Opening Night: A Night at the Opera

Saturday, August 22
7pm
6:15pm pre-concert talk with Classic KING FM 98.1’s Lisa Bergman

 

Ottorino Respighi | Il Tramonto for mezzo soprano and string quartet (1914) 

Frederic Rzewski | Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues from Four North American Ballads for Piano (1979)
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 98.1’s Lisa Bergman

 

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

Saturday, August 29
7pm
6:15pm pre-concert talk with Classic KING FM 98.1’s Lisa Bergman

 

Ludwig Van Beethoven | String Quartet in B-flat, Op 18 No 6 (1801)    
Felix Mendelssohn | String Quartet in F minor, Op 80 (1847) *
Franz Schubert  | String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D.810, “Death and the Maiden” (1824)

​

*please note this program change. Gabriela Lena Frank's  Quijotadas will now appear on our August 30 program at Field Hall. 

​

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 Marica joins the ensemble for his first official performance. Following an early and beloved Beethoven quartet, the quartet will perform Mendelssohn's stormy 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 Marica, cello 

​

​

Festival Finale with Jeremy Denk and the Takács Quartet 

Sunday, August 30
3 pm
2:15pm pre-concert talk with Classic KING FM 98.1’s Lisa Bergman

Gabriela Lena Frank | Quijotadas (2007)*
Ludwig Van Beethoven | Piano Sonata in D minor, Op 31 No 2 “The Tempest” (1802)
César Franck | Piano Quintet in F minor (1879)

​

*please note this program change. Mendelssohn's F minor quartet will now appear on our August 29 program at Maier Hall. 

​

The 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 with composer-in-residence Gabriela Lena Frank's String Quartet Quijotadas and César Franck’s Piano Quintet.

​​​​

Takács Quartet

Edward Dusinberre, violin
Harumi Rhodes, violin
Richard O’Neill, viola
Mihai Marica, cello 

​

Jeremy Denk, piano

​