Works by Beethoven, Françaix, Bridge, & Mendelssohn will be performed by five world-renowned Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center artists on violin, viola, and cello – instruments that have inspired much of the greatest music ever composed.

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will perform their final concert for the 2023/2024 season at St. Cecilia Music Center on Thursday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m. The concert will feature five outstanding musicians on violin, viola and cello performing the works of Beethoven, Françaix, Bridge, & Mendelssohn. The deeply “human” voices of violins, violas, and cellos have inspired much of the greatest music ever composed. From Beethoven’s earliest all-string work to Francaix’s effervescent trio, this program offers a rich feast of string sonorities from the 18th century to the modern age.The evening will feature world-class musicians from CMS: Bella Hristova, violin; Chad Hoopes, violin; Timothy Ridout, viola; Matthew Lipman, viola; and Sihao He, cello.

This season highlights SCMC’s 12-year of partnership with the esteemed Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Executive & Artistic Director of SCMC Cathy Holbrook states, “On April 18, we bring five amazing Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center musicians to St. Cecilia Music Center’s Royce Auditorium for our final concert this season. This “all strings” performance by world-class artists – on violins, violas, and cello – will fill the hall with a magical energy…hence its title ‘String Magic’. Our Royce Auditorium has been called ‘one of the finest acoustical halls in the world’. With this great ensemble of string musicians, get ready for an ethereal evening unlike non other!” 

Tickets for String Magic are $50, $35, and $20, available at scmcgr.org or by calling 616-459-2224. Ticket holders are invited to a special artist talk at 7 p.m. followed by the concert at 7:30 p.m. A post-concert reception in the ballroom will take place after the performance to meet the artists.

Program:

Beethoven – Trio in E-flat major for Violin, Viola and Cello, Op. 3 (before 1794)

Françaix – Trio for Violin, Viola, and Cello (1933)

INTERMISSION

Bridge – Lament for Two Violas (1912)

Mendelssohn – Quintet No. 2 in B-flat major for Two Violins, Two Violas, and Cello, Op. 87 (1845)

CHAD HOOPES, Violin; BELLA HRISTOVA, Violin; MATTHEW LIPMAN, Viola; TIMOTHY RIDOUT, Viola.

SIHAO HE, Cello

Program Description for String Magic

Spanning from 1797 Vienna to 1933 Paris, this all-string program invites audiences to take a journey through the astounding breadth of chamber music repertoire in just four works. Setting the stage, Beethoven’s understanding of the Classical era is paramount to his very first string trio; conversational and light, it introduces audiences to the buoyancy of his early style through what is widely considered one of the most challenging ensembles for a composer. Just as expectations of compositional mastery seem to have been met in that work, Jean Francaix—a student of the great Nadia Boulanger—dashes them with a frenetic and energized trio of his own. Seemingly opposed to this flurry of sound is the music of English composer Frank Bridge. During World War I and immediately afterwards, Bridge wrote several pastoral and elegiac works, including his Lament for Two Violas, as part of a pair of viola duos, which debuted March 18, 1912. The composer and iconic English violist Lionel Tertis premiered the work and helped set the scene for a renaissance of music written for viola. Mendelssohn’s second string quintet, one of his final compositions, rounds out the program with, in the composer’s own words, “an exercise in forms and an expression of ideas.”

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Tickets

String Magic

April 18, 2024

A section $50

B section $35

C section $20

Acoustic Café Folk Series Tickets 

Marc Cohn

Thursday, April 11, 2024

A section $65

B section $50

C section $35

St. Cecilia Music Center’s mission is to promote the appreciation, study, and

performance of music to enrich the lives of West Michigan residents. 

The Center fulfills this mission by 

presenting visiting world-class artists in concert, 

providing music education for all ages through our School of Music and 

preserving a historic building for musical activities and community events