At a Glance
Minnesota Orchestra musicians come together in small ensembles to perform cherished classics and innovative new music on Sunday afternoons in the Auditorium.
Did You Know?
- The final concert of the 2020-21 Chamber Music series teems with character and concludes with Louis Spohr’s Nonet, especially written to showcase the individual characters of its nine featured instruments.
- Andrew Norman, a participant in the 2004 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, is a Grammy-nominated composer and a member of the faculty at the USC Thornton School of Music. Gran Turismo was inspired by the unlikely combination of Baroque string playing, Italian futurist art and a car-racing video game.
- Façade began as an at-home project combining the artistic talents of British poet Edith Sitwell—whose poems were considered abstract, exotic and dramatic—and the young composer William Walton, who found himself “adopted” into the Sitwell family while studying at Oxford University.
- A child prodigy, composer-pianist Jean Françaix began writing music at the age of ten and was mentored and championed from a very young age by two other French musical geniuses, Maurice Ravel and Nadia Boulanger.
Program and Artists
FRANÇAIX
Woodwind Quartet / 11 min
- Greg Milliren, flute
- Julie Gramolini Williams, oboe
- Gregory T. Williams, clarinet
- J. Christopher Marshall, bassoon
NORMAN
Gran Turismo for Eight Virtuoso Violinists / 9 min
- Susie Park, violin
- Felicity James, violin
- Natsuki Kumagai, violin
- Sarah Grimes, violin
- Ben Odhner, violin
- Hanna Landrum, violin
- Sophia Mockler, violin
- Emily Switzer, violin
WALTON
Suite from Façade / 17 min
- Roma Duncan, flute and piccolo
- Timothy Zavadil, clarinet and bass clarinet
- James Romain, alto saxophone
- Douglas C. Carlsen, trumpet
- Katja Linfield, cello
- Kevin Watkins, percussion
INTERMISSION / 20 min
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Phantasy Quintet / 15 min
- Sophia Mockler, violin
- Milana Elise Reiche, violin
- Rebecca Albers, viola
- Kenneth Freed, viola
- Pitnarry Shin, cello
SPOHR
Nonet for Strings and Winds in F major / 28 min
- Rui Du, violin
- Gareth Zehngut, viola
- Pitnarry Shin, cello
- Kristen Bruya, bass
- Adam Kuenzel, flute
- Julie Gramolini Williams, oboe
- Gabriel Campos Zamora, clarinet
- Fei Xie, bassoon
- Ellen Dinwiddie Smith, horn
Accessibility at Orchestra Hall
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55403
CHAMBER MUSIC IN THE AUDITORIUM
Chamber Music: CHARACTER
At a Glance
Minnesota Orchestra musicians come together in small ensembles to perform cherished classics and innovative new music on Sunday afternoons in the Auditorium.
Did You Know?
- The final concert of the 2020-21 Chamber Music series teems with character and concludes with Louis Spohr’s Nonet, especially written to showcase the individual characters of its nine featured instruments.
- Andrew Norman, a participant in the 2004 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, is a Grammy-nominated composer and a member of the faculty at the USC Thornton School of Music. Gran Turismo was inspired by the unlikely combination of Baroque string playing, Italian futurist art and a car-racing video game.
- Façade began as an at-home project combining the artistic talents of British poet Edith Sitwell—whose poems were considered abstract, exotic and dramatic—and the young composer William Walton, who found himself “adopted” into the Sitwell family while studying at Oxford University.
- A child prodigy, composer-pianist Jean Françaix began writing music at the age of ten and was mentored and championed from a very young age by two other French musical geniuses, Maurice Ravel and Nadia Boulanger.
Program and Artists
FRANÇAIX
Woodwind Quartet / 11 min
- Greg Milliren, flute
- Julie Gramolini Williams, oboe
- Gregory T. Williams, clarinet
- J. Christopher Marshall, bassoon
NORMAN
Gran Turismo for Eight Virtuoso Violinists / 9 min
- Susie Park, violin
- Felicity James, violin
- Natsuki Kumagai, violin
- Sarah Grimes, violin
- Ben Odhner, violin
- Hanna Landrum, violin
- Sophia Mockler, violin
- Emily Switzer, violin
WALTON
Suite from Façade / 17 min
- Roma Duncan, flute and piccolo
- Timothy Zavadil, clarinet and bass clarinet
- James Romain, alto saxophone
- Douglas C. Carlsen, trumpet
- Katja Linfield, cello
- Kevin Watkins, percussion
INTERMISSION / 20 min
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Phantasy Quintet / 15 min
- Sophia Mockler, violin
- Milana Elise Reiche, violin
- Rebecca Albers, viola
- Kenneth Freed, viola
- Pitnarry Shin, cello
SPOHR
Nonet for Strings and Winds in F major / 28 min
- Rui Du, violin
- Gareth Zehngut, viola
- Pitnarry Shin, cello
- Kristen Bruya, bass
- Adam Kuenzel, flute
- Julie Gramolini Williams, oboe
- Gabriel Campos Zamora, clarinet
- Fei Xie, bassoon
- Ellen Dinwiddie Smith, horn
Accessibility at Orchestra Hall