Both the Guarneri and Johannes String Quartets have roots in Vermont’s legendary Marlboro Music Festival. They will collaborate here, for the first time, with new works created for this project: an octet written by William Bolcom—co-commissioned by the Celebrity Series—and new works by award-winning composers Esa-Pekka Salonen and Derek Bermel. They will also perform the Shostakovich and Mendelssohn String Octets.

“Some things, like the Guarneri, are as good as it gets.”
—The Miami Herald

“[The Johannes String Quartet has] accurate intonation, vigorous interaction and careful regard for the details in the score… the passion and attack that characterize the best of quartet playing.”
—Philadelphia Inquirer

Program:

Esa-Pekka Salonen
Homunculus (written for Johannes String Quartet) *

Derek Bermel
Passing Through (written for the Guarneri String Quartet)*

William Bolcom
Octet: Double Quartet*

Mendelssohn
Octet in E-flat Major, Opus 20

*Boston Premiere

Box office prices: $58, $53, $45
Subscription prices: $53, $48, $40

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