Austin Chamber Music Festival - Takacs Quartet with Michelle Schumann

In their 49th season, the world-renowned Takács Quartet joins the Austin Chamber Music Festival to perform works by Dvorak alongside a new work written for them by Nokuthula Ngwenyama. “Flow” is an exploration and celebration of the natural world which promises to be transcendent for audiences. Also featured is Anton Dvorak’s spectacular Piano Quintet in A Major in collaboration with ACMC Artistic Director and award-winning pianist, Michelle Schumann.

Subject to availability, $12 Student Rush (with student ID), $30 General Admission, $45 Preferred, and $80 Premium tickets may be purchased at the box office on the evening of the concert. The box office will open at 6:30 PM that day.

Program:

String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat Major, Op. 51 | Antonín Dvo?ák (1841–1904)

Allegro ma non troppo
Dumka: Andante con moto
Romanza: Andante con moto
Finale: Allegro assai

Flow | Nokuthula Ngwenyama (b. 1976)

Prelude
Lento
Quark Scherzo
Finale

INTERMISSION

Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81 | Antonín Dvo?ák (1841–1904)

Allegro ma non tanto
Dumka: Andante con moto
Scherzo (Furiant): Molto vivace
Finale: Allegro

TAKÁCS QUARTET
Edward Dusinberre & Harumi Rhodes, violins
Richard O’Neill, viola | András Fejér, cello

with Michelle Schumann, piano

Takács Quartet:

The world-renowned Takács Quartet is now in its forty-ninth season. Edward Dusinberre, Harumi Rhodes, Richard O’Neill and András Fejér are excited about the 2023-2024 season that features varied projects including a new work written for them: Nokuthula Ngwenyama’s ‘Flow,’ an exploration and celebration of the natural world. The work was commissioned by nine concert presenters throughout the USA.

The Takács Quartet was formed in 1975 at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest by Gabor Takács-Nagy, Károly Schranz, Gabor Ormai and András Fejér, while all four were students. The group received international attention in 1977, winning First Prize and the Critics’ Prize at the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France. The Quartet also won the Gold Medal at the 1978 Portsmouth and Bordeaux Competitions and First Prizes at the Budapest International String Quartet Competition in 1978 and the Bratislava Competition in 1981. In 2014 the Takács became the first string quartet to be awarded the Wigmore Hall Medal. In 2012, Gramophone announced that the Takács was the first string quartet to be inducted into its Hall of Fame. The ensemble also won the 2011 Award for Chamber Music and Song presented by the Royal Philharmonic Society in London.

Michelle Schumann:

Hailed for her “sensitive, flexible, and tempestuous dexterity” (Fanfare Magazine), pianist Michelle Schumann has built a reputation for evocative and moving performances. Since 2006, Michelle has served as Artistic Director of the Austin Chamber Music Center, where she “is fearlessly expanding our definition of chamber music” (Austin-American Statesman). Her brand of performance includes an enthusiastic interplay with audiences, bringing diverse music together under a narrative blanket. She was named “Best Classical Musician” in the Best of Austin 2019 Readers Poll by the Austin Chronicle.

Schumann is Professor of Piano at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. She received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin and additionally holds a Performance Diploma from the Vienna Conservatory.

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