This preview has been provided by St. Stephen’s Concert Series.
On Sunday afternoon, February 8 at 4PM, the sensational 20 year old pianist, Alexander Beyer, will join chamber music veterans Nicholas Kitchen and Yeesun Kim for an all Mendelssohn concert at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Durham. Their program will consist of Mendelssohn’s two brilliant and heart warming piano trios, plus the equally brilliant and ebullient D major cello sonata.
The three musicians first collaborated a year ago for a concert at St. Stephen’s which featured the piano trio by Ravel and the “Archduke” Trio by Beethoven. Performed to a large and enthusiastic audience, this concert prompted CVNC reviewer Patrick Taggart to write:
“The three performers were clearly of one interpretive mind. Theirs was a full throated reading, muscular and vibrant, assertive and highly musical.”
Violinist Nicholas Kitchen, a Durham native who grew up at St. Stephen’s, and his wife, cellist Yeesun Kim, are founding members of the internationally acclaimed Borromeo String Quartet, which will be returning to St. Stephen’s in March to perform all six of the string quartets of Bartok. The quartet is known for its embrace of technology. Its members perform from Apple lap tops, which not only frees them from the usual hazards of page turns, but allows them to play from full scores and facsimiles of composers’ manuscripts. That use of technology will be in evidence at the February concert. Kitchen and Kim will play from their lap tops, and, instead of presenting a pre-concert lecture-demonstration at the church, the lecture-demonstration will take place online. This Online Encounter will be available several weeks before the concert and can be accessed from ststephens.instantencore.com.
The concert on February 8 is part of the 2014-2015 season of the St. Stephen’s Concert Series. Tickets ($25, cash or check only) will be available at the door. The concert is free for those 18 or under.
