Music From Salem
Sunday, February 23, 2025 | 4:00PM
Guest Series - Not included in Season Pass
Join Music from Salem on February 23rd, 2025 for their second-ever concert at Fort Salem Theater. The program features dramatic masterpieces for string quartet and trio by Johannes Brahms and Alfred Schnittke.
“I set down a beautiful chord on paper and suddenly it rusts…”
In 1980, under suspicion by the Soviets, Alfred Schnittke was banned from traveling outside of Russia. One of the most acclaimed composers of the late 20th century, he was fascinated by decay, by ideas of predestination and mysticism, and by the modern person's moral and spiritual fight for survival, all almost physically depicted in his 1985 String Trio.
In 1873, at the age of forty, Johannes Brahms was ready to follow in Beethoven’s footsteps when he finally composed his first two string quartets, Op. 51, after reportedly destroying nearly two dozen drafts. The compelling C Minor quartet sweeps the listener away from the start to finish with burning intensity and radiance.
MfS Artistic Director and violist Lila Brown, recently retired from the Boston Conservatory faculty and happily residing in Salem after twenty years of concertizing in Europe, will be joined for by three illustrious colleagues:
Calvin Wiersma, former violinist of the Manhattan String Quartet, has been on the faculties of SUNY Purchase, The Manhattan School of Music, and Ithaca College.
Amanda Brin, the first violinist of the Hyperion String Quartet, and is on the faculty of Skidmore College.
And international prize-winning cellist Mihai Marica, a performer with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society and the Apollo Piano Trio.