HOME CONCERT SERIESSat, April 10, 7:30pm
Join violinist Nicholas Kitchen and cellist Yeesun Kim, co-founders of the Borromeo String Quartet.
POPULAR MUSICSat, June 5, 8P
Perpetual Motion: Music for Handbells. As seen in Symphony Hall and Boston Children's Museum.
Saturday, April 10, 7:30pm
Violinist Nicholas Kitchen, hailed by the New York Times as "thrilling, vibrant and captivating," is considered by both his musical peers and audiences around the world to be one of the most gifted musicians of our time. And indeed, with a multifaceted career as soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, teacher, arts administrator, author, and media innovator, Mr. Kitchen is also one of our country's most active personalities. He is a founding member of the famed Borromeo String Quartet, who are avidly sought after internationally for their heart-stopping and visionary performances as well as their uncanny ability to make even the most challenging contemporary music mesmerizing to audiences.
On April 10, 2010, the exuberant Mr. Kitchen will be joined by his wife, and fellow founding member of the Borromeo, cellist Yeesun Kim, to present an exploratory concert of masterworks by J. S. Bach, Bela Bartok, and Maurice Ravel. The concert, the finale of Newburyport's Firehouse Center for the Arts 2009-10 Home Concert Series, will be held at 7:30pm in a private home thanks to the generosity of Julia Farwell-Clay and Walter Clay, who are opening their carriage house at 203 High St. in Newburyport for the occasion. Such intimacy is the perfect salon setting for chamber music. Before each performance the Kitchen-Kim Duo will discuss the most provocative points of each piece, highlighting these points through musical examples, and projections of the actual manuscripts.
Kitchen, a recipient of both the Albert Schweitzer Medallion for Artistry and the Presidential Scholar in the Arts award, completed a six-year tenure as Artistic Director of the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival in 2006, where he hosted their popular “Adventures in Chamber Music” audience discussion series; and for almost twenty years he has hosted New England Conservatory’s “Early Evenings with the Borromeo,” a musical exploration series which attracts standing-room only crowds. In 2009 he presented several such programs also for the Library of Congress and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where the Borromeo are the official quartet-in-residence.
Hailed by the New York Times for her "focused intensity" and "remarkable" performances, Ms. Kim enjoys worldwide acclaim as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher. Ms. Kim has performed in over 20 countries at many of the world's most illustrious concert halls and festivals. Her frequent collaborations with other artists have included appearances with Joshua Bell, Christoph Eschenbach, Leon Fleisher, Gary Graffman, Menahem Pressler, Rudolph Serkin, Russell Sherman, and Richard Stoltzman.
Of special interest at a concert this intimate are the actual instruments that Kitchen and Kim will be playing. On April 24, 2006, the famous Guarneri Del Gesu violin known as the "Baron Vitta" was entrusted into the care of Mr. Kitchen after being given to the Library of Congress by Miyoko Yamane Goldberg - the wife of legendary violinist Szymon Goldberg - so that it could be reunited with its original twin, the violin Fritz Kreisler played. Ms. Kim plays a breathtaking cello carved by Peregrino Zanetto in 1576, one of the very oldest cellos in the world, and adorned with evocative painted griffins.
Both Ms. Kim and Mr. Kitchen are faculty members of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where they works with the institutions Learning through Music program. They are joined by their colleagues Mai Motobuchi, violist, and Kristopher Tong, second violin, when the Borromeo String Quartet performs.
Program
J. S. Bach: Suite No. 6 in D major, BWV 1012
J. S. Bach: Chaconne for solo violin, BWV 1004
~short intermission~
Bela Bartok: Sonata for Violin Solo, Sz.117 (first movement only)
Maurice Ravel: Sonata for violin and cello
This event is presented by the Firehouse.
$60 per person for each performance.
$55 for Firehouse members.
Ticket price includes wine reception, concert; coffee, dessert and conversation following.
Seating limited to 50 patrons per concert.
Advanced reservations are required.
This concert will be held at the home of Julia Farwell-Clay and Walter Clay, 203 High Street, in the Carriage House located at the back of their property. Entrance is on Dexter Lane. Please park on High St., Johnson St., Buck St., or Olive St. and walk up the driveway.
To see a map please click here.
Visit the Borromeo String Quartet website here
