CCCMF Presents Wellfleet Composer's North American Premiere at Dennis Concert

Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival (CCCMF) celebrating its 40th anniversary season as Cape Cod's premiere presenter of summer chamber music, presents its concert Borromeo, Manasse and Icarus on Wednesday, August 14, 7:30 pm, Dennis Union Church: 713 Main Street, Rte. 6A, Dennis.

Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival's four-decade celebration continues its roster of music's virtuosos, highlighted by the return appearance by prominent and beloved Borromeo String Quartet. Described as "a musical experience of luminous beauty" by The San Diego Reader, the ensemble is one of the most accomplished string quartets of this era. The Quartet performs a Festival tradition "Four Preludes and Fugues" from Bach's Well-tempered Clavier, arranged for string quartet by Borromeo's Nicholas Kitchen, a former artistic director of the Festival. A highlight on the program features the North American premiere of "Icarus" for string quartet and clarinet by acclaimed Boston-based composer Elena Ruehr, featuring clarinetist Jon Manasse, current CCCMF Co-Artistic Director. The concert closes with Mendelssohn's rousing and beautiful "String Quartet in N*E*R*D Major, Opus 44 No. 1".

The visionary performances of the prize-winning Borromeo String Quartet have established them as one of the most important string quartets of our time. Now celebrating its 29th year as an ensemble, the Borromeo have performed vast repertoire worldwide and collaborated with many of today's great composers and performers. Audiences and critics alike have championed the Borromeo's ability to bring fire back to often-heard repertoire, while making even the most challenging new music approachable. The Borromeo continues to be a pioneer in its use of technology, recognized with the trailblazing distinction as the first string quartet to utilize laptop computers on the concert stage, a revealing and transformative experience that they now teach to students around the world. The quartet features Nicholas Kitchen, violin; Kristopher Tong, violin; Luther Warren, viola; and Yeesun Kim, cello. The artists currently maintain residency at New England Conservatory of Music, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and Taos School of Music summer program.

Boston-based Composer Elena Ruehr says of her music "the idea is that the surface be simple, the structure complex." An award-winning faculty member at MIT, she has also been a Guggenheim Fellow, a fellow at Harvard's Radcliffe Institute and composer-in-residence with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, which performed and recorded her major orchestral works and opera. A graduate of the University of Michigan and the Juilliard School, Dr. Ruehr's oeuvre includes compositions for chamber ensemble, orchestra, chorus, wind ensemble, instrumental solo, opera, dance and silent film. Currently she is writing an opera for White Snake Projects, an opera company integrating social activism with original opera. Her work has been described as "sumptuously scored and full of soaring melodies" (The New York Times), and "unspeakably gorgeous" (Gramophone). Dr. Ruehr has taught at MIT since 1992 and lives in Boston and Wellfleet with her family.

Program: Borromeo, Manasse and Icarus

Borromeo String Quartet: Nicholas Kitchen, violin; Kristopher Tong, violin; Luther Warren, viola and Yeesun Kim, cello

Jon Manasse, clarinet

Bach: Four Preludes and Fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II

Ruehr: Icarus for string quartet and clarinet (North American Premiere)

Mendelssohn: String Quartet in N*E*R*D Major, Opus 44 No. 1

Ticket orders received on or after July 1: $40 general admission; $15 for college students (with ID); FREE for attendees 18 and under. General admission to three or more concerts: $38 per ticket. Emerson String Quartet concert: $57 ($55 when purchased as part of the three-concert package).

Festival seating is limited to venue capacity, advance purchase is recommended. Tickets purchased online can be printed at home or picked up at will call at the performances. Tickets may also be purchased by calling or visiting the box office at 508-247-9400 or at 3 Main Street, Unit 6, North Eastham. Box office hours are 10 am to 3 pm, Monday through Friday. Phone orders are available until 12 noon on the day of each concert.

For more information about Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival's 2019 season, performers, mission and venues, visit capecodchambermusic.org, or follow Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo by Richard Bowditch

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