ASPECT Chamber Music Series Has Announced Spring 2020 Season In New York City

The ASPECT Chamber Music Series has announced four spring 2020 concerts, part of its fourth New York City season of illuminating performances. Taking place at Bohemian National Hall and the Italian Academy at Columbia University, ASPECT's concerts feature expertly curated chamber music by the world's top performers alongside illustrated talks by leading musicologist and industry experts that reveal fascinating details about the program's composers, works, and the cultural history of the time period.

ASPECT's first concert of 2020 on Thursday, February 27, 2020 at 7:30pm at Bohemian National Hall is titled French Impressions and features the Calidore String Quartet with violinist Grace Park and pianist Gilles Vonsattel. The program, which explores the period of French Impressionism through the paintings of Claude Monet and visual art's effect on composers Claude Debussy and Ernest Chausson, features performances of Chausson's Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Quartet, Op. 21 and Debussy's Violin Sonata in G minor with an illustrated lecture by the musicians.

Music, Tales & Magic on Wednesday, March 11, 2020 at 7:30pm at Bohemian National Hall features a duo of cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan and pianist Noreen Polera in Beethoven's Seven Variations from Mozart's Magic Flute; Grieg's Solveig Song; Chopin's Polonaise Brilliante in C Major, Op. 3; Fauré's Apres un Reve; Popper's Dance of the Elves, and Grieg's Cello Sonata. Historian John Brewer gives the illustrated lecture.

The season continues on Thursday, April 16, 2020 at 7:30pm with Personal Diaries in A Major at Bohemian National Hall. Violinist Kristóf Baráti and pianist Enrico Pace perform Brahms's Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 100 'Thun'; Janáček's Violin Sonata, JW 7/7; and Beethoven's Sonata for Violin and Piano, No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47 'Kreutzer' in a program featuring an illustrated talk by BBC radio host and musicologist Stephen Johnson.

ASPECT's 2019-2020 season closes with Sensibility: Gainsborough, Abel & Bach on Thursday, April 23, 2020 at 7:30pm at the Italian Academy at Columbia University. Celebrated viola da gamba player Richard Boothby and international harpsichord sensation Mahan Esfahani perform and give an illustrated talk on how the cult of sensibility - a movement that emphasized spontaneous emotional responses to art, music and literature, a sensitivity to the suffering of others, and a love of nature - rose to popularity in mid-eighteenth-century Britain. Such ideas are apparent in the art of Thomas Gainsborough, who painted two German émigrés to London who were similarly adept at articulating direct emotions in their musical performances and compositions: Johann Christian Bach, J.S Bach's youngest son who was to become London's leading composer and musician, and Carl Friedrich Abel, composer and virtuoso viola da gamba player. Together, Abel and Bach set up their own concert series, which was such a success that they went on to build their own concert room, for which Gainsborough provided much of the decoration.

Program Information

French Impressions

Thursday, February 27, 2020 at 7:30pm
Bohemian National Hall | 321 E 73rd St | New York, NY 10021
Tickets: $45 includes wine and refreshments
Link: https://www.aspectmusic.net/french-impressions

Performers:
Grace Park, violin
Gilles Vonsattel, piano
The Calidore String Quartet
Illustrated Lecture by the Musicians

Program:
Debussy - Violin Sonata in G minor
Chausson - Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Quartet, Op.21

Music, Tales & Magic

Wednesday, March 11, 2020 at 7:30pm
Bohemian National Hall | 321 E 73rd St | New York, NY 10021
Tickets: $45 includes wine and refreshments
Link: https://www.aspectmusic.net/music-tales-and-magic

Performers:
Narek Hakhnazaryan, cello
Noreen Polera, piano
Illustrated talk by John Brewer

Program:
Beethoven - Seven Variations from Mozart's Magic Flute
Grieg - Solveig Song
Chopin - Polonaise Brilliante in C Major, Op. 3
Fauré - Apres un Reve
Popper - Dance of the Elves
Grieg - Cello Sonata

Personal Diaries in A Major

Thursday, April 16, 2020 at 7:30pm
Bohemian National Hall | 321 E 73rd St | New York, NY 10021
Tickets: $45 includes wine and refreshments
Link: https://www.aspectmusic.net/personal-diaries-in-a-major

Performers:
Kristóf Baráti, violin
Enrico Pace, piano
Illustrated Lecture by Stephen Johnson

Program:
Brahms - Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 100 'Thun'
Janáček - Violin Sonata, JW 7/7
Beethoven - Sonata for Violin and Piano, No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47 'Kreutzer'

Sensibility: Gainsborough, Abel & Bach

Thursday, April 23, 2020 at 7:30pm
Italian Academy | 1161 Amsterdam Ave | New York, NY 10027
Tickets: $45 includes wine and refreshments
Link: https://www.aspectmusic.net/sensibility-gainsborough-abel-bach

Performers:
Richard Boothby, viola da gamba
Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord
Illustrated talk by musicians

Program:
Abel - Sonata in D Major
J. C. Bach - Sonata in D Major for Keyboard Op. 5, No. 2
Abel - Three Improvisations
Abel - Sonata in G minor
J. C. Bach - Sonata in A i??at Major for Keyboard
Abel - Sonata in A minor