Hunt Quartet Performs at Two Winter Concerts

Midsummer’s Music Ltd. presents the Hunt Quartet in two free winter concerts. The group will perform Dec. 15, 7 pm at Sister Bay Moravian Church, and Dec. 16, 3 pm at Hope United Church of Christ in Sturgeon Bay. The highly acclaimed group is the elite graduate string quartet for the Mead Witter School of Music.

The repertoire for the first half of the concert includes “Quartettsatz in C Minor” by Schubert and “String Quartet No. 4, Op. 18,” by Beethoven. Schubert composed the “Quartettsatz” in December 1820. It is the first movement of a string quartet that he never completed, and it is regarded as one of the first products of his “mature phase” of composition. Beethoven’s string quartet is the only quartet from his Opus 18 set to be cast in a minor key. C minor would come to be a key Beethoven reserved for highly dramatic works, including – most famously – the Fifth Symphony.

The second half of the concert features such familiar holiday pieces as “White Christmas,” “Carol of the Bells,” “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” “Silent Night,” and selections from the Nutcracker Suite, among others, as well as opportunities for the audience to sing along.

Receptions with refreshments will follow both concerts and concertgoers can mingle with the musicians. Concert seating is open and without reservations or tickets.

The Hunt Quartet members are extremely talented, having won prizes individually all over the world. Collectively they are one of the outstanding young ensembles gaining a growing reputation by leaps and bounds. Members include Chang-En Lu, violin; Blakeley Menghini, viola; Kyle Barret Price, cello; and Vinicius “Vini” Sant’Ana, violin. They work closely with UW-Madison faculty, including the Pro Arte Quartet and cellist/Professor Uri Vardi as their principal coach.