Emerald City Music Presents Its First Mainstage Production WHAT YOU ARE TO ME

After twenty months sharing chamber music on digital platforms, Emerald City Music returns home to its stages in Seattle and Olympia. On Friday, October 22 in Seattle and Saturday, October 23 in Olympia, ECM presents What You Are To Me, the first Mainstage performances in its sixth season.

The program includes Martinu's Variations on a Theme of Rossini, H. 290 for Cello and Piano (1942) and Korngold's Suite for Two Violins, Cello, and Left Hand Piano (1930) that was written for Paul Wittgenstein-a virtuoso pianist who lost his right arm during World War I. This work embodies the perseverance of the arts, similar to what the world has dealt with this past year, and coming back with live concerts.

Dedicated to its innovative programming that both honors the tradition of chamber music while expanding the genre's boundary past common limits, ECM is proud to present the Seattle premiere of Patrick Castillo's Winter Light (2020) for two violins, cello, and piano, co-commissioned by ECM.

Of his piece, Castillo writes, "Winter Light takes its title from Ingmar Bergman's 1963 film (in Swedish, Nattvardsgästerna: literally, 'The Communicants'). While not a work of program music, my quartet does share certain elements with Bergman's Winter Light: a hymn at its beginning (here, a nod to Robert Schumann's Piano Quartet); an imploring parlando section, analogous to Bergman's remarkable letter scene; and, most significantly, a prevailing existential dread over an inevitable crisis. A preoccupation with our changing climate hovered over the conception of my Winter Light; the work was completed under quarantine, as the world weathered the COVID-19 pandemic. The cello's concluding elegy, surrounded by a halo of bowed piano, refracts the opening hymn into an expression of cautious hope and anxious despair. Winter Light is dedicated with great affection to my co-communicants: Kristin Lee, Sean Lee, Dmitri Atapine, Hyeyeon Park, and Gloria Chien, for whom my admiration lies deeper than ten thousand bassi profundi trapped at the bottom of the ocean."

What You Are To Me on October 22 and 23 features a slate of internationally acclaimed performers:

Kristin Lee, violin (New York, NY): Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, Artistic Director of Emerald City Music

Sean Lee, violin (Albany, NY): Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, a winner of Paganini International Violin Competition

Dmitri Atapine, cello (Reno, Nevada): member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Gloria Chien, piano (Boston, MA): co-Artistic Director of Chamber Music Northwest; founder of String Theory

Hyeyeon Park, piano (Seoul, Korea): prizewinner of international competitions: Oberlin, Ettlingen, Prix Amadèo

Patrick Castillo, composer (New York, NY): Vice President of Artistic Planning of the New York Philharmonic

Full artist biographies and high-resolution images are available at www.emeraldcitymusic.org/season-artists

This performance, and all of ECM's Mainstage performances this season, will be recorded live and then made available on Emerald TV, ECM's newly launched subscription-based streaming platform for performances and additional video content. A one-month trial subscription is available until October 15 at www.emeraldcitymusic.org/register, which includes unlimited access to Emerald City Music's video library, ticket discounts, priority access, and more.