The 2009-2010 Season

"It's a 10!"

CMW welcomes you to celebrate the 2009-2010 Season -- It’s a Ten! CMW presents a passionate musical journey through time observing the anniversaries of several great composers, from the high Baroque Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (b.1710), to the personal expressions of the Romantics Robert Schumann and Frédéric Chopin (b. 1810), to the poetic lyricism of American composer Samuel Barber (b. 1910). We end the journey encountering audacious musical trends of 2010 and the inspired effects of globalization on western art music with a multimedia performance by the world-renowned Kronos Quartet.

Highlights of the season include Pergolesi's lively and catchy inspiration for Stravinsky's Suite Italienne, followed by the Stravinsky; a return engagement of Nicolas Duchamp, the charming virtuoso flutist of the Paris Opera Comique; the world premiere of a song cycle composed by CMW's very own Barbara McKenzie, a rare performance of a chamber version of Chopin's e-minor Piano Concerto; a program of inspired selections of Samuel Barber; and with a dazzling taste of the future, the brilliant, unpredictable and thoroughly enjoyable Kronos Quartet.

The Composers:

Giovanni Batistta Pergolesi (b. 1710)

Pergolesi was a composer of considerable importance in the development of Italian comic opera in the early 18th century. Pergolesi also wrote sacred music, including a Mass in F. It is his Stabat Mater (1736), however, for male soprano, male alto, and orchestra, which is his best known sacred work. Pergolesi's early death, at age 26, left much of his music unpublished.

Robert Schumann (b. 1810)

Robert Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is one of the most famous Romantic composers of the 19th century. In his songs Schumann attained the elusive union of music and poetry which Romantic poets and musicians defined as the ultimate goal of art.

Frederic Chopin (b. 1810)

Chopin's compositions were written primarily for the piano as a solo instrument. Though they are technically demanding, his style emphasizes nuance and expressive depth. Chopin invented musical forms such as the Ballade and was responsible for major innovations in forms such as the Piano Sonata, Mazurka, Waltz, Nocturne, Etude, Impromptu and Prélude. His works are masterpieces and mainstays of Romanticism in 19th-century classical music.

Samuel Barber (b. 1910)

Samuel Barber was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings featured in the String Quartet Op. 11 is among his most popular compositions and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music.

Special Event: presented in co-operation with UNCW Arts in Action Performance Series & The UNCW Department of Cultural Arts

The Kronos Quartet (2010) at Kenan Auditorium, April 21, 2010, 7:30pm

For more than 30 years, the Kronos Quartet—David Harrington, John Sherba (violins), Hank Dutt (viola) and Jeffrey Zeigler (cello)—has pursued a singular artistic vision, combining a spirit of fearless exploration with a commitment to expanding the range and context of the string quartet.