Shriver Hall Concert Series Announces 2021-2022 Season Full Of Debuts

Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) - Baltimore's premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists - announces its 2021-2022 season, a return to in-person live programming but with the option for all ticket holders to watch live from home.

The season opens with the Miró Quartet on November 14 in works by Mozart and Beethoven and the world premiere of a new work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw, followed by the Baltimore recital debut of pianist Paul Lewis on December 5 and the Baltimore debuts of the dazzling Grammy-nominated Danish String Quartet on January 23 and the newly-formed Junction Trio - comprised of visionary artists violinist Stefan Jackiw, pianist Conrad Tao, and cellist Jay Campbell - on February 13. On March 6, SHCS presents Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke's Baltimore recital debut in the East Coast premiere of her evening-length project exploring experiences and themes of America today, How Do I Find You, and on May 1, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason return to Baltimore following their sensational 2019 Baltimore debut on the SHCS Discovery Series. The Pacifica Quartet and soprano Karen Slack join forces to perform a new work by Baltimore composer James Lee III on May 15 and the season closes with the Baltimore debut of Irani-American harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani on June 12. Details of SHCS's free Discovery Series and Spring Lecture Series will be announced later this summer.

On Sunday, November 14, 2021 at 5:30pm, the Miró Quartet returns to Baltimore for the world premiere of a new work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw, Microfictions [Vol. 1], co-commissioned by SHCS, along with Mozart's buoyant "Hunt" Quartet in B-flat Major and Beethoven's tumultuous and radiant String Quartet in A minor Op. 132. Shaw says, "Microfictions [Vol. 1] could be considered a set of six short musical stories, in the tradition of imagist poetry and surrealist painting, inspired in part by the work of Joan Miró and the short science fiction of T.R. Darling."

SHCS presents the highly-anticipated Baltimore recital debut of British pianist Paul Lewis on Sunday, December 5, 2021 at 5:30pm. His program includes selections from Mendelssohn's Songs without Words; Mozart's Sonata in A Major, K. 331; Scriabin's Five Preludes, Op. 74 ; and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Of Lewis's playing, Gramophone Magazine writes "Faced with such excellence, a mere critic can only abandon paper and pencil and listen to this heroic but deeply moving artist with awe and amazement."

On Sunday, January 23, 2022 at 5:30pm, the dazzling, Grammy-nominated Danish String Quartet makes its Baltimore debut in a performance of Britten's extroverted Three Divertimenti; a uniquely curated suite of dances by Charpentier, John Adams, and Blumenfeld titled An Alleged Suite; and Schubert's thrilling String Quartet in D minor, D. 810, "Death and the Maiden." The Danish String Quartet recently released the third album in their Prism series, including Beethoven, Bartók, and Bach.

The newly-formed Junction Trio - comprised of violinist Stefan Jackiw, pianist Conrad Tao, and cellist Jay Campbell - makes its Baltimore debut on Sunday, February 13, 2022 at 5:30pm. Hailed for its "bracing technique and jaw-dropping precision... a sense of unity, especially in dynamics and rhythmic thrust" (Aspen Times), the group will perform a program of Christopher Trapani's Passing Through, Staying Put; Ravel's Piano Trio; and Brahms' Piano Trio in B Major, Op. 8.

SHCS presents the East Coast premiere of Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke's recital-length project How Do I Find You with pianist Kirill Kuzmin on Sunday, March 6, 2022 at 5:30pm. Curated during the pandemic, How Do I Find You explores experiences and themes of America today, including California wildfires, school shootings, working from home, race, nature, and resilience through works by Timo Andres, Lembit Beecher, Matt Boehler, Christopher Cerrone, John Glover, Gabriel Kahane, Jimmy López, Andrew Marshall, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Rene Orth, Frances Pollack, Hilary Purrington, Huang Ruo, Kamala Sankaram, Caroline Shaw, and Joel Thompson. In addition to recording all 17 songs, which will be released on Pentatone, Cook will perform the world premiere of the cycle in January 2022 in San Francisco.

The sibling duo of cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason return to Baltimore on Sunday, May 1, 2022 at 5:30pm following their sensational 2019 Baltimore debut on the SHCS Discovery Series. 22-year-old Sheku, BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2016, and his older sister Isata, who topped UK classical charts with her solo album Romance, perform a recital of timeless sonatas including Beethoven's Cello Sonata in C Major, Op. 102, No. 1; Shostakovich's Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40; Bridge's Cello Sonata in D minor; and Britten's Cello Sonata in C Major, Op. 65. Of Isata's recently released Decca Classics Album, Summertime, Gramophone Magazine wrote, "It's not just that Isata Kanneh-Mason is a born musician with a virtuoso technique. It is her ability to engage your emotions from first note to last - and to think outside the box."

The two-time Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet and "feisty, rich-voiced" (The New York Times) soprano Karen Slack perform the Baltimore premiere of a new SHCS co-commission by Baltimore composer James Lee III on Sunday, May 15, 2022 at 5:30pm. The program also includes Prokofiev's String Quartet in F Major, Op. 92 and Beethoven's String Quartet in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3, "Razumovsky." During the pandemic, Slack launched her hugely popular digital talk show, KikiKonversations, and released a social justice film #SayTheirNames - Women of the Movement.

The season closes with a recital by superstar Irani-American harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani on Sunday, June 12, 2022 at 5:30pm. Esfahani performs a recital full of extraordinary color and vitality including Luc Ferrari's Programme commun for Harpsichord and Tape, Louis Andriessen's Overture to Orpheus, and works by Bach, Pachelbel, and Scarlatti.

For more information, visit www.shriverconcerts.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.