Brahms/Haydn Variations

Haydn: String Quartet in F minor, Op. 20 no. 5
Dahl: Concerto a Tre
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115
with Burt Hara, clarinet; Erin Keefe, violin

Accordo closes out its third season with Brahms' monumental Clarinet Quintet, one of three pieces he wrote at the end of his life for the brilliant young clarinetist Richard Muhlfeld (after he had decided to stop composing), and one of the most tragic, intimate, and heartrendingly beautiful pieces of music ever written.  The Minnesota Orchestra's own brilliant Principal Clarinetist Burt Hara joins forces with Accordo to perform the Brahms, as well as the rarely heard  Concerto a Tre by film and radio composer Ingolf Dahl, given its premiere in 1947 by jazz legend Benny Goodman.  Mozart's hero Joseph Haydn earned his reputation as the 'father of the string quartet' with the Op. 20 quartets, and the haunting opening melody of the fifth quartet begins this rich and varied spring evening of chamber music.

In 24 years as the Minnesota Orchestra's principal clarinet, Burt Hara has drawn acclaim for his solo appearances-in works of Nielsen, Debussy, Weber, Copland, Bernstein and others-and many chamber performances.

Before his appointment in Minnesota, Hara was principal clarinet of the Alabama Symphony. He also served for one year as principal clarinet of the Philadelphia Orchestra. An active chamber musician, Hara has performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Pensacola Chamber Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Music in the Vineyards, Salt Bay Chamberfest, La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, and the Minnesota Orchestra's Sommerfest.

Hara has been a faculty member at the University of Alabama and University of Montevallo and now serves on the faculty of the University of Minnesota School of Music. He is also a faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival.

A native of California, Hara is a Buffet Crampon USA performing artist.

Accordo, established in 2009, is a Minnesota-based chamber group made up of some of the very best instrumentalists in the country, eager to share their love of classical and contemporary chamber music in intimate and unique performance spaces. Its 2011/12 season will be presented by Kate Nordstrum Projects, Northrop Concerts & Lectures and The Schubert Club at the National Historic Landmark Christ Church Lutheran, one of the Twin Cities' great architectural treasures designed by the esteemed architect Eliel Saarinen and his son Eero Saarinen.

Accordo includes SPCO principal players Steve Copes, Ruggero Allifranchini, Maiya Papach, and Ron Thomas and Minnesota Orchestra principal cellist Tony Ross. This season also includes guest artists Rebecca Albers, Ian Ding, Erin Keefe, and Burt Hara.