LA JOLLA, California — Inon Barnatan, Israeli-born director of the La Jolla Music Society’s Summerfest, has announced a scaled-down festival featuring six concerts, August 21-29, all to be streamed on the internet. They are reasonably priced at $15 a concert and feature seven outstanding artists.
Barnatan himself will be the sole pianist. The Canadian violinist, James Ehnes, will be joined by violinist Tessa Lark and violinist/violist Yura Lee. Two acclaimed cellists, Alisa Weilerstein and Clive Greensmith will be featured, along with string bassist, Michael Thurber. There will also be a series of free events, including conversations, lectures, and three open rehearsals.
The opening concert, Friday evening, August 21, 7:00 p.m. will include Charles Ives’ “The Unanswered Question and Franz Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major. All of the festival artists, except the string bass, will be participating in this program.
Saturday, August 22, 7:00 p.m., will feature two arrangements by Barnaton, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 arranged for piano trio, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances for solo piano.
Sunday, August 23 3:00 p.m. will consist of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major and Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor.
Wednesday, August 26, 7:00 p.m. has programmed Gabriel Faure’s Violin Sonata No. 1 and Robert Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major.
Friday, August 28, 7:00 p.m. will be Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Violin Sonata No. 21 in E minor, Zoltan Kodaly’s Sonata for Solo Cello
and Joseph Suk’s Piano Quartet in A minor.
The final concert, Saturday, August 29, 7:00 p.m., will bring six of the seven artists together in a program of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Selections from Two-Part Inventions arranged for Violin and Double Bass, Serge Prokofiev’s Sonata for Two Violins in C Major, and concluding with Franz Schubert’s Piano Quintet in A Major.
This series is aptly titled: Summerfest 2020 Reimagined. For further information and to order tickets, call the
La Jolla Music Society Box Office at 858-459-3728.
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Eileen Wingard, retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. She may be contacted via eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com