Mobile audiences will get a rare chance to hear a piano quartet made up of faculty musicians from four different universities when the newly formed Tri-State Piano Quartet performs at the University of South Alabama.
The ensemble brings together USA piano professor Robert Holm, University of Alabama violin professor Jenny Gregoire, University of Illinois viola professor Rudolf Haken and University of Southern Mississippi cello professor Alexander Russakovsky. Though each musician teaches and performs at a different institution across the region, the four regularly collaborate on chamber music projects, and their Mobile appearance marks a homecoming of sorts for the group’s Gulf Coast connections through USA’s music program.
The program opens with Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu’s First Piano Quartet, a three-movement work that reflects the composer’s early exposure to American musical idioms shortly after he emigrated to the United States in 1941. The piece is known for blending European classical structure with the rhythms and energy Martinu encountered in his new surroundings.
After intermission, the quartet will perform Johannes Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 26. The sprawling four-movement work steadily builds in intensity and closes with a spirited “Hungarian Dance” finale, a passage long admired by chamber music audiences for its energy and technical demands.
Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for USA students, faculty, staff, seniors and youth under 18. Organizers note there will be no advance ticket sales, and admission at the door will be cash or check only.
The performance offers local classical music fans an opportunity to hear touring-caliber chamber musicians in an intimate setting without having to travel outside the region. For more information about the concert, call 251-460-7116.