The Southern Theater presents Accordo Final Concert, Season 2

Named "best new chamber ensemble 2009" by the Star Tribune, Accordo returns for the third and final installment of its second season in the Southern's intimate space with an all-Beethoven program.

This performance's ensemble lineup features principal players from the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra including Ruggero Allifranchini and Anthony Ross with special guests Erin Keefe (violin), Rieko Aizawa (piano) and Sabina Thatcher (viola).

"Beethoven remarked about his Serioso Quartet that it 'was written for a small circle of connoisseurs and never to be performed in public'", said SPCO concert master Steven Copes. "Perhaps it was because of Op. 95's unorthodox compositional traits or rather short length that he said such a thing, or maybe he was just in a foul mood due to Napoleon's bombing of Vienna (1814)... The Piano Trio in Eb, Op. 70 #2 was written in 1808 in Heiligenstadt, Vienna, where Beethoven has composed his famous c minor Symphony #5 the previous summer and his Pastoral Symphony #6 immediately before the trio. Six years earlier, he wrote a desperate letter to his brothers (that he never sent) from the same city, detailing his increasing deafness and his determination to overcome his ailments and become a great artist. The Magic Flute Variations for cello and piano are a tribute to another great master, Mozart, who had a profound influence on the young Beethoven, and who may have met each other in 1787."

All-Beethoven program includes:
Piano Trio in Eb Major, Op. 70 #2
Theme & Variations from the Magic Flute, WoO 46
String Quartet in f minor, Op. 95, 'Serioso'

This program is generously underwritten by the E. Thomas Binger & Rebecca Rand Fund of the Minneapolis Foundation.

Performances: June 5 & 6, 2011
Sun. at 7pm
Mon. at 7:30pm
Tickets: $26, $24
$12 student rush

Southern Theater box office: 612.340.1725
1420 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55454
http://www.southerntheater.org/2011_06-05_accordo.htm