Savannah Music Festival celebrates 30th season

Mark Gresham | 25 MAR 2019

Savannah, Georgia’s second largest city, is 250 miles from downtown Atlanta – a 250 mile drive by interstate highways I-75 and I-16. That’s about a four hour drive without stops or traffic snarls. That’s a good, easy distance for taking a couple of days vacation, or even an over-night road trip if you’re so inclined. Music fans might have good cause for doing so starting this week.

This Thursday, the Savannah Music Festival launches its 30th anniversary season, which runs for 17 days from March 28th through April 13th. The Festival encompasses a wide variety of musical genres with well over six dozen events scheduled over its 16 days. Among them a good number of classical music concerts.

To help sort things out for readers, EarRelevant obtained a “hit list” of all 21 classical music programs at this year’s Savannah Music Festival. Here they are, for your consideration:

• THU 3/28 @ 6pm: Juho Pohjonen, piano · RAMEAU: Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin / Suite in A minor, RCT 5 / Suite in G Major, RCT 6; SCRIABIN: Sonata No. 8, Opus 66 / Sonata No. 10, Opus 70.  Trinity United Methodist Church.
• FRI 3/29 @ 6pm: Daniel Hope & Friends I ·  MOZART : Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, K. 478 / String Duo No. 2 in B-flat Major, K. 424 / Prelude and Fugue No. 2 for String Trio in G minor, K. 404a (after J.S. Bach) / Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat Major, K. 493. Benny Kim, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola; CarlaMaria Rodrigues, viola; Eric Kim, cello; Keith Robinson, cello; Juho Pohjonen, piano. Trinity United Methodist Church.
• SAT 3/30 @ 7pm: Atlanta Symphony Orchestra · Robert Spano, conductor;  Daniel Hope, violin; David Finckel, cello; Wu Han, piano. BEETHOVEN: “Triple” Concerto; SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 1 (“Spring”). Lucas Theatre for the Arts.
• SUN 3/31 @ 5pm: The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center with Daniel Hope · Daniel Hope, violin’ Paul Neubauer, viola; David Finckel, cello; Wu Han, piano. SUK: Quartet in A minor, Opus 1; BRAHMS: Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Opus 60; DVOŘÁK: Quartet in E-flat Major, Opus 87. Trinity United Methodist Church.
• MON 4/1: Lars Vogt, piano · BRAHMS: Three Intermezzi, Opus 117; Four Klavierstücke, Opus 119 / Variations on a Theme of Paganini, Opus 35; JANÁČEK: Sonata 1.X.1905; BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Opus 57, “Appassionata.” Trinity United Methodist Church.
• TUES 4/2: Daniel Hope & Friends II with Lars Vogt · Daniel Hope, violin; Benny Kim, violin; Simos Papanas, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola; CarlaMaria Rodrigues, viola; Eric Kim, cello; Keith Robinson, cello; Simon Crawford-Phillips, piano; Lars Vogt, piano. SCHUBERT: Fantasy for Four Hands in F minor, D. 940; SHOSTAKOVICH: Piano Quintet in G minor, Opus 57; R. CLARKE: Dumka for violin, viola and piano; GADE: String Sextet in E-flat Major, Opus 44.  Trinity United Methodist Church.
• THU 4/4 @ 11am: Daniel Hope and Friends III · Daniel Hope, violin; Benny Kim, violin; Simos Papanas, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola; CarlaMaria Rodrigues, viola; Eric Kim, cello; Keith Robinson, cello; Simon Crawford-Phillips, piano. BRUCH: String Quintet in A minor; FRANCK: Piano Quintet in F minor.  Trinity United Methodist Church.

