THE BOX IS EMPTY’S TOP PICK:

Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra – Chamber Music. The Chapel, Seattle, WA. February 2, 2013, 2:00 p.m..

This week the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra and the Oceana String Quartet bring a concert full of tremendous chamber music featuring Schoenberg’s early masterpiece for strings, Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4.  Composed just before the turn of the 20th century, Verklärte Nacht, which means Transfigured Night, is characteristically romantic of the young Schoenberg.  It will, for those who only think of Schoenberg in dodecaphonic terms, perhaps sound surprisingly warm, and will, to anyone’s ears, be absolutely beautiful.  Presented by SMCO in its original six-player version, Varklärte Nacht should sound as intimate as the poem on which it is based, which describes a moonlit walk shared by a man and a woman.

Alongside the Schoenberg on Saturday’s program will be music for strings by Mendelssohn, music for brass by Bozza, and music for winds by Nielsen.  The concert presents a rare opportunity to hear chamber music by various instrument groups.  Not only will it be possible to hear Mendelssohn’s influence on later music, but also to how wonderfully suited each composer’s style is to each chamber ensemble.  Whether is be Bozza’s writing for brass, Nielsen’s for winds, or Schoenberg’s writing for string’s, this brilliantly programmed concert offers the opportunity to hear this musical as personally as it should be heard.  In the words of Transfigured Night

Look, how brightly the universe shines!

Splendour falls on everything around,

you are voyaging with me on a cold sea,

but there is the glow of an inner warmth

from you in me, from me in you.

GO LISTEN!

* * * 

HAPPENING THIS WEEK – 1/21/2013-1/27/2013 – Seattle:

• Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra – Chamber Music. The Chapel, Seattle, WA. February 2, 2013, 2:00 p.m..

HAPPENING THIS WEEK – 1/21/2013-1/27/2013 – Elsewhere:

• Amanda DeBoer Bartlett – Dal Niente presents Voices. Music Institute of Chicago, Evanston, IL. January 31, 2013.

HAPPENING SOON:

• Amanda DeBoer Bartlett – I Vapor Breath CD release party.  The Mastercroft Building, Omaha, NE.  February 6, 2013, 7:00 p.m..
• Seattle Modern Orchestra – Delirious Serialists!. Poncho Hall, Seattle, WA. February 8, 2013, 8:00 p.m..
• Leah Maria Villareal – Hotel Elefant: Experiments in Opera.  Issue Project Room, Brooklyn, NY.  February 9, 2013
• Kate Maroney – Liebeslieder Waltzer.  Sprague Hall, New Haven, CT. February 9, 2013, 8:00 p.m..
• Seattle Modern Orchestra – Derlious Serialists: Music by Maderna, Nono, and Boulez.  Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA.  February 9, 2013, 8:00 p.m..
• Amanda DeBoer Bartlett – Deer Hoof and Dal Niente at the Ecstatic Music Festival.  Merkin Concert Hall, New York, NY.  February 20, 2012, 7:30 p.m..
• Leah Kardos – New work premiered by Kelly Lovelady and Ruthless Jabiru.  London, UK.  March 2013.
• Nat Evans/Evan Smith – Solo Recital and Two Old Ghosts World Premiere. Aasen-Hull Hall, Eugene, OR. March 2, 2013.
• Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble – Guest Artist at Cadre’s Annual Concert.  Columbia College, Chicago, IL.  March 8, 2013.
• People Inside Electronics – Electric Virtuosity. Monk Space, Los Angeles, CA. March 9, 2013, 8:00 p.m..
• Lindsay Kesselman/Kate Maroney – Einstein on the Beach.  Hong Kong Cultural Center, Hong Kong. March 8-10, 2013.
• Parnassus Project – Music at Covington Library. Covington Library Covington, WA.  March 24, 2013, 2:00 p.m..
• Lindsay Kesselman – Violations by Hannah Lash.  Yale University, New Haven, CT.  March 28, 2013, 8:00 p.m..
• Byron Au Young – Stuck Elevator World Premiere. American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco, CA.  April 4-18, 2013.
• Evan Smith – The Box Is Empty Solo Recital. The Chapel, Seattle, WA. April 12, 2013, 7:30 p.m..
• Amy Beth Kirsten – The Gift World Premiere.  Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh, PA. April 16, 2013, 8:00 p.m..
• Kate Maroney – St. John Passion. Concordia College, NY.  April 21, 2013, 4:00 p.m..
• Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble – Workshop with Dal Niente and Robert Honstein.  High Concept Labs, Chicago, IL. May 10-11, 2013.
• Kate Maroney – Quagmires and the Known Knowns World Premiere. Galapagos Art Space, Brooklyn, NY. May 21, 2013, 8:00 p.m..
• Amanda DeBoer Bartlett – Dal Niente presents Jesse Langen, guitar. Unfamiliar Music Series, Chicago, IL. May 22, 2013.
• Seattle Modern Orchestra – Music in Space. The Chapel, Seattle, WA. June 1, 2013, 8:00 p.m..
• Parnassus Project – Music at Everett Public Library.  Everett Public Library, Everett, WA.  June 2, 2013, 2:00 p.m..
• Marc Yeats – Pathos World Premiere. Lumin, London, UK. June 8, 2013.
• Amy Beth Kirsten – Kiss to the Earth World Premiere. Missouri Chamber Music Festival, St. Louis, MO. June 17, 2013.
• Kate Maroney – All Night Vigil. New Haven Festival Arts and Ideas, New Haven CT. June 21, 2013.
• Byron Au Young – Party Pieces with Cage 100.  Leipzig and New York.  July 2013.
• Ryan Keebaugh – Frequency: New Music in the Valley.  Shenandoah Valley, VA.  Summer 2013.
• John Teske – Broken Bow Ensemble. Rainer Valley Cultural Center, Seattle, WA. September 21, 2013.
• John Teske – Broken Bow Ensemble. The Chapel, Seattle, WA. September 28, 2013.

* * *