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The Mendelssohn String Quartet Series
Featuring the Pacifica Quartet
“A new gold standard for performances of Mendelssohn’s string quartets.”
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The string quartet medium remained close to Mendelssohn’s heart throughout his creative life and represents a vital component of his chamber music catalogue. Music@Menlo’s summerlong presentation of this important cycle of works features the acclaimed Pacifica Quartet, winner of the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance, in its festival debut. The cycle begins with the rarely heard String Quartet in E-flat Major, Mendelssohn’s first full-length effort in the genre, composed in less than two weeks when the composer was fourteen years old. The subsequent string quartets, opp. 12, 13, 44, 80, and 81, trace Mendelssohn’s creative journey from his youthful absorption of Beethoven’s innovations to the unbridled Romantic expression that dominated his own final months.
Download concert program notes (pdf format). »
TUESDAY, JULY 21
PROGRAM I: The Early Quartets
8:00 p.m., St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
Tickets: $50/$35 adult; $25/$10 student
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Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
String Quartet in E-flat Major (1823)
String Quartet no. 1 in E-flat Major, op. 12 (1829)
String Quartet no. 2 in a minor, op. 13 (1827)
Prelude Performance*
6:00 p.m., St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
Free Admission
FRIDAY, JULY 31
PROGRAM II: The Opus 44 Quartets
8:00 p.m., St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
Tickets: $50/$35 adult; $25/$10 student
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Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
String Quartet in D Major, op. 44, no. 1 (1838)
String Quartet in e minor, op. 44, no. 2 (1837)
String Quartet in E-flat Major, op. 44, no. 3 (1838)
FRIDAY, AUGUST 7
PROGRAM III: The Final Quartets, opp. 80 and 81
8:00 p.m., St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
Tickets: $50/$35 adult; $25/$10 student
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Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
Fugue in E-flat Major, op. 81, no. 4 (1827)
Capriccio in e minor, op. 81, no. 3 (1843)
Andante and Scherzo, op. 81, nos. 1–2 (1847)
String Quartet in f minor, op. 80 (1847)
Prelude Performance*
6:00 p.m., St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
Free Admission
Artists
Pacifica Quartet
Simin Ganatra violin
Sibbi Bernhardsson violin
Masumi Per Rostad viola
Brandon Vamos cello