Variations on Women’s Voices

The Arneis Quartet opens their late Spring 2019 performances with “Variations on Women’s Voices” at First Church Boston on April 5, 2019, 8pm.  This concert exclusively features works of female composers showcasing a variety of styles. The late-romantic musings of New England composer Amy Beach’s Theme and Variations for Flute and String Quartet, Op. 80, written in 1916, open the program with guest Vanessa Holroyd, flute.  MIT faculty composer Elena Ruehr’s String Quartet No. 3 (2001), with each movement inspired by ancient traditional music from different parts of the world, closes the first half of the program.  Ketty Nez, on faculty at Boston University, is featured as both composer and pianist on the second half of the program.  Her settings of folk songs from the Balkan region for viola and piano, sea-changes (2010), with Arneis violist Daniel Doña opens the second half.  The concert closes with Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz’s rarely-performed Piano Quintet No. 1 (1952), featuring a beguiling mix of neoclassical textures and expressive dissonances. 

Variations on Women’s Voices 
April 5, 2019 at 8pm, First Church Boston

Amy Beach Theme and Variations for Flute and String Quartet, Op. 80
Elena Ruehr String Quartet No. 3 (2001)
Ketty Nez sea-changes (2010) for Viola and Piano
Grazyna Bacewicz Piano Quintet No. 1 (1952)
 
Guests: Vanessa Holroyd, flute and Ketty Nez, piano

Admission is free, $20 suggested donation