Music At Kohl Mansion Announces Winter Spring 2021 Season

Music at Kohl Mansion (MAKM), one of the Bay Area's leading presenters of international chamber music concerts, today announced five international ensembles that will be presented virtually during the winter/spring 2021 season, MAKM's 38th season. The roster of esteemed artists features the Alexander String Quartet; Scotland's Maxwell Quartet; the Ying Quartet; the MAKM debut of French ensemble Quatuor Danel with clarinet soloist Pascal Moraguès; and the Horszowski Trio.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and in accordance with state and county health guidelines that currently prohibits live, indoor performances, all Music at Kohl Mansion concerts will be virtually broadcast online.

Individual tickets for all five programs are now on sale popularly priced at $20 per household, with a special "Buy Four, Get One More" promotion through January 28. Tickets may be purchased online at www.musicatkohl.org or by calling the MAKM Box Office, (650) 762-1130. Each concert will be one-hour in length, including a pre-performance talk by esteemed MAKM musicologist Kai Christiansen.

MAKM Executive Director Patricia Kristof Moy said, "We warmly invite audiences to Music at Kohl's Season 38 Online! We're heartened to offer exclusive appearances by some of our most beloved musicians as well as prestigious artists we've been eager to introduce to our community. Until we're back together in the Kohl Mansion's historic Concert Hall, we joyfully share their artistry from their own home cities directly into our living rooms."

Alexander String Quartet: Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. and Jan. 28 at 6 p.m. (PST)

The Beethoven 250 Celebration continues with the grand master's highly inventive, six- movement String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat Major, Opus 130.

The Alexander String Quartet (ASQ), a beloved favorite with Bay Area chamber music patrons, was the first American ensemble to win the London International String Quartet Competition and serves as the Ensemble-in-Residence of San Francisco Performances. Since 1989, the ASQ members are the Directors of the Morrison Chamber Music Center at San Francisco State University. This concert will be one of the last performances to hear the quartet perform with founding violist Paul Yarbrough who has announced his retirement this season.

Maxwell Quartet: Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. and March 4 at 6 p.m. (PST)

The program will include Antonín Dvořák's String Quartet No. 13 in G Major, Opus 106 and a selection of Scottish folk songs.

The Maxwell Quartet, formed in 2010 in Glasgow, Scotland, is now an internationally prizewinning string quartet (2017 Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition) with performances hailed by the New York Times as "eloquent performers ... they bring the same sense of charisma and adventure to their performing ... the sound of traditional fiddle carried over beautifully into fresh readings of Haydn and Beethoven." The ensemble is firmly regarded as one of Britain's finest young string quartets, with a strong connection to their folk music heritage and a commitment to bringing together wide-ranging projects and programs to expand the string quartet repertoire. Its next album, on Linn Records, is due out in January 2021, featuring music of Josef Haydn and Scottish folk music.

Ying Quartet: March 14 at 7 p.m. and March 18 at 6 p.m. (PST)

The program will offer Bedřich Smetana's String Quartet in E minor, From my Life; Hugo Wolf's Italian Serenade in G Major; and Giacomo Puccini's I Crisantemi.

This American string quartet, originally founded by the Ying siblings in 1988, is a multi-award-winning ensemble that has performed to critical acclaim throughout North America including Carnegie Hall, the White House, Tanglewood and Aspen music festivals, Europe, Australia, Japan and Taiwan. The group's keen interest in commissioning new chamber works has led to their collaboration with such distinguished composers as Chen Yi, Jennifer Higdon, Augusta Read Thomas, Tod Machover, Ned Rorem and Kevin Puts. The Ying members are currently artists-in-residence at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York.

Quatuor Danel with Pascal Moraguès: April 11 at 7 p.m. and April 15 at 6 p.m. (PST)

Program details include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K. 581, and other work to be announced.

The French-Belgian Quatuor Danel was founded in 1991 and has been at the forefront of the international music scene ever since, with important concert performances worldwide and an impressive discography of groundbreaking CD recordings. The quartet is famous for its bold, concentrated interpretations of the string quartet cycles of Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Shostakovich, and Weinberg. The quartet's lively and fresh vision on the traditional quartet repertoire has delivered subsequent praise from public and press. The other part of its force lies in the collaboration with major contemporary composers such as Wolfgang Rihm, Helmut Lachenmann, Sofia Gubaidulina, Pascal Dusapin Jorg Widmann and Bruno Mantovani. Joining the Quatuor Danel for this program is Pascal Moraguès, the distinguished principal clarinetist with l'Orchestre de Paris, professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris since 1995, guest professor at the Superior College of Music in Osaka and at the Royal College of Music in London, and frequent guest artist in concert halls throughout Europe.

Horszowski Trio: May 9 at 7 p.m. and May 13 at 6 p.m. (PST)

The program includes the Jan Sibelius Piano Trio in C Major, Lovisa, and Franz Schubert's Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat Major, Opus 99.

Since its thrilling debut performance in New York in 2011, the Horszowski Trio has quickly become a vital force in the international chamber music world, having toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Critically acclaimed by Gramophone as "the most compelling American group to come on the stage," and hailed by the Boston Globe for its "eloquent and enthralling" performances, the ensemble traverses the extensive oeuvre of traditional piano trio repertoire as well as commissioning and premiering new music. The trio takes its inspiration from the late piano master, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, whose last pupil at the Curtis Institute was Rieko Aizawa, the Trio's founding pianist. A favorite of Kohl audiences since its first appearance in early 2015, the trio will introduce its Grammy-nominated cellist, Ole Akahoshi, a member of the faculties at the Yale School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and Longy School of Music of Bard College. The German-born Akahoshi replaced the trio's founding cellist Raman Ramakrishnan earlier this year.

Music at Kohl Mansion's 2020/21 season is made possible, in part, by generous contributions from individuals and the San Mateo County Arts Commission - Arts Grants Programs.

MUSIC AT KOHL MANSION: Inspired by the belief that the arts strengthen communities, Music at Kohl Mansion presents world-class chamber concerts in the historic Kohl Mansion and music education in public schools on the San Francisco Peninsula. Outreach programs provide access to interactive musical experiences for diverse populations of all ages. Located on the Mercy High School campus in Burlingame, California, the Kohl Mansion is a jewel-like setting for fine music. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, this 1914 landmark features a gracious setting in the Elizabethan style Great Hall for intimate music on a grand scale.

Visit www.musicatkohl.org for more information.

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