Program Notes

Dvořák: String Quintet no. 3 in E-flat major, op. 97, “American” In 1892, Czech composer Antonín Dvořák traveled to the United States to begin a three-year tenure as the Artistic Director and Professor of Composition of the National Conservatory of Music in New York. Josef Jan Kovařík, who served as Dvořák’s secretary and translator, invited […]

Grieg: Violin Sonata no. 2 in G, op. 13 The second of Edvard Grieg’s three violin sonatas was written in about three blissful weeks in the summer of 1867 shortly after his marriage to  Nina Hagerup. A musical snapshot of the happy newlyweds, the sonata had its premiere in the fall of the same year

Prokofiev: Overture on Hebrew Themes, op. 34 Sergei Prokofiev’s Overture on Hebrew Themes from 1920 originated primarily from an unexpected reunion that occurred halfway around the world. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, the 26-year-old Prokofiev toured the United States as a virtuoso pianist and a promoter of his original works, both to escape artistic persecution