Sunday, March 11, 2012 at 4 p.m.

Program

Elgar: Serenade for Strings
Schoenberg: Transfigured Night
Brahms: Sextet in G Major, op. 36

After more than a decade before the public the Concertante String Ensemble has established itself as a chamber group combining in equal measure world class virtuosity and adventurousness. The six virtuoso members of the ensemble perform in varied combinations in a wide array of repertoire ranging from works by established masters to less often performed composers. As solo performers who have won important national and international music competitions, they have appeared in such major venues as New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Royal Festival Hall, and Shanghai’s Grand Theatre. Concertante has always had a strong commitment to new music, undertaking commissioning projects involving several contemporary composers.

Since its founding, Concertante has performed works of such noted composers as Josef Bardanashvili, Justine Chen, Tina Davison, Steven R. Gerber, David Ludwig, Jan Radzynski, Sheila Silver, and Oded Zehavi. It has also offered infrequently performed chamber works by such celebrated composers as Enesco, John Adams, Schoenberg, Martinu, Korngold, and Frank Bridge among others. Throughout its career Concertante has been active in the recording studio and has received high critical praise for its CDs on the internationally distributed Helicon label. Its most recent recording for this label features Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s String Sextet in D Major, op. 10, and Frank Bridge’s String Sextet in E-Flat Major (1912). For the 2010-11 season Concertante returns to perform its regular series at New York’s Merkin Hall and in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, at the Rose Lehrman Arts Center.