Shriver Hall Concert Series Announces Updated Fall Programming

Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) - Baltimore's premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists - today announces its updated fall programming, featuring a three-concert virtual series. The digital premiere performances include unique live post-concert Q&A sessions with the artists.

The fall season opens on Sunday, October 11, 2020 at 5:30pm EST with a digital premiere performance by the "totally compelling" (BBC Music Magazine) Takács Quartet in movements of works by Mozart, Debussy, Bartók, and Coleridge-Taylor. The performance, recorded at the Chautauqua Auditorium in the Takács' home city of Boulder, Colorado, marks one of the quartet's first performances with new member violist Richard O'Neill, who joined the ensemble in June 2020. O'Neill is An EMMY Award winner, two-time GRAMMY nominee, Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, and a Universal Music/Deutsche Grammophon recording artist, as well as a Goodwill Ambassador for the Korean Red Cross, The Special Olympics, UNICEF and OXFAM. The unique program structure features select movements from pieces, to fit the hour-long digital format.

Renowned pianists Garrick Ohlsson and Kirill Gerstein join forces for the first time for a special collaboration, premiering on Sunday, November 8, 2020 at 5:30pm EDT. The recital features piano duos including the rarely heard Busoni's Fantasia contrappuntistica; Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, Op. 45; and Ravel's La valse. Gerstein, a U.S. citizen, will travel from his home in Berlin to the San Francisco Conservatory and observe all necessary quarantines in order to participate in this duo recital.

Principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic and and Avery Fisher Prize-winning clarinetist Anthony McGill collaborates with his brother, flutist Demarre McGill (principal flute of the Seattle, Dallas and San Diego Symphonies, and acting principal of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra) and one of Ireland's leading concert pianists Michael McHale, forming the McGill/McHale Trio. The trio's December 2019 concert at the 92Y premieres in digital concert format on Sunday, December 6, 2020 at 5:30pm EDT featuring works by Poulenc, Debussy, Paul Schoenfield, Guillaume Connesson, and Chris Rogerson.

Concerts can be accessed by purchasing a premium subscription, which comes with an array of exclusive benefits, a standard concert subscription or single digital ticket. Concert access is available for three days following the concerts to all ticket holders. All ticket holders are also invited to a post-concert live chat with the artists-moderated by Executive Director of Shriver Hall Concert Series Catherine Cochran-where they can submit their questions in writing during the session.

"I am thrilled to have the renewed opportunity to present these outstanding artists, albeit in a different way than originally planned," said Cochran. "It is an honor to fulfill our commitment to both our audiences and the artists, and to widely share the music we all so desperately crave during this extended period of uncertainty and isolation. Through the creativity and perseverance of these artists, as well as our Board, staff, and co-presenters, we can present a virtual fall season of unique programming and intimate performances to a larger audience than would normally be able to visit our hall."

Concert Information
Sunday, October 11, 2020 at 5:30pm EST
Concert available On-Demand for ticket holders through Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Link: www.shriverconcerts.org/concert/takacs-quartet

Takács Quartet
Edward Dusinberre, violin
Harumi Rhodes, violin
Richard O'Neill, viola
András Fejér, cello

MOZART: Movement I from String Quartet in D minor, K. 421
COLERIDGE-TAYLOR: Movements I and III from Five Fantasiestücke, Op. 5
BARTÓK: Movement III from String Quartet No. 1
DEBUSSY: Movements III and IV from String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10

Performance to be followed by Artist Q&A

Sunday, November 8, 2020 at 5:30pm EDT
Concert available On-Demand for ticket holders through Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Link: www.shriverconcerts.org/concert/ohlsson-gerstein

Garrick Ohlsson, piano
Kirill Gerstein, piano

BUSONI: Fantasia contrappuntistica
RACHMANINOFF: Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
RAVEL: La valse

Performance to be followed by Artist Q&A

Sunday, December 6, 2020 at 5:30pm EDT
Concert available On-Demand for ticket holders through Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Link: www.shriverconcerts.org/concert/mcgill-mchale-trio

McGill/McHale Trio
Anthony McGill, clarinet
Demarre McGill, flute
Michael McHale, piano

CHRIS ROGERSON: A Fish Will Rise
POULENC: Sonata for Flute and Piano
DVOŘÁK: Slavonic Dance No. 8 (arr. Webster)
GUILLAUME CONNESSON: Techno-Parade
DEBUSSY: "Jardins sous la pluie" from Estampes
POULENC: Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
PAUL SCHOENFIELD: Sonatina

Performance to be followed by Artist Q&A

Ticket Information
Tickets include concert access and on-demand streaming of the concert for three days following, plus access to a post-concert Q&A with artists. Single tickets are available for $15, with three-concert subscriptions available for $30.

Tickets for all three concerts are also available as a premium digital description for $99, which also includes:

-artist encore for each concert
-access to online screening of Strings Attached, a documentary about the Dover Quartet, an alum of SHCS's Discovery Series
-"watch party" of additional concert with Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Nicola Benedetti, originally planned for SHCS's fall season
-access to "The World of the Bach Chorales", a new two-part class by Richard Giarusso of the Peabody Institute