2009-10 Concert Series
Callisto's concert venue, overlooking the Art Institute of Chicago and Lake Michigan, is the acoustically engineered salon of Darnton & Hersh Fine Violins, in the Stradivari Music & Arts Center, 30 East Adams Street, Suite 1200 (12th floor). The uniquely intimate setting promotes an unusual level of interactivity between performers and audience, and allows for oral "program notes" at each concert in an informal, conversational style. The Callisto Ensemble experience is about musicians' communicating to the audience their own excitement about and passion for the works they will play.
We look forward to seeing you at the concerts!
- Monday, November 29, 2010—7:30 pm
- Beethoven: String Trio in D Major op. 9 no. 2
- Charles Ives: Piano Trio
- Arnold Bax: Sonata for Viola and Piano
- Guest: Paul Hersh, piano
- Monday, February 21, 2011—7:30 pm
- Charles Ives: String Quartet No. 2
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quintet No. 5 in D Major
- Guest: Yukiko Ogura, viola
- Monday, March 21, 2011—7:30 pm
- Charles Ives: Violin Sonata
- Jean Francaix: String Trio
- Johannes Brahms: Trio for viola, cello and piano
- Guest: Paul Hersh, piano
- Sunday, April 3, 2011—3:00 pm
- Special performance with Dempster St. Pro Musica at SPACE, 1245 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60202.
Notes for the February 21 Concert
Chicago's adventuresome Callisto Ensemble continues its season-long focus on the music of American composer Charles Ives (1874-1954) with a program joining Ives's String Quartet No. 2 and Mozart's D Major String Quintet, K. 593 (the "viola" quintet), featuring guest violist Yukiko Ogura. Callisto Ensemble's three-concert 2010-11 season is dedicated to taking a closer look at the iconic Ives's music just over half a century after his death.
Ives Quartet No. 2
Ives composed and compiled his vibrant and challenging second quartet from 1911 to 1913—just about one century ago—as a response to what he perceived to be the growing "emasculation" of string quartet music of the time. It includes a wide range of borrowed melodies, from "Turkey in the Straw" and "Marching through Georgia" to Beethoven, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky. Ives called this work "one of the best things I have, but the old ladies (male and female) don't like it anywhere at all. It makes them mad..." – Charles Ives, Memos
Guest Artist: Yukiko Ogura, viola
A sought-after chamber musician, Ogura is a first-prize winner of the
Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, a founding member of the Eusia String Quartet, and an active recording artist. She has recorded with the Nagaokakyo
Chamber Ensemble directed by Yuko Mori, recorded a CD with the Round Top Music Festival, and in 2006 she released a CD in Japan on the N&F label.
Ogura began her musical studies on the violin at the age of three, earned a bachelor's degree in music in 1995 at Kyoto City University of the Arts, and performed chamber concerts throughout Japan, winning a position with the Kobe City Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Gerhard Bosse. In 1998, she turned her attention to the viola, leading to worldwide chamber and solo engagements, including an appearance with the Saito Kinen Orchestra under director Seiji Ozawa. Ogura joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a violist in 2001.
Venue Information
Darnton & Hersh Fine Violins is located at in the Stradivari Music & Arts Center, 30 East Adams Street (at Wabash), Suite 1200 (12th floor), Chicago, IL 60603. map
Limited street parking may be found on adjacent streets. Convenient garage parking is located at Adams and Wabash.
The venue is easily reached by public transportation. CTA Red and Blue Lines stop at Jackson; Purple, Brown, Green, Orange, and Pink lines stop at Adams/Wabash.
Ticket Information
Three-concert subscription just $54!
Single tickets: $20
Student three-concert subscription $24
Student single tickets (with photo ID): $8
Both season and individual ticket quantities are limited due to the intimate size of the venue. Tickets may be purchased by calling 312.566.0429. (Tickets for the April 3 performance with Dempster St. Pro Musica will be sold separately.)