, directed by Nancy Zylstra, will enchant you with Renaissance music, original pieces by Brahms, and lovely arrangements of German folksongs once sung by Brahms’s lovely little ensemble.  If you like Anonymous 4, you’ll love Brahms Girls!

November 22^nd & 23^rd  At Home with Clara Schumann & Brahms

Raluca Marinescu, soprano, Cecilia Archuleta, violin, and Shuann Chai, Tamara Friedman, and George Bozarth, 1867 Chickering grand piano

Welcome to a party at the Schumanns’ home, where Brahms is the favorite guest.  The musical fare today will be intimate songs and piano pieces by Robert, Clara, and Johannes, and Brahms’s beautiful A-major Violin Sonata, Op. 100.  A Hausmusik treat!

November 29^th & 30^th        Hungarica!

The Chickering Quartet: Cecilia Archuleta, violin; Laurel Wells, viola; Page Smith, violoncello, and Shuann Chai, 1867 Chickering grand piano

Journey to the land of rhapsodic Gypsy violinists and fiery cimbalom players to experience the unbridled piano and chamber music of Franz Liszt, Ernst von Dohnanyi, and Johannes Brahms.  The Chickering Quartet—last season’s big hit—returns for their second annual Seattle concert, this year performing Brahms’s beloved G-minor Piano Quartet (with its wild Gypsy finale!), played on period instruments like you’ve never heard it before.