greetings - this weekend Rockport Music has an embarassment of
riches - two exciting prorgrams to chase away the mid winter blues.
On Saturday, February 23, starting at 2:00,
Rockport Music's second in-depth adult education event will take place
at the Shalin Liu Performance Center. Built around the evening concert
by the Jasper String Quartet, the afternoon and
early evening offers lectures on the cuture, times and music of
Beethoven and Haydn, and a look at how players' approach 20th and 21st
century music. Also offered will be tips for listeners when the going
gets rough with contemporary music. The Jasper Quartet
will treat participants to an open rehearsal, and as always food and
wine will play their part in making the day memorable. Flyer is
attached with information about the day. The Jasper Quartet is, in my
opinion, the Real Deal, and I am excited to hear them
again.
On Sunday, February 24, two young (16 year old)
energetic musicians will give a concert of piano and cello music,
including music by Beethoven, Debussy, and their own compositions. In
earler days it was the norm for performers to also
be composers, and these two teenagers are successfully reviving that
tradition. Both are national contest winners on their instrument
(cellist Lev Mamuya just won the Sphinx Competition on Sunday at the
same moment that pianist Chris Staknys was performing
Tchaikovsky at NEC) as well as commissioned composers. It doesn't get
much better than this!
I hope you will join us for these two events,
which underline Rockport Music's commitment to a culture of learning
and fostering emerging artists.
Tickets for the Jasper Quartet concert and One
Day University are available at the box office. The Sunday concert is
free, no tickets required.