Brahms/Haydn Variations

Brahms/Haydn Variations

Haydn: String Quartet in F minor, Op. 20 no. 5
Dahl: Concerto a Tre
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115
with Burt Hara, clarinet; Erin Keefe, violin

Accordo closes out its third season with Brahms' monumental Clarinet
Quintet, one of three pieces he wrote at the end of his life for the
brilliant young clarinetist Richard Muhlfeld (after he had decided to
stop composing), and one of the most tragic, intimate, and heartrendingly
beautiful pieces of music ever written.  The Minnesota Orchestra's own
brilliant Principal Clarinetist Burt Hara joins forces with Accordo to
perform the Brahms, as well as the rarely heard  Concerto a Tre by
film and radio composer Ingolf Dahl, given its premiere in 1947 by jazz
legend Benny Goodman.  Mozart's hero Joseph Haydn earned his reputation
as the 'father of the string quartet' with the Op. 20 quartets, and the
haunting opening melody of the fifth quartet begins this rich and
varied spring evening of chamber music.

In 24 years as the Minnesota
Orchestra's principal clarinet, Burt Hara has drawn acclaim for his solo
appearances-in works of Nielsen, Debussy, Weber, Copland, Bernstein and
others-and many chamber performances.

Before his appointment in
Minnesota, Hara was principal clarinet of the Alabama Symphony. He also served
for one year as principal clarinet of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
An active chamber musician,
Hara has performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Pensacola Chamber Festival, Santa
Fe Chamber Music Festival, Music in the Vineyards, Salt Bay Chamberfest, La
Jolla Music Society SummerFest, and the Minnesota Orchestra's Sommerfest.

Hara has been a faculty member at the
University of Alabama and University of Montevallo and now serves on the faculty
of the University of Minnesota School of Music. He is also a faculty member of
the Aspen Music Festival.

A native of California, Hara
is a Buffet Crampon USA performing artist.

Accordo, established in 2009, is a Minnesota-based chamber
group made up of some of the very best instrumentalists in the country,
eager to share their love of classical and contemporary chamber music in
intimate and unique performance spaces. Its 2011/12 season will be
presented by Kate Nordstrum Projects, Northrop Concerts & Lectures
and The Schubert Club at the National Historic Landmark Christ Church
Lutheran, one of the Twin Cities' great architectural treasures designed
by the esteemed architect Eliel Saarinen and his son Eero Saarinen.

Accordo includes SPCO principal players Steve Copes, Ruggero
Allifranchini, Maiya Papach, and Ron Thomas and Minnesota Orchestra
principal cellist Tony Ross. This season also includes guest artists
Rebecca Albers, Ian Ding, Erin Keefe, and Burt Hara.