2023 Ascent Summer Concert Series
Tickets on sale now, visit Event Brite to secure your Festival Pass or tickets for any individual concert.
Click here for Digital Programs for all Ascent Concerts!
Tickets on sale now, visit Event Brite to secure your Festival Pass or tickets for any individual concert.
Click here for Digital Programs for all Ascent Concerts!
Friday June 30th, 7:30pm
Germaine Tailleferre was a French composer and the only female member of the group of composers known as Les Six. Fellow Les Six member Darius Milhaud remarked with affectionate awe, the constantly energetic Tailleferre “was always 20 years old.” This is epitomized in her piano trio which was originally written in 1916/17 when she was only 24 and revised 60 years later! The program opens with a duo by the Czech composer Martinu, written while he was living in Paris. Franck’s sonata for violin and piano is a staple of the violin repertoire. The evening in Paris rounds out with a composer who was first presented to the Court of Versailles at age 7, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in a performance of his G Minor Piano Quartet.
Sunday July 2nd, 7:30pm
Duo Ingolfsson-Stoupel return to Ascent to open this program with the Viola AND Violin Sonatas of Rebecca Clarke. Judith Ingolfsson has been working for over a decade to bring the little known Violin Sonata of Rebecca Clarke to the concert stage and Cincinnati will be among the first places the duo performs it before making a recording later this year! The second half features Brahms epic and soulful Sextet No. 2 to round out this not to be missed concert.
Thursday July 6th, 7:30pm
After the premiere of one of his works in Paris, the Spanish composer Joaquin Turina went to a cafe with fellow composers de Falla and Albeniz. “We were three Spaniards,” Turina subsequently recalled, “gathered together in that corner of Paris, and it was our duty to fight for the national music of our country.” Turina’s piano quartet epitomizes Spanish music of this time. The audience will also be treated to Spanish influenced virtuosity in Boccherini’s Fandango Quintet for Guitar and Strings and Sarasate’s Navarra. The Navarra will feature Ascent faculty, Ilya Kaler, the only violinist to win Gold Medal in Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1986), the Sibelius Competition in Helsinki (1985), and the Paganini Competition in Genoa (1981) and Catalyst Quartet’s own Karla Donohew Perez.
Friday July 7th, 7:30pm
“WE BELIEVE IN THE UNITY THAT CAN BE ACHIEVED THROUGH MUSIC AND IMAGINE OUR PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS WITH THIS IN MIND, REDEFINING AND REIMAGINING THE CLASSICAL MUSIC EXPERIENCE.”
-WE ARE THE CATALYST-
The Grammy winning Catalyst Quartet make their Ascent debut with a unique program featuring a quartet by William Grant Still, a quintet but Samuel Coleridge-Taylor featuring Masumi Per Rostad and the Ohio premiere of CQ Minute, a unique project featuring 11 new works, 1-2 minutes in length. This is an event not to be missed!
Wednesday July 12th, 7:30pm
The Ascent Summer Concert Series comes to a close with an evening of rollicking Gypsy music. The program opens with the virtuosic Concert Piece by George Enescu for viola and piano and closes with Brahms Piano Quartet in G minor with it’s thrilling Rondo alla Zingarese finale. Also on the program are the Two Pieces by Lili Boulanger, a piano trio that will surprise and delight.
* Indicates Concert/Event is open to FULL ACCESS FESTIVAL PASS HOLDERS
*June 29th: Duo Ingolfsson-Stoupel Presentation: Rediscovering and Recording Rebecca Clarke Sonatas for Violin and Viola
* Indicates Concert/Event is open to FULL ACCESS FESTIVAL PASS HOLDERS
*June 24th: Final Cello Festival Performance featuring Ascent Cello Choir and soloists in PCT at 4:00pm
*June 28th: Rising Artists Solo Showcase in Werner Recital Hall at 7:30pm
*July 5th: Rising Artists Solo Showcase in Werner Recital Hall at 7:30pm
*July 13th: Rising Artists Solo Showcase in Werner Recital Hall at 7:30pm
*July 14th: Rising Artists Solo Showcase in Werner Recital Hall at 7:30pm
Public Master Classes only open to FULL ACCESS FESTIVAL PASS HOLDERS
June 23rd: Cello Master Class w/ Richard Aaron, Juilliard/Univ of Michigan in 3250 at 2:30pm
June 24th: Cello Master Class w/ Hans Jorgen Jensen, Northwestern/Glenn Gould School in 3250 at 10:00am
July 3rd: Chamber Music Masterclass w/ Alan Rafferty in Werner Recital Hall at 4:00pm
July 8th: Chamber Music Master Class w/ Catalyst Quartet in Werner Recital Hall at 1:00pm
July 10th: Chamber Music Master Class w/ Masumi Per Rostad in Werner at 4:00pm
Special thanks to our sponsors for these concerts:
Board of Ascent Music
Dr. John & Jennie Kim
Rohan Patel & Dr. Niru Putcha Foundation
Medtronic
Taipei Economic and Cultural Office- Chicago
Attend all 8 concerts of the 2023 Ascent Concert Series AND receive admission to public Master Classes and Rising Artists Performances!
Master Classes and Rising Artists Performance dates to be announced soon!
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