These concerts have been canceled.
Programs in Green Bay and Door County highlight composers who borrowed elements from other types of music and compositional styles.
Midsummer’s Music’s resident string quartet, the Griffon String Quartet, will perform three inspiring March concerts featuring classical music with elements borrowed from other types of music and compositional styles.
Composed between 1921 and 1929, Amy Beach’s String Quartet, Op. 89, is an early 20th century Romantic piece that incorporates native American Intuit music into her own eclectic style. The Intuit are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous people traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America. Among myriad traditions, music is an important part of the culture.
Pianist Nikolai Kapustin was born in Ukraine in 1937 and was classically trained at the Moscow Conservatory. His String Quartet No. 1, Op. 88, combines classical music with jazz foundations, which is a hallmark of his compositional style. Following Josef Stalin’s death, Kapustin was exposed to jazz – a style of music that was banned in the USSR – on the “Voice of America” radio show. Until recently, the composer’s works were not available in the West.
String Quartet No. 1, Op. 4, by Alexander von Zemlinsky was influenced by works by Johannes Brahms. Brahms even attended at least two performances of Zemlinsky’s pieces – a symphony and a quartet – and was impressed enough to recommend the young composer’s Clarinet Trio to be published.
Concerts will be at 5:00pm, March 15, at Hope United Church of Christ in Sturgeon Bay; 3:00pm, March 16, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Green Bay; and at 3:00pm, March 17, at the Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor. Admission is free to the concerts, and tickets can be reserved at midsummersmusic.com or by calling 920-854-7088. Donations will be accepted at the door. Griffon String Quartet musicians will be Roy Meyer and Alex Norris, violins, Kayla Patrick, viola, and Jesse Nummelin, cello.
Programs are funded in part by grants from Bader Philanthropies, the Door County Community Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Wisconsin Arts Board. Programs in Green Bay are funded in part by grants from the Green Bay Packers Foundation and the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation.
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.
A high-resolution Griffon String Quartet photo can be downloaded at:
https://www.midsummersmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/march-concerts-griffon-headshot.jpg
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For Calendar Listings:
Name: Gather with the Griffon
Description: The miniconcerts are designed for midday audiences. B Double Sharp programs engage the mind and spirit through music and conversation. Programs are funded in part by grants from Bader Philanthropies, the Door County Community Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Wisconsin Arts Board. Programs in Green Bay are funded in part by grants from the Green Bay Packers Foundation and the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation.
Dates: March 7, 2024, April 11, 2024, May 9, 2024
Time/Location: 12:00pm, First Presbyterian Church, 200 S Ashland Ave., Green Bay, WI 54303
Name: Seven Last Words of Christ
Description: The Seven Last Words of Our Savior on the Cross (German: Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze) is an orchestral work by Franz Joseph Haydn, commissioned in 1786 for the Good Friday service at Oratorio de la Santa Cueva (Holy Cave Oratory) in Cádiz, Spain.
Midsummer’s Music presents the Pro Arte Quartet along with community speakers at Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church in Ellison Bay and First Presbyterian Church in Green Bay for this moving piece.
David Perry and Suzanne Beia, violins
Sally Chisholm, viola
Parry Karp, cello
Date 1: March 8, 2024
Time/Location: 5:00pm, Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church, 11836 WI-42, Ellison Bay, WI 54210
Date 2: March 9, 2024
Time/Location: 3:00pm, First Presbyterian Church, 200 S Ashland Ave., Green Bay, WI 54303
Name: Griffon String Quartet Outreach
Description: The Griffon String Quartet presents a special performance at the Aging & Disability Resource Center in Sturgeon Bay.
Date: March 13, 2024
Time/Location: 1:00pm, 916 N 14th Ave., Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235
Name: Griffon String Quartet Outreach
Description: The Griffon String Quartet presents a special performance at the Green Bay Botanical Gardens for the Brain Center of Green Bay.
Date: March 13, 2024
Time/Location: 5:00pm, 2600 Larsen Rd., Green Bay, WI 54303
Name: Griffon String Quartet Spring Concert
Description: The Griffon String Quartet plays music by Amy Beach, Nikolai Kapustin, and Alexander Von Zemlinsky.
Date 1: March 15, 2024
Time/Location: 5:00pm, Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235
Date 2: March 16, 2024
Time/Location: 3:00pm, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1313 Main St., Green Bay, WI 54302
Date 3: March 17, 2024
Time/Location: 3:00pm, Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor, WI 54209
Name: Griffon String Quartet Outreach
Description: The Griffon String Quartet performs for clients and staff at Pinecrest Assisted Living.
Date: April 12, 2024
Time/Location: 11:00am, Pinecrest Assisted Living, 1241 N 18th Ave., Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235
Name: Griffon String Quartet Outreach
Description: The Griffon String Quartet presents a special performance at the Green Bay Botanical Gardens for the Brain Center of Green Bay.
Date 1 : April 15, 2024
Time/Location: 10:30am, 2600 Larsen Rd., Green Bay, WI 54303
Date 2 : April 16, 2024
Time/Location: 10:30am, 2600 Larsen Rd., Green Bay, WI 54303
Name: Griffon String Quartet Students Recital
Description: Students of the Griffon String Quartet perform their annual recital concert.
Date: May 12, 2024
Time/Location: 3:00pm, Hope United Church of Christ, 141 S 12th Ave., Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235
Griffon String Quartet Season Finale Concert
Date 1: May 24, 2024
Time/Location: TBD, TBD
Date 2: May 25, 2024
Time/Location: TBD, TBD
Date 3: May 26, 2024
Time/Location: 3:00pm, Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor, WI 54209