Concert Program II

ILLUMINATED: Life Stories

“Where words fail, music speaks.” —Hans Christian Andersen

“Illuminated” presents three deeply personal stories told through music, illuminating these composers’ experiences of facing the profound challenges of life. Beethoven’s Opus 135 Quartet asks timeless questions as the composer confronts his own mortality. Janáček’s Intimate Letters tells the story of unrequited love and complicated desire. And in Smetana’s richly colorful and exciting String Quartet no. 1, From My Life, in the final movement we witness the composer wrestling with his own hearing loss.

Download concert program notes (pdf format).»

Program
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770–1827): String Quartet in F Major, op. 135 (1826)
Leoš JANÁČEK (1854–1928): String Quartet no. 2, Intimate Letters (1928)
Bedřich SMETANA (1824–1884): String Quartet no. 1, From My Life (1876)

Artists
Pacifica Quartet
  Simin Ganatra, Sibbi Bernhardsson, violins
  Masumi Per Rostad, viola
  Brandon Vamos, cello

Tuesday, July 24

8:00 p.m., Stent Family Hall, Menlo School
Tickets: $75 adult; $35 student
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Prelude Performance*
6:00 p.m., Martin Family Hall
Free Admission

Wednesday, July 25

8:00 p.m., St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
Tickets: $55/$40 adult; $25/$10 student
Buy Now»

Prelude Performance*
6:00 p.m., St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
Free Admission

* Prelude Performances feature young artists from the Chamber Music Institute. Admission is free. Learn more.»

Image: Ludwig van Beethoven’s writing desk with some of his personal belongings. Location: Beethoven House, Bonn, Germany. Photo credit: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY