Opening Night: A Night at the Opera

Saturday, August 22, 7pm (6:15pm pre-concert talk with Classic KING FM’s Lisa Bergman)

Field Arts and Events Hall

 

Ottornio Resphigi Il Tramonto for mezzo soprano and string quartet (1914) 

Gabriela Lena Frank El Mundo for mezzo soprano and string quartet (World Premiere)

Erno Dohnanyi Piano Quintet No 1 in C minor, Op 1 (1902)

 

Join us for a special Opening Night 2026, featuring Music on the Strait’s first journey into the operatic world. Renowned mezzo soprano Abigail Nims performs Resphigi’s deeply expressive Il Tramonto (The Sunset) as well as El Mundo, a world premiere arrangement by our composer-in-residence, Gabriela Lena Frank, recent winner of a Pulitzer Prize. We close our program with Erno Dohnanyi’s richly melodic Piano Quintet in C minor, welcoming back pianist August Baik, who impressed audiences with his Music on the Strait debut earlier this year! 

 

Abigail Nims, mezzo-soprano

Kristin Lee, violin

James Garlick, violin

Maiya Papach, viola

Silver Ainomäe, cello

August Baik, piano

 

 

Dvorak’s “American” Quintet 

Sunday, August 23, 3pm (2:15pm pre-concert talk with Classic KING FM’s Lisa Bergman)

Maier Hall at Peninsula College

 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Flute Quartet in D Major, K 285 (1777)

Ernest Bloch Violin Sonata No.2, B.58 “Poeme Mystique” (1924)   

Antonin Dvořák Viola Quintet in F major, Op 97 “American” (1893)

 

Composed during his summer in Spilville, Iowa in 1893, Dvorak’s “American” Quintet features an extra viola, adding richness and sonority to the string texture. We are pleased to welcome Maiya Papach and Rebecca Albers, principal violists of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra for this performance. Virtuoso flutist Demarre McGill opens the program with Mozart’s lively Flute Quartet and violinist Kristin Lee, a favorite of last year’s festival, performs Bloch’s fantastical and seldom performed Violin Sonata “Poeme Mystique.” 

 

Demarre McGill, flute

Kristin Lee, violin

James Garlick, violin

Maiya Papach, viola

Rebecca Albers, viola

Silver Ainomäe, cello

 

 

A special evening with the Takács Quartet

Friday, August 29, 7pm (6:15pm pre-concert talk with Classic KING FM’s Lisa Bergman)

Maier Hall at Peninsula College 

 

Ludwig Van Beethoven String Quartet in B-flat, Op 18 No 6 (1801)

Gabriela Lena Frank Quijotadas (2007)

Franz Schubert String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D.810, “Death and the Maiden” (1824)

 

There is no better place to hear the world’s top string quartet than the intimate and acoustically pristine Maier Hall. Join us for a historic moment as cellist Mihai Marcia joins the ensemble for his first official performance. Following an early and beloved Beethoven quartet, the quartet will perform Gabriela Lena Frank’s inventive Quijotadas and Scubert’s transcendent masterpiece Death in the Maiden: an evening you won’t want to miss. 

 

Takács Quartet

Edward Dusinberre, violin

Harumi Rhodes, violin

Richard O’Neill, viola

Mihai Marcia, cello 

 

Festival Finale with Jeremy Denk and the Takács Quartet 

Sunday, August 30, 3pm (2:15pm pre-concert talk with Classic KING FM’s Lisa Bergman)

Field Arts and Events Hall

 

Felix Mendelssohn String Quartet in F minor, Op 80 (1847) 

Ludwig Van Beethoven Piano Sonata in D minor, Op 31 No 2 “The Tempest” (1802)

César Franck Piano Quintet in F minor (1879)

 

Our 2026 summer finale concludes with a tempestuous trio of great works, featuring the one-and-only Jeremy Denk in concert with the Takács Quartet. When asked to describe his Sonata in D minor, Beethoven’s reply was characteristically cryptic. “Go and read Shakespeare’s Tempest.” We continue this stormy journey in the brooding key of F minor with Mendelssohn’s Op. 80 Quartet and César Franck’s Piano Quintet.

 

Takács Quartet

Edward Dusinberre, violin

Harumi Rhodes, violin

Richard O’Neill, viola

Mihai Marcia, cello

 

Jeremy Denk, piano