Classical musicians from various organizations look forward to having the Sundays at Three series as a reliable chamber music gig in Columbia.
It’s an especially welcoming venue for members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, as will be heard when the Clipper Mill String Quartet performs Sunday at 3 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church.
Named for the North Baltimore neighborhood that is close to where some of its members live, the Clipper Mill String Quartet is a Sundays at Three veteran.
Karin Brown, assistant principal viola with the BSO, has a strong interest in new music and, more specifically, works by female composers. Active as a solo and chamber musician in Baltimore and Washington, she includes the Sundays at Three series among the venues she favors.
Violinist Kevin Smith, who joined the BSO as acting assistant concertmaster in 2015, was previously a member of the Akron and Canton symphony orchestras in Ohio.
Ivan Stefanovic, who is associate principal second violin with the BSO, began his career far from Maryland. Born in Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia, he came to the United States at age 16, received his Bachelor of Music degree and artist diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music and joined the BSO in 1991.
Stefanovic is well-known to classical music fans in the area, because of his performance ties to groups including the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra and Pro Musica Rara. He is also co-artistic director of the Chamber Music by Candlelight series in Baltimore City.
Cellist Daniel Levitov is a regular substitute with the BSO, and so it’s fair to think of him as part of the BSO family. His day job is at the Peabody Institute, where his administrative duties include serving as conductor of the Preparatory Young Artists Orchestra.
The group’s upcoming Columbia concert has selections ranging from the late 18th through the early 20th centuries.
Franz Joseph Haydn’s string quartet in C major, “The Emperor Quartet,” is one of six string quartets that Haydn composed around 1797 — relatively late in his career. Indeed, this is the final set of string quartets he composed.
As for the “Emperor” name by which it is commonly known, the explanation comes in a second movement that works variations on an anthem called “God Save Emperor Francis” that the composer wrote for Emperor Francis II. If this music sounds familiar, that’s because it uses the same melody as the Austrian national anthem.
Franz Schubert’s string quartet No. 12 in C minor, “Quartettsatz,” was composed in 1820. It’s actually the first movement of an unfinished string quartet. A later composer essentially came to the rescue and completed the musical fragment. Johannes Brahms owned the manuscript score, arranged for its posthumous premiere in Vienna in 1867, and also edited and published that score the following year.
Pushing into the early 20th century, Paul Hindemith’s string quartet No. 4 was composed in 1921. Of the seven string quartets written by Hindemith, this is the one that gets performed most often.
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