Bart, Walton And Pianist Claude Frank

The Ysaye String Quartet, one of Europe’s top chamber ensembles, will perform at Union College in Schenectady, NY, March 3, at 8 p.m. The program will include the String Quartet Op. 76, No. 5, in D Major, by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732/1809); the Quartet No. 6 by Béla Bartók (1881/1947); and the Quartet Op. 10, in G-Minor, by Claude Debussy, the only string quartet composed by this French composer of the post-Romantic era.

Tickets are $20 and can be ordered by calling 518-388-6080 or purchased at the door of the Memorial Chapel.

The American Symphony Orchestra, the resident orchestra at Bard College, will perform Friday, March 2 and Saturday, March 3, both performances at 8 p.m., in the Fisher Center at Bard, in Red Hook, NY. This is the second program of the symphony’s winter season. Conducted by Leon Botstein, the program will include Sir William Walton’s (1902/1983) Variations on a Theme, by Paul Hindemith; Walton’s Viola Concerto; and the Symphony No. 7 in E-Major, by Anton Bruckner (1824/1896).

The soloist in the Walton Concerto will be violist Shuangshuang Liu, the winner of last year’s competition at Bard’s Conservatory of Music. Liu is a student of Ira Weller, Michael Tree and Steven Tenenbaum.

Walton, an Englishman, was a great admirer of Hindemith, a German composer and outstanding violist, who was appointed professor of music at Yale after leaving Germany via Switzerland and Turkey.

Bruckner, born in Linz, Austria, dedicated his Seventh Symphony to King Ludwig II of Bavaria, a friend and patron of Richard Wagner. The symphony was first performed by the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig in December, 1884. It was an instant success and made Bruckner a household name. It has been said that the adagio of the second movement was dedicated to Richard Wagner, whom Bruckner admired.

Please note that a preconcert talk by Richard Wilson, composer in residence at Bard, will begin at 6:45 p.m. Tickets are $20, $30 and $35. Call 845-758-7900 for reservations or go to the Fisher Center’s Web site: www.fishercenter.bard.edu.

Pianist Claude Frank will perform Sunday, March 4, at 3 p.m., in Olin Hall at Bard. This recital is open to the public and free of charge. For program details, call 845-758-7196 or email conservatory@bard.edu.

Also at Bard’s Olin Hall, The Colorado String Quartet,with Arthur Burrows, will play Monday, March 5, at 4:30 p.m., as part of "Revolution and the Limits of Reason." Franz Schubert’s String Quartet in D-minor, D. 810, known as "Death and the Maiden," is scheduled along with remarks by lecturer Christopher H. Gibbs.

For information, call 845-758-7512 or go to www.insidebard.edu/firstyear. This program is also free and open to the public.

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