Ariel Quartet opens season with chamber favorites on Sept. 26

The UC College-Conservatory of Music’s resident professional ensemble, the Ariel Quartet, opens its 2023-24 season with a jovial evening of long-standing fan favorites at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept, 26 in Robert J. Werner Recital Hall. Get your tickets now through the CCM Box Office!

Prepare for an unforgettable evening of joyous and spirited music, featuring some of the biggest names in the string quartet literature. The concert opens with Hugo Wolf’s Italian Serenade, full of lilting dance melodies and exaggerated romanticism that will immediately captivate listeners. In a masterful display of his compositional prowess, Wolf underpins these flourishes with a surprisingly wise and steady voice, hinting at his most common medium: the human voice and art song. Composed in 1887, this renowned composition was likely inspired by Joseph Eidendorff’s poetry, to which Wolf was continuously drawn, and which is believed to have helped him psychologically as he struggled through a chronic (and eventually terminal) illness.

Following this short and lively work, Ludwig van Beethoven’s monumental String Quartet Op. 18, No. 5 continues the concert’s bright and hopeful theme. Composed between 1798 and 1800, this vibrant work features Beethoven’s characteristically emotive voice, and includes movements that range from Haydn-like, to elegiac variations, to rapturous grace-filled melodies imbued with Beethoven’s whimsical humor. Critics have gone so far as to say that the theme of the intricate sonata-form fourth movement “scampers,” much like a playful animal.

Ending in a sweeping finale, Franz Schubert’s String Quartet No. 15 in G Major, D.887 closes the concert. Despite its staggering length, the upbeat tempos and intriguing structure of this work are sure to keep audiences engaged through its final note. Posthumously published in 1851, this was the last quartet penned by Schubert, and has remained a favorite for generations. Its lyrical ideas and vast journeys through various modes are augmented through jarring dynamic contrasts and a surprisingly ambiguous structure, cementing this work’s importance in the early Romantic era.

“Despite its massive proportions it never overwhelms,” says Jan Grüning, violist of the Ariel Quartet, “and makes for one of those rare cathartic experiences we find only in exposing ourselves to performance art.”

“Our concerts offer the unique opportunity to hear both some of the most revered but rarely performed masterworks of the string quartet canon, as well as music written in our time,” says Grüning. This performance “makes for a lighthearted, at times even humorous, but always emotive experience — a perfect opener for [the] concert season.”

Celebrating the group’s 25th year together, the Ariel Quartet looks forward to the 2023-24 season, with concerts featuring world renowned guest artists and plenty of celebratory, yet sentimental, music.

Ariel Quartet 
Alexandra Kazovsky, violin 
Gershon Gerchikov, violin 
Jan Grüning, viola 
Amit Even-Tov, cello

WOLF: Italian Serenade 
BEETHOVEN: String Quartet Op. 18, No. 5 
SCHUBERT: String Quartet No. 15 in G Major, D. 887

• 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26
• Estimated run time: 90 minutes

Robert J. Werner Recital Hall, CCM Village 
University of Cincinnati

Tickets: $29.50 adult, $15 student, $19.75 UC faculty/staff, $10 UC student, $5 CCM student; group discounts available.

 Experiencing the magic of CCM OnStage has never been easier! Purchase your tickets:

• Online at ccmonstage.universitytickets.com
• Over the phone at 513-556-4183
• In person at the CCM Box Office in the Atrium of UC's Corbett Center for the Performing Arts 

CCM’s Box Office hours are Tue-Fri from 1-5 p.m. and one hour prior to curtain for ticketed performances. Hours subject to change based on the University of Cincinnati calendar. Our Box Office staff is always ready to answer your questions by phone at 513-556-4183 or email at boxoff@uc.edu. 

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