Het Ebony Kwartet speelt een Amerikaans programma: Barber, Shaw en Dvořák.
About the event
As part of the Elsrijk Chamber Music Concerts series, the Ebony Quartet performs an American program featuring works by Samuel Barber, Caroline Shaw, and Antonín Dvořák. The Ebony Quartet forms the core of the larger Ebony Band, an ensemble dedicated to performing lesser-known and banned music. The musicians are all members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Musicians
Anna de Vey Mestdagh (violin) has lived in Amstelveen for many years, like many members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (KCO). For this reason, the quartet belongs in the ‘Amstelveen Musicians’ series. The other members of the Ebony Quartet are: Marleen Asberg (violin), Roland Krämer (viola), and Boris Nedialkov (cello).
The Ebony Quartet has gained renown through, among other things, the CD *Unheard*, featuring music by composers whose work was banned by authoritarian regimes during the interwar period.
Program
• Samuel Barber (Pennsylvania, 1910–1981). String Quartet Op. 11 (1935). A beautiful and highly atmospheric piece of music that enjoys great renown. An absolute highlight of 20th-century music.
• Caroline Shaw (Greenville, North Carolina, 1981). *Entr’acte* (2011). Shaw is a contemporary composer achieving great success with her eclectic music. *Entr’acte* conveys the emotions the composer felt upon hearing one of Joseph Haydn’s early great string quartets. The piece possesses a truly breathtaking beauty.
• Antonín Dvořák (Prague, 1841–1904). String Quartet in F major, Op. 96, ‘American’. Composed in 1893 in the town of Spillville, Iowa (USA), where Dvořák was staying within a small community of Czech immigrants. In this piece, we recognize Bohemian influences, American folk music, and birdsong. This quartet, too, is a well-known staple of the chamber music repertoire. Magnificent music!
