Our 2024-2025 Concert Schedule

Printable Schedule (PDF):  SJCMS 2024-2025 Brochure

— Programs are subject to change —

Concerts are held at St. Francis Episcopal Church, in the Willow Glen
area of San Jose, 1205 Pine Avenue at the corner of Newport Avenue.

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October 13, 2024    Gropius Quartet PROGRAM Haydn Quartet in E-flat major, Op.33 #2 (1781) Mendelssohn String Quartet in F minor, Op.80 (1847) Dvořák Quartet #12 in F major, Op.96 “American” (1893)

MUSIC

Haydn's Op.33 Quartets achieve a synthesis of melodic grace, learned form, and emotional intensity. • Mendelssohn's impassioned F minor Quartet, a dark tour-de-force, is his emotional elegy for his sister's Fanny's death. • The flowing, spacious and bright music of Dvořák’s American Quartet reflects the tranquility he found summering in the Bohemian farming community of Spillville, Iowa, in 1893.

ARTISTS

The Gropius Quartet, formed by established soloists and chamber musicians who were students together at Menuhin Music Academy Gstaad and the Juilliard School, débuted in Weimar, Germany, in 2018. Their combined intuition and experience produces an electric dynamic, and their playing has the clarity and boldness of their namesake–Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius.

“... fascinating inner unity and in perfect balance” (Cellesche Zeitung)

“... transporting vitality and elan” (Die Rheinpfalz-Speyer)

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November 10, 2024    Pacifica Quartet PROGRAM Samuel Barber String Quartet in B minor, Op.11 (1935) George Crumb Black Angels, “Thirteen images from The Dark Land” for Electric String Quartet (1971) Shostakovich String Quartet #2 in A major, Op.68 (1944)

MUSIC

Three memorial works: Barber's String Quartet includes his Adagio for Strings which has brought a cathartic calm in times of grief and mourning. • George Crumb's revolutionary work Black Angels is a threnody (ode or lament) for the Vietnam War and “a kind of parable on our troubled contemporary world” (Crumb 1971). • Shostakovich's Op.68 is his first great string quartet. It is vividly original in style, bold in design, and individual in character. It was dedicated as a memorial to a fellow composer.

ARTISTS

With a three-decade career and multiple Grammy Awards, the Pacifica Quartet has achieved international recognition as one of the finest chamber ensembles performing today. The Quartet is known for its virtuosity, exuberant performance style, and often-daring repertory choices. The Pacifica Quartet is currently in residence at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

“The playing is nothing short of phenomenal.” (The Daily Telegraph, London)

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January 12, 2025    Trio Bohémo PROGRAM Schubert Piano Trio #2 in E-flat major, Op.100, D.929 (1827) Dvořák Piano Trio in E minor, Op.90 “Dumky” (1891) Marios Christou Dvořák on Cyprus (2022)

MUSIC

Schubert's E-flat major Trio is gigantic in length and filled with thematic ideas and constant transformations, intensity and passion, as well as joy, grace and beauty. • Dvořák's beloved Dumky Trio captures the melodic freshness and rhythmic verve of Czech folk music in six dumka (poetic ballad) movements of yearning, melancholy and wild gaiety. • Cyprian-born composer Marios Christou playfully imagines how Dvořák, upon visiting Cyprus, might incorporate its folk music in his compositions.

ARTISTS

In the years since its founding, the Trio Bohémo's talent and deep musicality have been recognized and validated by numerous awards. The London reviewer of their 2023 Wigmore Hall début said, “Trio Bohémo were on fire. The connection between the musicians was symbiotic. They are the music that this world needs.”

“Precision, dedication and a spark of magic.” (Göttingen critic)

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February 22, 2025    Dalby, Costanza, and Yakushev Piano Trio PROGRAM Rachmaninoff Vocalise for Violin & Piano (1915) Bohuslav Martinů Duo #1 for Violin & Cello, H.157 (1927) Nadia Boulanger Trois pièces pour violoncelle et piano (1914) Andrea Casarrubios Silbo (2021) Shostakovich Prelude & Fugue #24 in D minor (1950-51) Brahms Trio #1 in B major, Op.8 (revised version) (1889)

MUSIC

Rachmaninoff's enchanting Vocalise–beloved for its melodic beauty–has been transcribed in many ways. • Martinů's Duo delights in close interplay between violin and cello. • Nadia Boulanger's three pieces have quintessentially French texture and rhythm. • Casarrubios' Silbo (“whistle” in Spanish) was inspired by whistled languages which carry long distances. • Shostakovich's Preludes and Fugues were inspired by J.S. Bach. • The revised Op.8 Trio reflects both the young and the elder Brahms.

ARTISTS

As members of the St. Lawrence String Quartet from 2015 and 2003, respectively, Owen Dalby and Christopher Costanza performed on all the major chamber series in North America and Europe. Pianist Ilya Yakushev astounds and mesmerizes audiences at major venues on three continents. The New York Times raved, “little short of heroic.”

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March 16, 2025    Esmé Quartet PROGRAM Kui Dong “Spring” from Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter (2006) Juri Seo “Fall-Winter” from String Quartet Infinite Season (2017-18) Ravel String Quartet (1903) Beethoven String Quartet #14 in C# minor, Op.131 (1826)

MUSIC

Dartmouth Professor Kui Dong's “Spring” pulsates with nature's energy of re-growth. • Princeton Professor Juri Seo's Infinite Season portrays nature's annual cycle of changes from season to season, sound by sound. • Ravel's Quartet is prized for classical sense of form, modern yet tonal melody and harmony, and vital and subtle rhythmic motion. • Beethoven's C# minor Quartet Op.131 was his favorite and is for many the greatest of his late quartets.

ARTISTS

The Esmé Quartet, formed in 2016 by four friends from Korea at Cologne's Hochschule für Music, tours worldwide to international acclaim. In 2023, violist Dimitri Murrath, San Francisco Conservatory's Chair of Chamber Music, joined Esmé. Their March 2023 concert for us was a hit!

“[They] play with depth and maturity ...” (Suddeutsche Zeitung)

“Lyricism and airy limpidity, ... profundity and unexpected allure.” 5 stars (Diapason, France)

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May 17, 2025    Quinteto Latino PROGRAM Paquito D'Rivera Wapango (1996) Ronaldo Miranda Variações Sérias sobre um tema de Anacleto de Medeiros (1991) Gerardo Matos Rodriguez and Astor Piazzolla Tango Suite (Pulitzer Prize winner) Tania León De Memorias (2000) Júlio Medaglia Belle Epoque en Sud-America (2002) Folk song Son de la Bruja Astor Piazzolla Libertango (1974)

MUSIC

The quintet's repertoir–and this concert's music–spans the full spectrum of Latino musical heritage from traditional compositions to cutting-edge works.

ARTISTS

Founded in 2004 by hornist Armando Castellano, Quinteto Latino is a dynamic ensemble of top Bay Area musicians which showcases classical and contemporary music of Latin America and Latina/o/e composers everywhere, while engaging diverse communities through music. Quinteto Latino is strongly committed to new music, commissioning many works over the years. Notable successes include their 2011 CD 100 Años de Música Mexicana para Quinteto de Alientos, their May 2024 premiere of Carla Lucero's opera Chicanísima (QL commission), and concerts across the U.S.

“Consummate virtuosity” (Maria Nockin, Fanfare Magazine)