The Christ Church Concert series opens its ninth concert season with the exceptionally gifted Heimat String Quartet on Sunday September 22 at 4 pm. The concert promises a delightful afternoon of music featuring Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet number 51 in G Major and Johannes Brahms’ String Quartet No. 1 in C minor. The program will also feature five contrasting pieces for string quartet including a Viennese Waltz, a serenade, Czech folk music, a tango, and a tarantella by 20th century Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff. A composer whose earliest teachers included Antonín Dvořák, Schulhoff was one of the first generation of classical composers to find inspiration in the rhythms of jazz.
The Heimat Quartet was originally founded in Boston, Massachusetts. Its members, now residing in Winchester, VA, currently serve as quartet-in-residence at Shenandoah Conservatory. They will also be part of a year-long orchestral and chamber music performance residency at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. Highlights from its 2018-2019 season included the quartet’s Carnegie Hall debut, performances of the Mendelssohn Octet with the Shanghai Quartet, and the inaugural season of The Heimat Chamber Series.
Heimat Quartet
In 2016, Heimat Quartet members were the featured young artists for the 34th season of Music From The Western Reserve. The following year, the quartet made its European debut in Hamburg, Germany at the International Mendelssohn Festival along with subsequent recitals and educational outreach performances in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia through their participation at Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance (LAMP). The Heimat’s capped off 2017 with their South American debut, which included concerts and a residency at The International Music Festival of Esmeraldas held at Casa de la Musica in Quito, Ecuador. Other notable engagements have included performances and master classes at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, The Boston Conservatory, The College of New Jersey, Dickinson College, and Mercer College among others.
From 2015 through 2017 the Heimat Quartet was the quartet-in-residence at Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio. Its members also held the fellowship quartet position at Interlochen Center for the Arts as faculty at the Advanced String Quartet Seminar during the 2017 summer sessions. The quartet’s primary mentors have included members of the Audubon Quartet, the Shanghai Quartet, and Miami String Quartet.
This concert is supported in part by a grant from the Talbot County Arts Council with funds provided by the Maryland State Arts Council. Admission to this concert is free and open to the public. A freewill offering will be received, and doors open at 3:30 pm. Christ Church is located at 111 S. Harrison Street in downtown Easton. For more information, call 410-822-2677 or visit www.ChristChurchEaston.org.
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