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• THU 4/4: Andersson Dance & Scottish Ensemble · Andersson Dance (Örjan Andersson, choreographer) with Scottosh Ensemble (Jonathan Morton, director) join forces for BACH: Goldberg Variations in the transcription for string orchestra by Dmitry Sitkovetsky. Lucas Theatre for the Arts.
• FRI 4/5 @ 11am: Caterina Lichtenberg & Mike Marshall · “Bach to Brazil.” Caterina Lichtenberg, mandolin; Mike Marshall, mandolin; Adam Jaffe, harpsichord; Joshua Keller, the viola da gamba. Compositions by BACH and VIVALDI in addition to a variety of mandolin duets. Unitarian Universalist Church.
• FRI 4/5 @ 6pm: Daniel Hope and Friends IV · Daniel Hope, violin
  Benny Kim, violin; Simos Papanas, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola;  CarlaMaria Rodrigues, viola; Eric Kim, cello Keith Robinson, cello; Joseph Conyers, bass. MOZART: Grande Sestetto Concertante; DVOŘÁK: String Quintet in G Major, Opus 77. Trinity United Methodist Church.
• SAT 4/6 @ 7:30pm: Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra with Marcus Roberts Sextet · Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra; Marcus Roberts, piano; Joe Goldberg, alto saxophone, clarinet; Alphonso Horne, trumpet; Ron Westray, trombone; Rodney Jordan, bass; Jason Marsalis, drums. BORODIN: Polovtsian Dances; ROBERTS: Rhapsody in D; GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue; STRAVINSKY: Firebird Suite (1919). Johnny Mercer Theatre
• SUN 4/7 @ 5pm: Santiago Ballerini · Santiago Ballerini, tenor; Howard Watkins, piano. program TBA. A co-production with Savannah VOICE Festival. Trinity United Methodist Church.
• MON 4/8 @ 6pm: Daniel Hope & Friends V · Daniel Hope, violin; Benny Kim, violin; Simos Papanas, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola; CarlaMaria Rodrigues, viola; Eric Kim, cello; Keith Robinson, cello; Joseph Conyers, bass. MOZART: Grande Sestetto Concertante; DVOŘÁK: String Quintet in G Major, Opus 77. Congregation Miickve Israel.
• TUE 4/9 @ 6pm: The Tallis Scholars · “Inspired by the Sistine Chapel.” Music by ALLEGRI, CAMPKIN, CARPENTRAS, FESTA,  JOSQUIN, MORALES and PALESTRINA. Peter Phillips, director. Trinity United Methodist Church.

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• WED 4/10 @ 11am: Sebastian Knauer, piano · MOZART: Fantasia in C minor, K. 475;MENDELSSOHN: Selections from “Songs without words”; SCHUBERT:Selections from Four Impromptus, D. 899; Selections from Four Impromptus, D. 935; BEETHOVEN: Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Opus 27, No. 2, “Moonlight.” Trinity United Methodist Church.
• WED 4/10 @ 6pm: Daniel Hope & Friends VI · “Balkan Roots.” Daniel Hope, violin; Benny Kim, violin; Simos Papanas, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola; CarlaMaria Rodrigues, viola; Keith Robinson, cello; Joseph Conyers, bass; Sebastian Knauer, piano; Eirini Tornesaki, vocalist. SCHUBERT: String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810 (“Death and the Maiden”), mvts. 1 & 2; TARTINI: Violin Sonata in G minor, B.g5, “The Devil’s Trill”; plus traditional Balkan songs. Trinity United Methodist Church.
• THU 4/11 @ 11am: tenThing · 10-piece, all-female Norwegian brass ensemble tenThing (pronounced “ten-ting”). Music by BARTÓK, COPLAND, GRIEG, HANDEL, KANDER, LULLY, MARINI, PIAZZOLLA and SIBELIUS. Trinity United Methodist Church.
• THU 4/11 @ 6pm: Jerusalem Quartet · Alexander Pavlovsky, violin; Sergei Bresler, violin; Ori Kam, viola; Kyril Zlotnikov, cello. BEETHOVEN: Quartet No. 5 in A Major, Opus 18, No. 5; RAVEL: String Quartet in F Major; SHOSTAKOVICH: Quartet No. 3 in F Major, Opus 73. Trinity United Methodist Church.
• FRI 4/12 @ 11am: tenThing · 10-piece, all-female Norwegian brass ensemble tenThing (pronounced “ten-ting”). Music by ALBENIZ, BERNSTEIN, BIZET, GRIEG, MOZART, PIAZZOLLA, SAEVERUD and TCHAIKOVSKY. Trinity United Methodist Church.
• FRI 4/12 @ 6pm: Daniel Hope & Sebastian Knauer · Daniel Hope, violin; Sebastian Knauer, piano. ENESCU: Impromptu concertant for violin and piano; J.S. BACH:Sonata for violin and keyboard No. 4 in C minor, BWV 1017; MENDELSSOHN: Violin Sonata in F Major; BARTÓK: Romanian Folk Dances, Sz. 56; RAVEL: Kaddish, for Violin and Piano ; WALTON: Sonata for Violin and Piano. Trinity United Methodist Church.
• SAT 4/13 @ 4pm: Christopher Hope & Daniel Hope · “My Son the Fiddler.” Author Christopher Hope delivers an essay that recalls raising his son, violinist Daniel Hope. The recitation will be mixed with solo violin performances. Trinity United Methodist Church.