Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble In an Enlightening Evening of Performance & Discussion

Program Highlights Early Work by Brahms, Shostakovich and Mendelssohn

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Andrew Zender, azender@umd.edu
(301) 405-8151

September 25, 2009 — College Park, Md. — Under the leadership of artistic director Kenneth Sillito, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble will perform selections from Brahms, Shostakovich and Mendelssohn at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center’s Dekelboum Concert Hall Friday, Oct. 9, 2009 at 8 p.m., focusing on works developed by each of the composers in their early years. WETA on-air personality Nicole Lacroix will lead a pre-performance lecture on the musical selections featured in this performance, to take place at 7 p.m. in the Leah M. Smith Lecture Hall (Room 2200).

Drawn from the principal players of The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the string octet appearing at the Center on October 9 is comprised of Sillito, violin; Harvey de Souza, violin; Jennifer Godson, violin; Martin Burgess, violin; Robert Smissen, viola; Duncan Ferguson, viola; Stephen Orton, cello and John Heley, cello. The ensemble will begin the program with Brahms’s Sextet in B-Flat Major, op. 18, a four-movement piece completed in 1860 when the composer was in his twenties, balancing his love for his early influences and developing his own voice.

Shostakovich’s Prelude and Scherzo for String Octet, op. 11 follows. This work dates from the composer’s student days at the Leningrad Conservatory in 1924-1925. As it was written in memory of Shostakovich’s close friend and poet Volodya Kurchavov, who died in 1925, expressions of mourning and anguish characterize the Prelude. The Scherzo is far more aggressive and dissonant – it has been asserted that it anticipates the “shrieking” effects used for the infamous shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s cult film “Psycho.”

The program will close with Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings in Eb-Major, op. 20, a work that has been identified by many scholars and critics as a signpost of the composer’s genius in his teenage years – having been written when he was only 16 – it and bridges the gap between Mendelssohn the chamber composer and Mendelssohn the symphonist. Attendees will have an opportunity to interact directly with the artists during a Talk Back session as well as a Meet and Greet following the performance.

The London-based Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble was created in 1967 to perform the larger chamber works — from quintets to octets — with players who customarily work together, instead of the usual configuration of string quartet with additional guests. With annual visits to France, Germany, and Spain, and frequent tours to North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Taiwan, the Chamber Ensemble tours as a string octet, string sextet and in other configurations.

The larger Academy of St. Martin in the Fields orchestra was formed in 1958, giving its first performance in its namesake church a year later. Five decades and 500 recordings later, the Academy extends its reach beyond the stage and into the classroom as well, remaining active in a variety of education and outreach programs.

Tickets are $37 for the general public and $9 for full-time students with I.D. Tickets are available by visiting www.claricesmithcenter.umd.edu or calling (301) 405-ARTS (2787). The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is located at the intersection of University Boulevard (Route 193) and Stadium Drive in College Park, on the campus of the University of Maryland. A parking garage is located across the street from the Center.

The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is funded by an operating grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. Funding for the Maryland State Arts Council is also provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, which believes that a great nation deserves great art. Additional support is generously provided by a grant from the Leading College and University Presenters Program of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and by a generous grant from The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation.