September 21, 2009
Shriver Hall Concert Series announces 2009–2010 season
Shriver Hall Concert Series, recognized five times for “Best Classical Music” by Baltimore magazine, opens its 44th subscription season on Sunday, Oct. 18, in Shriver Hall Auditorium on the Johns Hopkins Homewood campus. The 2009–2010 season presents eight subscription concerts, all at 5:30 p.m. on Sundays, by solo recitalists and chamber ensembles and four free Discovery Series concerts, on Saturdays at 3 p.m., at the Baltimore Museum of Art.
On Oct. 18, the Belcea Quartet, praised for its power and technical accomplishment, makes its series debut in a program of Haydn, Shostakovich and Beethoven. Legendary for her dazzling technique, violinist Midori makes her series debut along with pianist Robert McDonald on Nov.1, performing works by Hindemith, Brahms, Bach, de Falla and Ravel. Juilliard String Quartet, internationally renowned for more than a half-century, returns to Shriver Hall on Dec. 6 in a program of Mendelssohn, Davidovsky and Schumann.
Ending a 30-year absence from the series, pianist Emanuel Ax, acclaimed for his poetic temperament and unsurpassed virtuosity, returns on Jan. 31, in a program celebrating the “Chopin and Schumann Year.” And on Feb. 21, Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena makes her series debut with audience favorite Yefim Bronfman in works by Schumann, Ravel, Rachmaninoff and Bartok.
Spring brings the annual Early Music Concert and the series debut of Piffaro, the Renaissance Band on March 21 in “Music for a Renaissance Wind Band from the Time of Elizabeth I.” Cellist Alisa Weilerstein returns on April 11 with Israeli piano sensation Inon Barnatan, in his series debut, performing Beethoven, Britten and Rachmaninoff. The 2009–2010 season concludes on April 25 with the series debut of the Hagen Quartet, known for its unique, finely nuanced timbre and engaging immediacy, playing Beethoven, Webern and Grieg.
The Discovery Series presents four rising-star performers in collaboration with the BMA, whose docents lead concert-related tours one hour before each concert. Concerts are free, but reservations are suggested.
Innovative pianist Christopher Taylor begins the series on Oct. 24 in a program of Beethoven, Bermel and Rzewski. The Prague-based Pavel Haas Quartet performs Britten, Ravel and Dvorak on Nov. 14, followed on March 13 by French cellist Jean-Guihen Queryas and pianist Alexandre Tharaud, considered among the definitive interpreters of the French greats from Couperin through Ravel. The season concludes on May 8 with a series tradition—a recital by the winner of the Yale Gordon Concerto Competition; this year, Norwegian-born cellist Hans Kristian Goldstein performs.
For more information about these events or to order subscription or individual-concert tickets, go to www.shriverconcerts.org or call 410-516-7164.