Midsummer’s Music Puts Brahms in the Spotlight

Pairing well known composers with more obscure composers, composers of color, and women composers is a Midsummer’s Music hallmark.

Midsummer’s Music is a leader among chamber music organizations in presenting works by lesser-known composers – especially composers of color and women composers – often alongside household names like Beethoven and Mozart. With its Brahms in the Spotlight program, audiences will be treated to all three: a contemporary woman composer of color, a relatively unfamiliar 18th century composer, and the renowned Johannes Brahms.

“One of my finest works,” is what Brahms said to Clara Schumann about his String Quintet in F Major, Op. 88, for two violins, two violas, and a cello, a piece dating from 1882 when Brahms was 49. He wrote “in the spring of 1882” by each movement, which is why the work is also known as “Spring.” The nickname also applies to the fresh and colorful mood of the music.

Brahms was the inspiration for Sir Arthur Somervell’s masterful Clarinet Quintet in G Major. While most of Somervell’s compositions were for voice, this chamber piece from 1913 is now considered an extraordinarily fine work; however, when it finally premiered in 1919, its Romantic style was already out of fashion, and it was nearly lost to the ages.

Brahms’ and Somervell’s two works are preceded by the hauntingly beautiful, African American Spiritual-inspired Movements for String Quartet by Nkeiru Okoye, a young American composer of Nigerian ancestry. Okoye is described as an “activist through the arts,” who creates works that affirm traditional and new audiences. Of her many styles of music, she is most known for her accessible classical music with African American and West African influences.

Brahms in the Spotlight program musicians are JJ Koh, clarinet; David Perry and Ann Palen, violins; Christopher Dozoryst and Allyson Fleck, violas; and Paula Kosower, cello.

Performances are 7:00pm, July 6, at Egg Harbor’s Kress Pavilion, sponsored by Mike & Susan Stoehr; 7:00pm, July 7, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Ephraim, sponsored by Barbara Gould; 7:00pm, July 8, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Sister Bay; and 5:00pm, July 9, at Woodwalk Gallery in Egg Harbor, sponsored by Susan DeWitt Davie.

A complete 2023 summer brochure can be downloaded at www.midsummersmusic.com.

Tickets are $38 for adults, $17 for students, and children 12 and under are free with an adult. Premium prices apply for special events. Flex-packs of six tickets for the price of five tickets are also available. Tickets can be ordered at www.midsummersmusic.com or by phone at 920-854-7088.

Midsummer’s Music was co-founded in 1990 by Jim and Jean Berkenstock, long-time Door County summer residents and principal orchestral players with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. What began as two concerts among friends has become one of the Midwest’s most anticipated chamber music series, bringing thousands of chamber music enthusiasts from around the globe to the magical Door County Peninsula.

For more information visit www.midsummersmusic.com.

High-resolution photos can be downloaded at https://www.midsummersmusic.com/photos/.

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For Calendar Listings:

Women to be Heard

Musica Larga                                                     Ilse Fromm-Michaels

Quartet in E-flat Major                                   Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel

String Quintet in A Minor, Op. 7                 Johanna Müller-Hermann

June 22, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor

June 23, 7:00 pm: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim

June 24, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay

June 25, 5:00 pm: Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor

 

Remembering Rachmaninoff, Remembering Tchaikovsky

Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11, “Accordion”                                                    Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky

Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 9, “In Memory of a Great Artist”       Sergei Rachmaninoff

June 29, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor

June 30, 7:00 pm: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim

July 1, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay

July 2, 5:00 pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay

 

Brahms in the Spotlight

Movements for String Quartet                                       Nkeiru Okoye

Quintet in G Major                                                              Sir Arthur Somervell

String Quintet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 88, “Spring”     Johannes Brahms

July 6, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor

July 7, 7:00 pm: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim

July 8, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay

July 9, 5:00 pm: Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor

 

Eric Lewis Meets Will Healy

Door County favorite Eric Lewis joins forces with Midsummer’s own Composer-in-Residence Will Healy to create a truly one-of-a-kind program. Being presented only twice, you do not want to miss a single note of this incredible collaboration, including a world premiere by Will!

July 13, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor

July 14, 7:00 pm: Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church, Ellison Bay

 

Emperor Concerto & Jeannie Yu

Quartet in D Major, Op. 8                                                                                     Bernhard Henrik Crusell

Symphony No. 95 in C Minor (Salomon arr.)                                                 Joseph Haydn

Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73, “Emperor” (Lachner arr.)         Ludwig van Beethoven

July 15, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay

July 16, 5:00 pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay

July 19, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor

July 21, 7:00 pm: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim

 

Haydn (Michael) & Mendelssohn

String Quintet in C Major, P. 108                        Michael Haydn

Phantasy Quartet                                                     Ernest John Moeran

Quintet No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 87                Felix Mendelssohn

July 20, 7:00 pm: Old Gibraltar Town Hall, Fish Creek

July 22, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay

July 23, 5:00 pm: Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor

July 26, 7:00 pm: Sister Bay Moravian Church, Sister Bay

 

Schubert Trio

Piano Trio No. 2                                          Dmytro Klebanov

Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat, D. 898           Franz Schubert

July 27, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor

July 28, 7:00 pm: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim

July 29, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay

July 30, 5:00 pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay

 

19th Century French Rapture

Quintet in C Minor, Op. 42                      Louis Vierne

Quintet No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 7            Charles-Marie Widor

August 23, 7:00 pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay

August 24, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor

August 25, 7:00 pm: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim

August 26, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay

 

Splendid Stories

Four Two-Bit Contraptions                           Jan Bach

En Saga, Op. 9 (Gregory Barrett arr.)       Jean Sibelius

Quintet in G Major, Op. 77                           Antonín Dvořák

August 27, 5:00 pm: Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor

August 29, 7:00 pm: Björklunden, Baileys Harbor

August 30, 7:00 pm: Mutchler Residence Salon Concert, Sturgeon Bay

August 31, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor

September 3, 3:00 pm: The Clearing Folk School, Ellison Bay

 

Celebratory Fireworks!

Piano Quartet in D Minor, Op. 25           Dora Pejacevic

Café Music                                                      Paul Schoenfeld

Piano Quartet in C Minor, Op. 13           Richard Strauss

September 1, 7:00 pm: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim

September 2, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay

September 4, 3:00 pm: Labor Day Gala, Björklunden, Baileys Harbor