This preview has been provided by St. Stephen’s Concert Series.
On Sunday, November 16 at 4 pm the St. Stephen’s Concert Series will present Nicholas Kitchen, violin and Andrew Tyson, piano in an all Beethoven program. The concert will take place at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church located at 82 Kimberly Drive in Durham. Tickets ($25) can be purchased at the door (cash or check only). Admission is free for those 18 or under.
For Kitchen and Tyson the concert will be a kind of homecoming, since both musicians grew up at the church. where they are now affectionately known as the Dynamic Duo. They first collaborated at St. Stephen’s on Nov. 21, 2010. Immediately after this hugely successful concert, they set their sights on Beethoven’s ten sonatas for violin and piano, and resolved to perform them on three recitals during the next three seasons of the St. Stephen’s Concert Series. Two of these concerts have taken place and the third concert would have taken place last season, but, because of a recording project which Andrew had in Berlin, scheduling proved impossible. (The resulting recording of Chopin’s Op. 28 Preludes has just been released. The record may be available for purchase at the November concert.) Now, a year behind schedule, the concluding concert of the Beethoven sonata cycle will occur on Nov. 16.
The program will consist of the ebullient “Champagne” sonata (Op. 30, No. 3), the more introspective tenth sonata (Op. 96), and the famous “Kreutzer” sonata (Op. 47). A previous performance of the Kreutzer sonata prompted CVNC reviewer, Tom Moore, to write:
“The Kreutzer offered music making that would be the pride of any concert stage in the nation, or in any metropolis internationally – truly world class.”
So plan to attend the concert and expect to be thrilled . But first do your homework.
Historic First Online Encounter
In past seasons of the St. Stephen’s Concert Series the 4 pm Sunday concerts have often been prefaced by half hour Pre-Concert Discussions with the artists at 3 pm. This year, for the first time ever, three of these Pre-Concert Discussions will take place online! These revolutionary Online Encounters will be available a month before each concert at the following web site: http://www.nicholaskitchen.com. A link to this web site can be found on the Home Page of the St. Stephen’s Concert Series web site. So, before coming to the November concert, at a time convenient to you, locate the link, click on it, and Nicholas Kitchen, in his own inimitable way, will share with you his insights into Beethoven’s Op. 96 sonata.
