Department of Music

• Sunday, April 18, 2010
• Old Cabell Hall
• 3:30pm
• $20/$10 students/Free for those under 18 and for UVa students if reserved in advance

In a concert presenting works by Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert and Janacek, the Rivanna String Quartet will examine the revolutionary element of passion in the fourth and final offering of the 2009-2010 University of Virginia Chamber Music Series. Comprised of the string performance faculty of UVA, the Rivanna String Quartet features violinists David Colwell and David Sariti, violist Ayn Balija and Adam Carter, cello. The performance will take place on Sunday afternoon, April 18, 2010 at 3:30pm in Old Cabell Hall on the Grounds of UVA.

Each of the compositions to be presented provide intense, passionate examples of composers whose creativity and imagination continued to craft innovative, great masterpieces that boil with passion. With the backdrop of Vienna invaded by Napoleon, the upset Beethoven composes String Quartet No.11 in F Minor, Op. 95. The “Serioso” becomes one of the shortest of Beethoven’s quartets. Characterized by a focused passion, Beethoven created a tightly compact quartet which features intense explosions and silences and which requires amazing virtuosity by the performers.

Consumed by a passion to compose, Haydn created a tremendous repertoire testifying to his rich inventiveness and great inspiration. Quartet in F Major, Op. 50 No. 5 demonstrates his influence on the formal conventions of the string quartet form. Considered a private form of music in the nineteenth century, the quartet was free of social constraints, such as regal edicts. Haydn established the genre on his own terms, which remain a standard.

A member of his family’s string quartet, Schubert’s passion for the musical form came naturally. Written in sonata form, the Quartett-Satz, D 703 represents the beginning of his maturity as a composer. An unfinished work, the Quartett-Satz frequently swells with extreme emotion as the voices continue to build from anxiety and fear in pianissimo to a large, loud climax.

Exploring the passions created by a wife locked in an unhappy marriage who takes a lover, Janacek’s String Quartet No. 1, the “Kreutzer Sonata” creates a musical treatise defending the rights of women. Loosely based on the 1889 Leo Tolstoy novella: Kreitzerova Sonata, the String Quartet musically depicts the psychological turmoil of the characters. Through musical elements such as the returning pastoral theme, a Czech polka and the inevitable, emotionally taut climax in the fourth movement’s race to the coda, Janacek passionately presents his case for women’s independence of male domination.

Come experience the passion of four unbelievably creative composers performed by the extraordinarily talented members of the Rivanna String Quartet on Sunday afternoon, April 18, 2010 at 3:30pm in Old Cabell Hall. This will be the final opportunity to be a musical revolutionary through the University of Virginia Chamber Music Series.

Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for students, free for those under 18 and UVA students who reserve their tickets 24 hours in advance. To reserve tickets visit www.artsboxoffice.virginia.edu or call the box office at 434-924-3376, 12pm-5pm Monday through Friday.