Philomusica Quartet’s Season Finale at Wisconsin Conservatory of Music

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Photo: The Philomusica Quartet

The Philomusica Quartet

The Philomusica Quartet

The Philomusica Quartet returns to the Conservatory for their last concert of the 2021-2022 season. They will play Schubert’s “unfinished” quartet D 703 and be joined by Yaniv Dinur for the Schumann Piano Quintet E Flat major, Op. 44, as well as the Dimitri Shostakovich Quintet for Piano and Strings in G minor, Op. 57.

Violinists Jeanyi Kim and Alexander Mandl, violist Nathan Hackett, and cellist Adrien Zitoun formed the Philomusica Quartet in 2008 to create an outlet for sharing and expressing their love of chamber music. They are the resident string quartet at Wisconsin Lutheran College. Kim, Hackett and Zitoun are members of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Mandl is the concertmaster for several regional symphony orchestras besides being a member of the music faculty at UW-Parkside, Wisconsin Lutheran College, and the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. Nathan and Adrien also teach at Wisconsin Lutheran College.

Dinur is an accomplished pianist and currently the Resident Conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. In 2019 he was named a Georg Solti Conducting Fellow.

The members of the quartet are from around the world. Kim is from Toronto and her husband, Mandl, was both a violinist and conductor in his native Brazil. Hackett is a native of Wisconsin while Zitoun is from France. All have concertized world-wide both with the MSO as well as other groups. Dinur is from Israel.

Franz Schubert’s String Quartet in C minor, D 703 is actually the first movement of a quartet that he never completed. (And you are free to speculate if this is like his Unfinished Symphony.) He did sketch the first 41 bars of an andante that was to follow and perhaps someone someday will be able to channel Schubert and surprise the musical world. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy what we have.

For Robert Schumann’s Quintet for Piano and Strings in E Flat major, Op. 44 the Philomusica will be joined by Dinur at the piano when they play this staple composition of 19th century chamber music. Previously most piano quintets were written for violin, viola, cello, and double bass and the piano. Schumann’s romantic composition, written in 1842, helped change that direction and piano quintets were henceforth written for two violins, viola and cello.

In many ways Schumann’s composition set the direction for years to come where the percussive piano both complements and challenges the stringed instruments of the quartet. The funeral march from the second movement may sound familiar. It was used in several films including The Black Cat with Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.

Dimitri Shostakovich’s Quintet for Piano and Strings in G minor, Op. 57 was composed almost 100 years after Schumann’s. It is a neoclassical composition with wonderfully dissonant passages. It won a Stalin Prize in spite of its being highly romantic and emotional.

There is a fulness of sound in Shostakovich’s chamber works in which you can hear echoes of his symphonies and suites which is not surprising since he often quoted from his own compositions.

The Beauty of Small Ensembles

This is an excellent opportunity for those with limited exposure to chamber music wishing to sample how beautiful music is brought to life by small ensembles.

Having both of these quintets on the same program is a unique opportunity. Relax, listen, and enjoy. Perhaps in 20 years there will be a new quintet joining these and hopefully we’ll all be here to enjoy them.

The concert takes place in the Helen Bader Recital Hall, the music hall of the McIntosh-Goodrich Mansion. The mansion is on Prospect Avenue’s “Gold Coast” and was built in the Neo-Classical Revival style in 1904 for Charles L. McIntosh, an executive from New York, who moved to the Midwest to become a director at Milwaukee Harvester Company. He later merged it with other companies to form International Harvester.

It's a small hall with a stage at one end for the performers. The plaster work on the ceiling and complementary décor provides an exquisite venue for chamber concerts and the acoustics are superb. For those not familiar with chamber music this is a unique opportunity to listen to an intimate form of music in a salon-setting as if you were royalty living centuries ago with the Philomusica Quartet in your personal employ.

For evening concerts, complimentary parking is available at Milwaukee Eye Care, 1684 N Prospect Ave, one block north of the Conservatory.

Philomusica Quartet with Yaniv Dinur will perform at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 23. For tickets visit wcmusic.org.