Olympic Music Festival: Echoes of Beethoven
$40 ($15 student; ages 12 & under free)
- David Bowlin, violin
- Dimitri Murrath, viola
- Efe Baltacıgil, cello
- Julio Elizalde, piano
- Robert McDonald, piano
Ludwig van Beethoven — Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major, Op. 110
Franz Schubert — Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat major, D. 929, Op. 100
Beethoven's monumental influence on the future of classical music can be best heard in his late piano music. His iconic Piano Sonata in A-flat major, Op. 110 takes the listener through a journey from the spiritual hymns to comical uses of German folk tunes and finally a transcendent use of imitative writing in the style of Bach. Johannes Brahms grappled with the notion that he would be judged by history as a successor to the tradition established by Bach and Beethoven. His sonata for viola and piano, Op. 120 is one of his three final compositions and shows a composer at the height of their power with nothing left to prove. Franz Schubert died only one year after Beethoven but opened a portal from the classical era to the romantic period of music. His second piano trio in E-flat major is arguably the greatest piano trio ever written with a staggering range of emotions that lifts the deepest sorrow to overwhelming victory.
About the 2023 Festival: Olympic Music Festival's fortieth summer season will feature in-person performances at Fort Worden's Wheeler Theater: Saturdays and Sundays, 2pm, August 12 through August 20 and September 2 through September 10, 2023. Tickets are on sale now at www.olympicmusicfestival.org. All seats are $40, except for tickets to the Season Finale, which are $60; youth ages 7-12 are free when accompanied by an adult. Student and group rates are also available.
About David Bowlin, violin
About Dimitri Murrath, viola
About Efe Baltacıgil, cello
Principal Cello of the Grammy-winning Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Turkey’s String Player of the Year, 2013, and awardee of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, Mr. Baltacıgil is lauded for his risk-taking, passionate performances that immediately capture the heart and imagination.
Recipient of the Peter Jay Sharp Prize, the Washington Performing Arts Society Prize, and first prize in concerto competitions of Istanbul, New York, and the Allentown, Pennsylvania Schadt String Competition, Baltacıgil experienced early acclaim as winner of the 2005 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. Recipient of a bachelor’s degree from the Mimar Sinan University Conservatory in Istanbul and an artist diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, Efe began his professional career in the United States as Associate Principal Cello of the Philadelphia Orchestra before joining the Seattle Symphony as Principal Cello in 2011.
https://www.chambermusicsociety.org/about/artists/strings/efe-baltacigil/About Julio Elizalde, piano
Wheeler Theater at Fort Worden State Park
200 Battery WayPort Townsend, WA 98368
United States
http://parks.state.wa.us/397/Fort-Worden---Wheeler-Theater
(360) 344-4431