Brian Hong and Brannon Cho, two of the brightest young stars in the classical music world will perform in Virtual Chamber Music Festival.
In the heart of Chicago — a city possessed of a truly legendary musical culture — a 60-person venue has emerged within the last couple years known as Guarneri Hall. What it lacks in seating-capacity, it makes up for in tech: The acoustically-engineered space is wired with state-of-the-art equipment designed specifically for ultra high-quality livestreams.
For their season opener, they’re leveraging their tech-power to host the launch of the NEXUS 2.5 Virtual Chamber Music Festival as a groupmuse in their Spotlight Series, where they showcase some of the bright lights of the classical music world during COVID.
And for the occasion, Nexus has on deck three of best young string players of the rising generation: Brian Hong on violin; Rannveig Marta Sarc also on violin; and Alexander Hersh on cello.
Their program is a mix of the ancient — Viotti and Corelli — and the new — Augusta Read Thomas and Texu Kim, with Zoltan Kodaly’s electrifying late-romantic ethno-folkish masterpiece, the Op. 7 Duo for Violin and Cello as the grand finale.
As ever, they’ll have a pre-concert Zoom chat to arrive together in a listening and connective space, and an after-concert Q&A with the artists before breaking for the night.
Opening Night with Brian Hong
Don’t miss opening night, live streamed from Guarneri Hall on Saturday, Sept 12, 6:30 pm! Hear violinists Rannveig Marta Sarc and Brian Hong and cellist Alexander Hersh explore a unique mix of old and new repertoire for string duo and trio. In collaboration with Groupmuse — get tickets on the Groupmuse website (only $10).
The 2.5 Festival continues at 6:30 pm every evening Sept 13-16 with music by Boccherini, Schumann, Prokofiev, and more, along with Artist Spotlight interviews and behind-the-scenes profiles of the Guarneri Hall production team.
Closing Night with Brannon Cho
Closing night (the 16th) will feature the premiere of Benjamin Britten’s complete Suite No. 1 for Solo Cello performed by Brannon Cho, First Prize winner of the prestigious 6th International Paulo Cello Competition in Helsinki, Finland.
The performance will be followed by a Zoom Q&A session with Brannon and NEXUS co-artistic directors Alexander Hersh and Brian Hong.
Tickets
A single $20 pass provides access to the 4 broadcasts on the Guarneri Hall website September 13-16, and opening night Groupmuse ticket holders for the September 12 kickoff can get $5 off the price of the pass for all the other events.
A single $20 pass provides access to the 4 broadcasts on the Guarneri Hall website.
September 13-16
Opening night Groupmuse ticket for the kickoff can get $5 off the price of the pass for all the other events.
September 12
