An Die Musik Returns for Annual New York Concert at Merkin Concert Hall November 4, 2018

This season’s eagerly awaited only New York appearance of An die Musik (oboe, string trio, and piano), co-founded in 1976 by pianist Constance Emmerich, will take place on Sunday afternoon, November 4, 2018,  4 pm at Merkin Concert Hall, Kaufman Music Center, 129 West 67th Street, New York, NY. It is hard to overestimate the sense of camaraderie and genuine love of music generated by An die Musik in more than four decades of sold-out concerts.

The artists performing this fall with An die Musik will be Mark Peskanov, violin; Nicholas Mann, viola; Robert Ingliss, oboe; Thomas Demenga, cello; and Constance Emmerich, piano.

In commemoration of the life of violinist Robert Mann, soloist, composer, beloved pedagogue, and founding member of the Juilliard String Quartet, who died January 1, 2018, his widow Lucy Rowan Mann, will narrate a special performance of Mr. Mann’s composition The Little Match Girl. Full program details below:

Mozart                                  Piano Quartet in G minor Allegro
Britten                                  Quartet for oboe and strings        
Robert Mann                        The Little Match Girl, for violin & piano, with Lucy Rowan Mann, narrator
Handel/Halvorsen               Passacaglia for violin and cello                          

Intermission

Beethoven                           Trio for piano, violin & cello in B flat Major, WoO 39, Allegretto
                                             Trio for violin, viola & cello in G Major                               

Tickets at $16.00 are available at the Merkin Concert Hall Box Office at (212) 501-3330 or at http://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/

An die Musik’s unusual combination of Oboe, String Trio and Piano allows the ensemble to explore a wide range of Classical, Romantic and Contemporary literature in a way rarely matched by more traditionally-configured ensembles. Its name is drawn from Schubert’s song “In praise of music.”

An die Musik continues to be praised by critics and concertgoers. With a deep commitment to 20^th-century composers, the ensemble has been the source of inspiration for many works specially composed for its players. Innovative projects and commissions exploring the origins of artistic inspiration, such as The Composer’s Composer and the group’s 10th Anniversary Project The Painter’s Music, The Musician’s Art, have further distinguished the ensemble and received worldwide attention. The Composer’s Composer explores origins of musical inspiration with contemporary composers. Jazz great Dave Brubeck and leading American composer Ezra Laderman were the first to write for The Composer’s Composer, which premiered at the Kennedy Center in March, 1994 and in New York in March, 1995. Brubeck’s Composer’s Composer work—“Chromatic Fantasy Sonata,” inspired by Bach—has been recorded by An die Musik for Angel Records. The Painter’s Music, The Musician’s Art, a collaboration with painters Helen Frankenthaler, David Hockney, Robert Motherwell and Kenneth Noland premiered at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and continues to be presented at major museums, multi-media chamber music series, and at schools and universities throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.

An die Musik’s project Timeless Tales and Music of Our Time was inspired by pianist Constance Emmerich’s granddaughter Sarah, when she was four and suggested that the group could “play some music while we read stories.” New works based on familiar tales and themes—introducing the poet/storyteller seemed like a wonderful idea. The first works in this ongoing commissioning project, the tales of Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks composed by Bruce Adolphe and told by the beloved Dr. Ruth were recorded by An die Musik for Newport Classic records, and brought An die Musik’s first Grammy nomination. The second Tale in the series was Jon Deak’s Rapunzel and The Emperor’s New Clothes by Peter Schickele which was released by Newport Classics. In 2015, An die Musik performed Robert Mann’s “How The Whale Got His Throat,” based on a whimsical tale by Rudyard Kipling, with Lucy Mann narrating.

Acclaimed internationally for its wide appeal and the musical substance of its repertoire choices, An die Musik has been featured by distinguished chamber music series across the country. The ensemble has appeared numerous times at the Kennedy Center, and has had its performances broadcast globally by the Voice of America. Its many domestic engagements have also included the Coleman Chamber Music Association in Los Angeles, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society, Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music, Chamber Arts Society of Duke University and Phoenix Chamber Music Society. Its 1994 Canadian concerts on Toronto’s North York Performing Arts Center Series, Edmonton Chamber Music Society Series, and Distinguished Artist Series at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver were recorded and broadcast throughout the country by the CBC. An die Musik has also been featured at universities and colleges across the United States and Canada, and was in residence for four years at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, offering master classes, open rehearsal, and concerts (funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts). An die Musik has enchanted old friends while enticing new audiences in the world’s major music capitals. The ensemble has appeared in nine European countries, and its radio broadcasts overseas have been heard in Berlin, Frankfurt, Oslo, Hilversum, Amsterdam, London, Dublin, and Brussels. The ensemble was invited to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Secretary of State James F. Byrnes’ landmark “Speech of Hope” with a performance in Stuttgart’s New Castle. The concert was taped by the South German Radio for nationwide broadcast. Other German performances were taped by the renowned Bavarian Radio for broadcast throughout Europe.

Major Music Festivals include the Lincoln Center Summer Festival, the Flanders Festival in Ghent, Belgium, where An die Musik gave the first performance in modern times of an arrangement made during Mozart’s life of his extraordinary Gran Partita; the concert, in the 13th century abbey Bijloke, accommodated 2000 people, and was televised throughout Belgium; and the Britain-Orange County Festival where the ensemble gave the premiere chamber concert, opening the Irvine Barclay Theatre in California. The celebratory event was supported by the British Government, British Consulate General in Los Angeles and British Council.

In addition to the Angel/EMI’s album of Brubeck and Newport Classics Timeless Tales albums, An Die Musik’s recordings include an all-Mozart program (cited by Stereo Review as a “Recording of Special Merit”), the premiere recording of Martinu’s Quartet for Violin, Cello, Oboe and Piano, two albums of piano quartets of Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms. The ensemble’s all-Beethoven CD Live from Berlin, performed and recorded in the celebrated chamber music hall of the Berlin Philharmonic, was An die Musik’s contribution to the international campaign of Doctors Without Borders.

“An die Musik has inspired audiences with their ardent impetuosity, musical integrity and fiery instrumental brilliance.” — The New York Times

For further information, please contact Hemsing Associates at (212) 772-1132 or e-mail jhemsing@hemsingpr.com.

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